Because the standard four-stage operation and control strategy cannot fully utilize the gravitational potential energy of a train operating on a long and steep downhill segment

this paper further improves the method for train operation and control strategy. The improved operation includes three stages of acceleration

coasting-speed limit cruising

and braking. Taking the speed limit

time limit

and distance limit as the constraints

the coasting condition switching point

braking condition switching point

traction coefficient

and braking force coefficient are used as the decision variables. Then

an improved train traction energy consumption model is constructed

and an improved differential evolution algorithm is designed to solve this model. The improved method is used to simulate two long and steep downhill segments of the Nanning metro. The results show that the improved method can meet the requirements of speed limit

time limit

and distance limit. Compared with the standard four-stage operation

the improved train operation and control strategy can reduce train energy consumption by more than 40% on the two long and steep downhill segments; compared with other similar algorithms

the improved algorithm is more suitable for solving the model.