62 July 2018 | Rallway Gazette International VIEWPOINT f Rethinking the train control loop ‘Advances in technology are opening up opportunities for a more decentralised approach to railway command and control systems, which could lead to convergence with other modes, ERA Director Josef Doppelbauer told the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers on June 13. ‘precise control, enabling real-time tra rules, for historical reasons railways — i fic management. Interuptions can be particulariyin Europe — operate under rt taken into account, helping to avoid a fragmented national or local rules that | a cascade of disruption. This will enable leave the network deeply divided. . y the reduction of pathing and recor- Although all control, command and NY JOSEF DOPPELBAUER ery allowances in the timetable the signalling systems are based on the ‘ a zi ‘more accurately the position ofa train is same block principle, almost every in- known, the les buferis needed (Fig 1). fastrucure manager has their own op- per en Ie et Rendering obsolete the need to operate erating concept, resulting in different Ptah emaciated under worst case assumptions should technical specifications for mobile and a ara hen ne Mey ing improvements in line capacity, ipment. Despite the advent of tenor canna bes imperrraretn in Tne cope Tal | Sed cot pene: Devs Ge siemee fe Exras, fill interoperability across na- eer eee ace ery Yee a tah Ra Backbone of smart mobility tional borders has yet tobe achieved. Tntegetng the operational wchitec- "The Enres deployment pliloophy ture of diferent modes offer avast po- mutt be reviewed. We need to rethink allway control systems have tential for improving transport services the curent planning for ETCS Level 2 come a long way since the tothe citizens of Europe by de-congest~ and accelerate towards Level 3, ifwe are casliest days of signaling, ing urban centres and minimising the to achieve the vision of significantly xe but such is the rate of tech- environmental footprint of each jour- ducing the number of physical assets in nological advances that I believe we ney. Ral needs to positon itself as the the track. In view of the long timescale are on the threshold of « fundamental backbone of smart mobility, bu it has envisaged fr the deployment of ERTS change, and the emergence of what we traditionally been known for its slow in Europe, it could be economically could call Command & Control 4.0. uptake of innovation, Ifrailways are not very attractive and redefine Level 3 to Increased processing powes, the tobecome relevant in the new mobility facilitate an upgrade to Level 4.0. This greater use of sensors and croved intel «ra, we must focus on what the technol- would enable railways to migrate direct- ligence look set to unleash a new po- ‘oy can do best — moving heavy loads ly — as far asis feasible — to some sort ‘ental for innovation in railway control quickly over medium to long distances of decentralised system without writing systems. In the not too distant Future, inthe main ine sector and moving high of existing investment. ‘most functionality will move onboard, volumes ofpeople with minimum useof Command & Control 4.0 requires although some form of central traffic space in the denser urban environments. a new mindset, where state-of the art ‘management will have to remain for ‘Apartfrom the need to carefully man- technology and components can be network-wide optimisation. age migration, in a shared eystem, with imported from other sectors instead ‘We will most likely see three layers of anew safety logic based on geography, of ‘re-inventing the wheel’ every time. control — local to each tai, ‘commu~ independent from track lyout and op- Mainstreaming railway technology in nities of nearby vehicles (potentially in- ertional rules, there isthe fundamental this way accompanied by market open cluding the virtual coupling of vehicles need to know exactly where the trains ing and greater mobility of assets, could into collective ‘tains), and 2 top level are, Precise localisation and secure com- attract new levels of private financing. looking at optimising capacity and con- munication ae the eitial requirements Take rolling stock as another example, fit avoidance. But even a this network for Command & Control 40 to work. The globalisation of railway technology level, trafic management does not have Cybersecurity will be a design roquie- and regulation could lesd to product 10 be centralised; we will soon see the ment of the system, with a modular de~- standardisation and less customitation, ‘emergence of trackside inthe cloud’. sign allowing for easy upgrades. increasing the number of more standard Vehicle-to-vehicle communication Tt will be essential to address some vehicles compared to today. This would ‘ean also include non-rail vehicles, pro- structural issues that currently hin- lead to huge efficiencies, and a more Viding the possibility for mitigating deri ‘While virally all level playing Geld I is an opportunity ‘other hazards, such asthe interaction of other modes today operate under global that rail cannot afford to miss, = rail and road vehicles at evel crossings. Architecturally, I believe that rail > coer ot cael ae verge with the evolving technology for Loge rass [Tvs er self-drving cars. This could offer rail = the opportunity to re-use components a developed for automotive applications, a taking profit from the vastly greater vol- umes. At the same time, other modes Lio wee could benefit from the automation and Crane) Sot = Ee control concepts that have become more ng senate = st AS = ‘common in ral over the past SO years. sewing how 7 Command 8 Control 4.0 will l- Sgmmand Cantal low highly automated scheduling and besmucuea Ses ormiaeere i