Ring Topology Railway Signalling with Information Sharing among Onboard and Switch Controllers

Abstract

Conventional communication-based train control (CBTC) systems enable the frequent operation of trains by detecting train's position and the telecommunication system between the onboard and trackside controllers compared to traditional signalling systems. However, the railway signalling system is still costly, and the cost of the trackside central controllers is particularly high because high-performance failsafe hardware and software are required to control the many pieces of field equipment. Given this situation, we have proposed a concept for a cost-effective CBTC system that provides functionalities equivalent to those of existing signalling systems by using ring topology information shared among the onboard and switch controllers without trackside central controllers. Its basic mechanism is the circulation of a telegram containing information about the exclusive rights to virtual blocks in turn among the controllers within each controlled section. This mechanism reduces the equipment cost to approximately one-third that of a conventional CBTC system. We have now conducted a feasibility study to verify the practicality of this system and have identified potential problems related to system reliability and transportation capacity. This paper presents solutions to these problems and experimental results to show that the proposed system is technically valid and can be applied to many railway lines.