Railway Route Control Bypassing Failed Trackside Devices
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing track systems fail to maintain operation when trackside facilities experience failures or communication disruptions, leading to blocked routes and potential accidents.
Innovation Solution
Defining a fictitious alternative route composed of multiple real routes, which can be activated for travel even if individual real routes are blocked due to facility failures or missing status reports, allowing continued operation by informing vehicles of the next relevant signaling device and ignoring intermediate signals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the track system strictly follows status reports from trackside facilities to control route availability, then safety is maintained, but the system becomes unable to operate when facilities fail or reports are missing
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-defines fictitious alternative routes that can be activated when real routes become unavailable due to facility failures. These alternative routes are prepared in advance with predetermined signaling device sequences, allowing immediate activation without complex real-time analysis when failures occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The fictitious alternative route acts as an intermediary solution between the failed real route and the train operation. By introducing this intermediate routing option with modified signaling requirements, the system bridges the gap caused by facility failures while maintaining safety through controlled activation procedures.
2Productivity
If the system requires all status reports to be available before releasing a route, then safety is ensured, but productivity drops when trackside facilities experience failures
Solution Approach 1:
Alternative routes are pre-configured with predetermined sequences of signaling devices that should be observed. This preliminary setup allows the system to bypass failed facilities and maintain throughput by switching to pre-planned alternative paths without requiring complex real-time decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters by allowing trains to ignore certain intermediate signaling devices when traveling on fictitious alternative routes. This parameter modification enables route release even when status reports from facilities along the alternative path are unavailable, thereby maintaining productivity.
3Reliability
If the system allows bypassing intermediate signaling devices on alternative routes, then operation continuity is maintained, but complexity of the control system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The route control system is segmented into standard route handling and alternative route handling. Each fictitious alternative route is defined as a separate entity with its own predetermined signaling device sequence. This segmentation isolates the complexity to specific alternative paths rather than requiring complex logic throughout the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified copies of route information for fictitious alternative routes, storing only the essential predetermined sequence of signaling devices that should be observed. This copying approach reduces complexity by eliminating the need for detailed real-time status monitoring of all facilities along alternative paths.
4Ease of operation
If the system defines fictitious alternative routes that ignore intermediate signals, then ease of operation improves during failures, but measurement precision of track status decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary safety checks before allowing trains to use fictitious alternative routes, verifying that the alternative route is actually free of other trains. This preliminary verification compensates for the reduced measurement precision during actual operation, ensuring safety despite ignoring intermediate signaling devices.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The invention relates, inter alia, to a method for operating a track system (10), wherein in the method, real travel routes (RFS1, RFS2, RFS3, RFS4, RFS5, RFS6, RFS7) of the track system (10) are each individually cleared for travel, or are blocked, depending on status messages that are transmitted from route-side devices to a signal box (20). According to the invention, at least one fictitious equivalent travel route (FEFS) is defined, which is a combination of two or more real travel routes (RFS1, RFS2, RFS4, RFS6), and, if an actuating command (ST) for activating the equivalent travel route (FEFS) is on hand, the fictitious equivalent travel route (FEFS) is cleared for travel, even if one or more of the real travel routes (RFS1, RFS2, RFS4, RFS6) forming the fictitious equivalent travel route (FEFS) are blocked due to a failure of one or more of the route-side devices and/or the absence of status messages that would give clearance for travel.