Synchronisation control of trains on the railway track controlled by the moving block signalling system

Abstract

It has been widely expected that moving block signalling will realise greater line capacity through shortened headways between trains. However, under the condition in which all trains are individually and manually controlled, the actual effect of introducing moving block signalling is marginal. To make full use of moving block systems, the author proposes a new scheme in which a train that follows another with minimum distance defined by the signalling system will keep the condition for a certain period of time through synchronisation control. This scheme will ensure that the minimum headways between trains will always be achieved through automatic control. In this study, the calculation result of the deceleration at which a train that follows another with the theoretical minimum distance is first shown. Then, the calculation and simulation results are shown for cases in which multiple trains simultaneously start moving or simultaneously start braking. Finally, as examples of possible applications of this scheme for the realisation of advanced rail services, the following three services are discussed together with the simulation results: (i) minimisation of departure-to-arrival headway at a platform, (ii) group operation of express trains and (iii) group operation of local trains.