Abstract
The new Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system over the standard European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) will specify the requirements that an automatic train driving system must fulfil in order to be interoperable. The driving is defined by target times located along the journey that are received from the trackside system. Then, the on-board equipment drives the train with the objective of meeting all of the target times. The use of eco-driving methods to calculate the train driving is necessary, as one of the main goals of modern train driving systems is to increase the energy efficiency. This paper presents a simulation-based optimisation algorithm to solve the eco-driving problem constrained by multiple target times. This problem aims to minimize the energy consumption subject to a commercial running time, as the classical eco-driving problem, and also to meet intermediate target times during the journey between stations to enable automatic traffic regulation, especially at junctions. The algorithm proposed combines a Differential Evolution procedure to generate possible solutions with a detailed train simulation model to evaluate them. The use of this algorithm makes possible to find accurate speed profiles that meet the requirements of multiple time objectives. The proposed Differential Evolution algorithm is capable of finding the feasible speed profile with the minimum energy consumption, obtaining a 7.7% of energy variation in the case of a journey with one intermediate target time and 3.1% in the case of two intermediate targets.
Highlights
There are many years of experience in the development and application of Automatic TrainOperation (ATO) systems in urban railways
This paper presents the eco-driving problem defined by the specification of the new system
It is subject to new constraints compared with the classical eco-driving timing points forces the driving to be close to the flat out speed profile, the energy consumption will be problem because of the intermediate target times imposed by the timing points during the journey
Summary
There are many years of experience in the development and application of Automatic Train. The trackside equipment is in charge of suppling the information of the track profile on the route, the operational restrictions and the timetable assigned to the train using specific ATO balises in ERTMS level 1 or via GSM-R in level 2 and 3 [14]. The on-board equipment will need algorithms to calculate the train speed profile and, as energy efficiency is one of the main goals of ATO over ERTMS, these algorithms have to be designed using eco-driving principles. The main contribution of the present paper is an optimization model based on a Nature Inspired algorithm with constraint handling processes that makes use of a detailed simulator, in order to obtain the train driving that minimizes the energy consumption in a journey, fulfilling intermediate time targets.
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