Abstract
The increasing need for capacity has led the railway industry to explore next generation signalling concepts such as Virtual Coupling which takes moving-block operations further by separating trains by a relative braking distance, like cars on the road. By means of a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication architecture trains can move in a virtually coupled platoon which can be treated as a single convoy at junctions to improve capacity. This concept however introduces the need for additional safety constraints, especially at diverging junctions, which could make actual capacity improvements insufficient to justify investments. Hence, there is a need to understand capacity performances of Virtual Coupling and potential gains over state-of-practice signalling systems. This paper addresses this need by developing an innovative train-following model that captures operational states and corresponding transitions of trains running under Virtual Coupling. A comparative capacity analysis has been conducted for a portion of the South West Main Line in the UK. Promising results have been obtained, showing that the biggest capacity gains returned by Virtual Coupling relate to operational scenarios normally found in practice with trains having service stops and using different routes.
Highlights
The ever-increasing railway transport demand of passengers and goods has been challenging infrastructure managers to continuously expand capacity of existing networks, which already operate in near-to-saturation conditions
This paper introduces a detailed capacity analysis of the Virtual Coupling concept which upgrades moving-block train operations by imposing a relative braking distance separation rather than an absolute one
The developed train-following model has been applied to part of the South West Main Line in the UK to simulate train operations under Virtual Coupling with the aim of identifying capacity performances of this concept and potential benefits over state-of-practice signalling systems
Summary
The ever-increasing railway transport demand of passengers and goods has been challenging infrastructure managers to continuously expand capacity of existing networks, which already operate in near-to-saturation conditions. The objective of this paper is to provide a wider understanding of operational issues and capacity performances of Virtual Coupling as well as possible gains over state-of-the-practice signalling systems To this end, a multi-state train-following model is developed which overcomes limitations of state-of-the-art carfollowing models by considering non-linear vehicle movement dynamics, realistic power characteristics of the traction unit, safety constraints at junctions as well as line resistances due to track gradient and curvature. Virtual Coupling signalling advances the concept of moving-block railway operations introduced by ETCS Level 3, allowing trains to be separated by a relative braking distance rather than by an absolute braking distance. Quaglietta (2018) provides instead an initial definition for safe Virtual Coupling operational principles and an infrastructure occupation model, showing that significant capacity gains can be achieved over ETCS Level 3 when separating trains by a relative braking distance. A novel train-following model is developed in this paper which overcomes the limitations of car-following models currently available in literature by specifying multiple modes of operations while considering all factors that mainly influence train dynamics in real-life
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