The Potential of Remote and Automatic Control for Train Operation

Abstract

CONTRARY TO POPULAR CONCEPTION, automation is not new to the railway industry. In order that we may fully appreciate the long and steady progression which has actually been made toward more remote control and automatic operation, let's take a brief look at some of the accomplishments already made. One of the first applications of automation to any industry was the invention in 1872 of the track circuit which permits a train or any part thereof to retain continuous and direct control of a block signal while occupying any portion of the track guarded by the signal. This is pure automation and the railroads had it 90 years ago. In 1925 the first application was made of cab signals and automatic train control. This development not only brought the wayside signal into the locomotive cab but also provided an automatic means for the signal system to monitor the actions of the engineer and take over control of the train should the signal indications not be followed. In 1927 the first installation of Centralized Traffic Control was made. This was the beginning of a program which is still progressing today, even though there are more than 31,000 miles of track signaled for operation by this system on U. S. railroads alone. The system developed for U. S. railroads is also used on considerable mileage in Canada and in Latin America and is being accepted as the most modern method of operation on railroads throughout the world. Here now was a means of directing the movement of trains over hundreds of miles of track from a central control point by one man. All controls for the operation of power switches and signals and intelligence covering the location of all trains transmitted to and from the control point over two wires. Later installations have eliminated the wires by using microwave. During the same period of time, the development of interlockings was being energetically pursued and culminated in 1907 when the first fully automatic interlocking was installed where trains themselves established their own routes. Although these first installations were simple and installed where train movements of one railroad crossing another were infrequent, here again the principles of pure automation were being applied. This was 40 years before the word itself was coined. In 1937, the first route-type interlocking was installed which permitted automatic alignment of a route through an interlocking from a remote location by simply pushing two buttons. From the foregoing examples, it appears that the American railway industry and its suppliers have led all industry in pioneering automatic, semi-automatic and remote control equipment. We believe this is true. But, are we resting on our laurels and becoming stagnant-as publicly charged on many occasions? We believe that we are not. Today we are taking these timetested principles and are modifying them, adapting them, and applying them to other automatically operating equipment. Actually, in recent years, we have made impressive forward strides toward remote and automatic control and have made them in a very short time. In 1954, the French National Railroads conducted remote control tests using an unmanned electric locomotive pulling three empty cars. The test track was 11 miles in length and the train was operated at speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Engineers stationed along the track beamed radio impulses to a control box mounted in the locomotive. The tests were considered successful. Sparked by the successful test of remote control by the French, historic tests were successfully made in the United States on the main line of the New Haven Railroad in December of 1955 when a multiple-unit electrically propelled car was controlled remotely from Larchmont, N. Y., as it traveled between Larchmont and Rye, New York.