Method for requesting and setting shunting routes in rail transport

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and a method for requesting and setting shunting routes (9) in rail transport, comprising the following steps: a) providing a control system (2, 2a) for the arrangement of the rail traffic within a railway network, wherein, in addition to the actual track network, the railway network also has a depot and / or shunting area (6) with a track system (G1 to G4) and associated train protection systems (W1 to W3, S1 to S3); b) defining a shunting request (11), wherein the associated shunting route (9) thereof comprises a number of route elements of the track system and / or of the train protection system that are made available for this purpose and are set accordingly; c) providing a control-system-side checking entity (12) for the shunting request (11), wherein the checking entity has knowledge of data relating to the topology and / or development of the track and protection system and information relating to the statuses of the route elements located in the track system; d) checking the defined shunting request (12) by means of the control-system-side checking entity, wherein a test sequence (14) is carried out which checks the requested shunting route (9) for compliance with existing safety regulations and / or which queries on the signal box side whether the route elements (W1 to W3) affected by the requested shunting route (9) and the setting thereof can be carried out within a predefinable period of time; e) in the event of a positive assessment of the check of the safety regulations and / or the statuses requested on the signal box side, outputting the shunting request (11) to the signal box (4) with the prompt to set the requested shunting route (9); and f) setting the route element (W1 to W3) involved in the requested shunting route (9) and approving the shunting route (9) for travel.

Description

[0001] Procedure for requesting and setting shunting routes in rail transport

[0002] The present invention relates to a method for requesting and setting routes, in particular shunting routes, in rail-bound transport.

[0003] In rail transport, trains travel the railway network along routes requested by a control system at the operational train control level. This request can be triggered automatically when trains are operating according to schedule, thus ensuring a sequence of previously planned routes. In the event of deviations from the timetable or other interventions, the routes are requested manually by the train dispatcher. Each requested route is only set by a control unit (central or decentralized) once the route elements (points, signals, block occupancy detection, moving block in ETCS) for that route are available and can be set accordingly and locked against other use by competing routes. After the route has been traversed, the route is then...The closure of the roadway elements located within it will be lifted and the roadway elements will be available again for setting new routes.

[0004] The situation is different in the so-called depot and / or shunting areas of the railway companies, where trains (passenger and freight) are configured and parked. Setting routes in these depot and / or shunting areas is usually done by local control on site, for which the railway companies typically operate a second system in parallel with the control system out on the track. Unfortunately, this setup does not allow for a comprehensive overview of the existing infrastructure. Because the task of setting and releasing shunting routes, as well as maintaining points, must be carried out by the control center of the higher-level control system, and because communication between the train dispatcher and the shunting personnel takes place via radio, this has already led to coordination problems and unsafe situations in the depot and / or shunting areas.

[0005] Specifically, shunting routes at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) are currently set exclusively manually by the train dispatcher at the ILTIS® dispatching system workstation. Before setting a shunting route requested by a shunting supervisor, the train dispatcher must consider numerous factors.

[0006] The train dispatcher must:

[0007] - know which vehicles will be used for shunting

[0008] - know which vehicles are located where

[0009] - to know the condition of the individual track elements (tracks, switches, signals, etc.)

[0010] - know what will change in the foreseeable future

[0011] - know the capabilities of the shunting and train control system - know and comply with the regulations.

[0012] Setting shunting routes is therefore a completely manual process, the responsibility of the train dispatcher, with little system support and consequently prone to errors, which can ultimately have negative effects on safety.

[0013] In some Iltis stations, shunting routes are requested via a radio track detector (person / device). However, this primarily simplifies communication. The shunting routes are still set manually by the train dispatcher. The railway companies, however, want to significantly increase the level of automation in shunting operations.

[0014] The present invention therefore aims to provide a method for requesting and setting routes in rail-bound transport, which makes it possible to avoid unsafe situations in the depot and / or shunting areas and at the same time to have a uniform and reliable overview of the current setting of the track infrastructure and also to increase the degree of automation in shunting.

[0015] This task is accomplished according to the invention by a method for requesting and setting routes in rail-bound traffic, which comprises the following steps:

[0016] a) Providing a control system for the management of rail traffic within a railway network, wherein the railway network, in addition to the actual track network, also includes a depot and / or shunting area with a track system and associated train protection systems;

[0017] b) Defining a shunting request whose associated shunting route comprises a number of track elements of the track system and / or train control system provided and set accordingly;

[0018] c) Providing a control system-side check instance for the shunting request, wherein the check instance has knowledge of data on the topology and / or design of the track and safety system as well as information on the states of the track elements located in the track system;

[0019] d) Checking the defined shunting request with the control system's check instance, whereby a check sequence is performed which verifies the requested shunting route for compliance with existing safety regulations and / or queries the interlocking system as to whether the route elements affected by the requested shunting route and their setting can be completed within a specified period of time;

[0020] e) If the verification of the safety regulations and / or the conditions queried by the interlocking system is positive, the shunting request is issued to the interlocking system with the request to set the requested shunting route; and

[0021] f) Setting the route element involved in the requested shunting route and releasing the

[0022] Shunting on Ahrstrasse for access.

[0023] In this way, the present invention ensures that planned / intended shunting movements can be planned and / or optimized in advance, for example, in a Traffic Management System (TMS) at the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), and then transmitted to the control system (Iltis®, ILTIS NETZ®) in a timely manner. Before the request to actually set the shunting route is issued to the interlocking system, the control system's check mechanism verifies whether its implementation violates any regulations and / or whether there is a reasonable chance of the interlocking system successfully setting the shunting route immediately. If these checks are successful, the shunting route can then be set automatically, so that, as a rule, no operator (previously the train dispatcher) is involved.Manual intervention by the train dispatcher at the control system workstation should only be necessary in exceptional cases. This allows railway companies to successfully pursue two goals: firstly, to generate greater safety in the shunting route setting process, and secondly, to enable automation in the setting process for shunting routes.

[0024] In a suitable embodiment of the present invention, the states of the track elements located in the track system can be derived from the process image available on the control system side.

[0025] Further advantageous embodiments of the present invention can be found in the remaining dependent claims.

[0026] Advantageous embodiments of the present invention are explained in more detail with reference to the drawing. The figure shows a schematic view of a solution concept for requesting and setting routes in a shunting area 6, which is simplified here by way of example, incorporating a dispatching control system 2 and an interlocking 4 for this shunting area 6. The shunting area 6 has four shunting tracks Gl to G4, which are accessible via three switches W1 to W3 and corresponding dwarf signals S1 to S3 indicating the switch position. Within the control system 2, here for example the ILTIS Netz® system of Siemens Mobility AG, Wallisellen, Switzerland, a control system cell 2a, specifically adapted to the shunting area 6, is used to process requests for

[0027] Shunting Ahrstrasse upgraded.

[0028] A shunting route is requested, for example, by a shunting supervisor in the user interface of a train management system 8 – hereinafter referred to as TMS – by the TMS transmitting the desired route (path) in the form of a shunting request 9 in a timely manner via a communication interface 10 to the control system 2, i.e., to its responsible control system cell 2a. In the control system 2, the received shunting request 11 is checked in a functionality referred to here as the Rat aController 12. A previously defined check sequence 14 is executed, which ensures that no regulations are violated by the implementation of the shunting request 9 and that there is a good chance of the shunting route 9 being successfully and immediately set by the signal box 4.Upon successful verification by the functionality of the Raf aController 12, an operating request 16 for this shunting route 9 is generated, and a function for processing the operating request 18 within the control system 2 issues a command 20 to the relevant signal box 4 to set the shunting route 9 required for the implementation of the shunting request 11. To perform the checks, the functionality of the Raf aController 12 requires data on the topology / projection of the track and signaling system as well as information 22 about the states of the infrastructure elements, here the tracks Gl to G4, the points W1 to W3, and the dwarf signals S1 to S3, from a process image 24 prepared within the control system 2. This process image 24 is generated and displayed, for example, in the form of magnified images in a control center from the data 28 received from signal box 4.At the same time, this data 28 can then be sent to the interface 10 of the TMS 8 in the form of application-compatible data 28 ' (for example, according to a predefined interface protocol).

[0029] The test sequence 14 is the set of all test steps that this functionality selects from a predefined set of available test steps, which are then executed by the Raf aController 12 for each shunting request 11. Test sequence 14 can include test steps that are executed only once, as well as those that are executed continuously until the test is successful or until an optional time limit specified in the shunting request 11 is reached. The shunting request 11 is considered successfully tested if all test steps of test sequence 14 return a positive result.

[0030] If the Raf aController 12 successfully completes the check, the control system 2 issues command 20 to set the shunting route(s) required for implementing shunting request 11 via an interface 26 to the relevant interlocking system 4. If the check fails, for example, because at least one check step in the check sequence returns a negative result after the time limit has expired, a negative confirmation is sent back to the TMS 8. This negative result could, for example, originate from a switch position that is currently locked for another shunting route and is therefore unavailable for a change in switch position. The negative confirmation lists all check steps that returned a negative result after the time limit has expired.

[0031] The test steps to be performed within test sequence 14 are defined directly in the project of the Raf aController 12. It may be provided that a new version of the test sequence can be imported at runtime and activated system-wide at a predetermined time x.

[0032] The special effect of the present invention lies, therefore, in both the method and the system adapted for this purpose, in the fact that an external system (in this case, for example, the TMS 8 of a railway operator (e.g., SBB)) can transmit a shunting route 9 in the form of a shunting request 11 to the control system 2 (in this case, Iltis Netz®), which is checked in the Raf aController functionality 12 and, if the check is successful, output to the signal box 4. Thus, in this software solution, the actions are performed that would otherwise have to be carried out laboriously in communication between the train dispatcher and the shunting supervisor. The method according to the invention therefore has the advantage that an external system can automatically set shunting routes 9 in the control system 2 without the need to involve a train dispatcher in most cases.

Claims

Patent claims 1. Procedure for requesting and setting routes ( 9) in rail transport, comprising the following steps: a) Providing a control system (2, 2a) for the management of rail traffic within a railway network, wherein the railway network includes, in addition to the actual track network, a depot and / or shunting area ( 6) with a track system (Gl to G4 ) and associated train protection systems (W1 to W3, S1 to S3); b) Defining a shunting request ( 11 ) whose associated shunting route ( 9) comprises a number of track elements provided for this purpose and set accordingly in the track system and / or the train control system; c) Providing a control system-side check instance ( 12 ) for the shunting request ( 11 ) wherein the check instance has knowledge of data on the topology and / or design of the track and safety system as well as information on the states of the track elements located in the track system; d) Checking the defined shunting request ( 12 ) with the control system-side check instance, whereby a check sequence ( 14 ) is carried out which checks the requested shunting route ( 9) for compliance with existing safety regulations and / or queries the interlocking system as to whether the route elements (W1 to W3) affected by the requested shunting route ( 9) and their setting can be carried out within a specified period of time; e) if the verification of the safety regulations and / or the conditions queried by the interlocking system is positive, the shunting request ( 11 ) is issued to the interlocking system (4 ) with the request to set the requested shunting route ( 9 ); and f) Setting the route element (W1 to W3) involved in the requested shunting road ( 9) and releasing the shunting road ( 9) for use.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the states of the track elements located in the track system are derived from the process image (24) available on the control system.

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