Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61L—GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC
  • B61L21/00—Station blocking between signal boxes in one yard
  • B61L21/06—Vehicle-on-line indication; Monitoring locking and release of the route
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61L—GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC
  • B61L27/00—Central railway traffic control systems; Trackside control; Communication systems specially adapted therefor
  • B61L27/20—Trackside control of safe travel of vehicle or train, e.g. braking curve calculation
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61L—GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC
  • B61L27/00—Central railway traffic control systems; Trackside control; Communication systems specially adapted therefor
  • B61L27/20—Trackside control of safe travel of vehicle or train, e.g. braking curve calculation
  • B61L2027/202—Trackside control of safe travel of vehicle or train, e.g. braking curve calculation using European Train Control System [ETCS]

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method for releasing an overlap in a railway signalling system, and swinging an overlap to an alternative overlap in a railway signalling system.
• Fig. 1 shows a simplified generic track layout, in which trains may approach from the right side as shown, along either of the two parallel track lines, with the intention, say, of stopping at Platform A on the upper line, or Platform B on the lower line.
• points PI are selectively operable to pass a train on the lower line to join the upper line.
• the presence of a train on a particular section of track is determined through the use of track circuits as is well-known in the art, with the track circuits being labelled Tl to T6 on the upper line, and Til to T14 on the lower line.
• Fig. 1 shows three sets of trackside signals: Sll and S21 located before the platforms and relaying signalling information to trains on the upper and lower lines respectively, S13 and S23 located at the exit end of the platforms and relaying signalling information to trains on the upper and lower lines respectively, and S15, located on the upper line some distance past the platform. If all trains are using communication-based signalling, the presence of these signals is not strictly necessary, but the general concept of operation is sufficiently similar for the purposes of describing the present invention.
• a movement authority is sent to a train by trackside processing equipment (TPE, i.e. a radio block centre (RBC) in the case of ETCS) which is consistent with the routes that are set and the proceed indications provided by a signal interlocking.
• TPE trackside processing equipment
• RBC radio block centre
• the TPE is configured with track data which provides details of signal positions, track circuits, routes, overlaps, etc. It is expected that the interlocking would provide a proceed indication to the TPE for each route from a route entry point (i.e. a signal) when it is safe for an approaching train to enter the route. Conventionally each route would be from one signal to the next. In the example of Fig. 1 there is only one route from each signal shown to the next signal, but in more complex layouts there could be several possible routes from one signal.
• a movement authority will typically define a position beyond which the train should not travel (i.e. an "end of authority” (EoA) in ETCS) and a safety limit beyond which the train must be prevented from going (i.e. a "supervised location” in ETCS, the position of which can be specified in the movement authority by defining a danger point) . Because of the cautious (i.e. safety critical) nature of the train protection system it will not allow the train to approach closely to the supervised location because it must always be possible to stop the train even if it makes an unexpected move.
• EoA end of authority
• a safety limit beyond which the train must be prevented from going i.e. a "supervised location” in ETCS, the position of which can be specified in the movement authority by defining a danger point
• a movement authority up to a red signal may typically define an EoA at the signal and a danger point (DP) at the end of the overlap, giving the train the longest available safety margin.
• EoA EoA
• DP danger point
• a train would be expected to stop on the approach to the signal and not go right up to the EoA.
• the required stopping position in a platform, Platform A as shown for example, would not normally require the driver to drive up to the EoA.
• ETCS it is known that a facility exists where overlap information can be sent to a train with the MA which defines a temporary overlap limit, an overlap timer and the position of the train where timing should start, e.g. the start of the relevant track circuit.
• This overlap information can be sent with a shorter danger point, for example placed at the fouling point (FP) , i.e. the point on the track beyond which a train would physically impede the movement of another train on another track, for converging tracks .
• the train protection system will initially use a supervised location at the end of the overlap. When the timer expires, the protection system on the train will shorten the supervised location to the danger point. This should only happen once the train is stationary because the timer will be similar to that used by the trackside.
• the trackside interlocking will also run a timer and allow the overlap to release when it expires. This arrangement is schematically shown in Fig. 3.
• the movement authority In normal operation, as routes are set ahead of a train, the movement authority is replaced with a new extended authority allowing the train to proceed further along the railway. For example, and as shown schematically in Fig. 4, MAI is replaced by MA2, with new associated end of authority EoA2 and danger point DP2, when a proceed authority is given by the interlocking for signal Sll.
• a proceed authority which has been given to a train is subsequently removed (for example the signaller may decide to allow another train to go first) then the route (s) beyond that signal are maintained in a locked state for that train until it is proved that the train will not use them.
• This form of locking is often referred to as 'Approach Locking'.
• this proving can be performed in different ways.
• a timer is again used which allows sufficient time for a driver to observe that the authority for the train has changed and for the train to be brought to a stand without entering the route from the replaced signal. This timer may typically be of the order of 3 or 4 minutes.
• ETCS provides a facility where the trackside equipment can send a message to a train to request a shortening of the MA.
• the train protection system will calculate new braking profiles to determine if the train can stop before the shorter MA limit and respond to the trackside to either accept or reject the shortening request. If the shortening request is accepted by the train, this allows the trackside protection equipment to inform the interlocking that the route (s) beyond the replaced signal no longer need to be held for the train.
• An example is shown schematically in Fig. 5, where a movement authority MAI might be shortened from S5 to SI (i.e. MA2) in order to allow another train to proceed from S3.
• EP1752355 describes a typical system architecture with a bi-directional interface between a signalling interlocking and trackside processing equipment.
• a second requirement is the capability to swing an overlap to an alternative section of track. This operation would for example be carried out when a train is not immediately approaching the signal at danger, the overlap currently set is blocking a path for another train and an alternative overlap is available.
• a method for releasing an overlap in a railway signalling system comprising a signalling interlocking, trackside processing equipment and at least one signal, the overlap being a section of railway located past the signal in the direction of train movement, the method comprising :
• a method for swinging an overlap to an alternative overlap in a railway signalling system comprising the steps of:
• Fig. 1 schematically shows a simplified generic track layout
• Fig. 2 schematically shows a movement authority granted for the layout of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 schematically shows an overlap for the layout of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 schematically shows a new movement authority for the layout of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 5 schematically shows an example of co-operative movement authority shortening for a modified layout, so that overlaps do not conflict with other moves
• Fig. 6 schematically shows a track layout exemplifying an overlap releasing method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 7 schematically shows a track layout exemplifying an overlap swinging method in accordance with the present invention .
• FIG. 6 A first embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown in Fig. 6, using for convenience the same track layout as Fig. 1.
• the signalling interlocking is configured with the following:
• the TPE is configured with the following:
• the TPE When the interlocking provides a proceed indication to the TPE for the route leading up to S13 (i.e. from signal Sll) the TPE sends a movement authority (MAI) to the train with EoAl at the signal and a danger point DPI a short distance beyond, at the fouling point FP .
• the TPE sends a new movement authority (MA2) with a similar EoA2 as EoAl, but with a danger point DP2 at the end of the overlap.
• a request to release the overlap When a request to release the overlap is received by the interlocking, it removes the 'proceed' indication for the overlap from the TPE.
• the TPE then sends a request to shorten the movement authority to the approaching train which specifies the end of authority and danger point of MAI again (i.e. EoAl and DPI) . If the train accepts the shorten request (for example because it has already stopped) , then the TPE can indicate to the interlocking that the overlap can be released. If the train rejects the shorten request then the overlap is not released until, for example, a longer conventional timeout has expired. If the train is stationary when the request is received, then the reduction in movement authority should not cause a problem for the train and the request would be accepted.
• the train should also be able to adjust its profile in order to accept the reduction in movement authority. It is possible however that as the train approaches the stopping position the sudden rearwards movement of the danger point would cause a potential infringement of the emergency braking profile and the request to shorten would be rejected by the train.
• the TPE will provide an approach locking override to the interlocking allowing the release of the overlap route.
• the request to release an overlap could come from the signaller and used only when required. However it would also be possible for the overlap release to be requested automatically using a timer in the interlocking, based on the occupancy of the track circuit leading up to signal S13. The difference in this case is that the timer only needs to be set for long enough such that the train is likely to have stopped, and not that it has definitely stopped as was the case in the prior art, i.e. it is no longer safety critical. This is expected to reduce the timer used to trigger the overlap release by more than 10 seconds, which is significant in terms of railway operation.
• FIG. 7 A further embodiment of the present invention, relating to a method of swinging overlaps, is set out in more detail with reference to Fig. 7.
• the swinging of an overlap is a common feature of conventional signalling (at least in the United Kingdom) and, if the signalling has been configured to provide such a feature, will be permitted under certain conditions - primarily that the approaching train is far enough away from the signal such that it could not enter the overlap during the time that the relevant points (shown as P2A and P2B) are moving, as described below.
• the possibility of swinging an overlap can be viewed as an extension to the capability of releasing an overlap. If the interlocking considers that conditions are suitable for an overlap to swing, i.e. the train is not immediately approaching the signal, then it can request release of the currently set overlap. This should not cause any problem for any ETCS train, which should accept the small reduction in its movement authority.
• the TPE then provides an approach locking override to the interlocking which can then select an alternative overlap.
• the TPE would indicate to the interlocking that the next train to approach a signal is an ETCS-controlled train.
• the involvement of the TPE in releasing and swinging an overlap can therefore be conditional within the interlocking on the next train being indicated as an ETCS train. If the next train is not indicated as an ETCS train, either because the next train is not an ETCS train or its movement authority has not yet reached that signal, then the interlocking can swing the overlap according to conventional rules.
• the signaller sets the route for a first train up to signal S13, including the overlap beyond points PI, referred to as "Overlap 1";
• the RBC issues a movement authority MAI initially up to the signal, which includes EoAl and DPI.
• DPI in this case is configured to be at the point of divergence for the alternative paths through points P2A;
• the interlocking provides a proceed indication to the RBC for Overlap 1 and the RBC extends the movement authority for the first train by sending MA2, which includes EoA2 and DP2;
• the signaller then, for example, may wish to allow a second train to proceed from signal S23. If "Overlap 2" from signal S13 is available and does not conflict with any other moves, then the signaller may request that the overlap be moved, or 'swung', away from the path of the second train from S23;
• the interlocking can provide a proceed indication for Overlap 2 to the RBC. This allows the RBC to again extend the movement authority of the first train this time by sending MA3, including EoA3 and DP3.
• EoA3 can be configured at the same location as EoA2; and
• step 6 the locking of Overlap 1 is maintained by the interlocking until the RBC indicates that it can be released. If for whatever reason the train decides that it cannot accept the shortened movement authority request, or fails to respond, then Overlap 1 will remain locked for the first train and swinging will not be permitted. In this case it is expected that the interlocking will wait for a defined time for a release from the RBC, after which the interlocking will cancel the request to swing the overlap and re-establish the proceed indication for Overlap 1 to the RBC.
• the above-described embodiments are exemplary only, and othe possibilities and alternatives within the scope of the inven tion will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Train Traffic Observation, Control, And Security (AREA)

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• 2013
  • 2013-04-10 GB GB1306544.6A patent/GB2512901A/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2014
  • 2014-04-10 WO PCT/EP2014/057301 patent/WO2014167067A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2014-04-10 AU AU2014253069A patent/AU2014253069B2/en active Active
  • 2014-04-10 ES ES14718033T patent/ES2870530T3/es active Active
  • 2014-04-10 EP EP14718033.5A patent/EP2983960B1/de active Active

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