Robotic Railway Multi-Sensing and Profiling Unit Based on Artificial Intelligence and Data Fusion

This article presents the research and results of field tests and simulations regarding an autonomous/robotic railway vehicle, designed to collect multiple information on safety and functional parameters of a surface railway and/or subway section, based on data fusion and machine learning. The maintenance of complex railways, or subway networks with long operating times is a difficult process and intensive resources consuming. The proposed solution delivers human operators in the fault management service and operations from the time-consuming task of railway inspection and measurements, by integrating several sensors and collecting most relevant information on railway, associated automation equipment and infrastructure on a single intelligent platform. The robotic cart integrates autonomy, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and ability to detect even infrastructural anomalies. Moreover, via a future process of complex statistical filtering of data, it is foreseen that the solution might be configured to offer second-order information about infrastructure changes, such as land sliding, water flooding, or similar modifications. Results of simulations and field tests show the ability of the platform to integrate several fault management operations in a single process, useful in increasing railway capacity and resilience.

Compositional modeling of railway Virtual Coupling with Stochastic Activity Networks

The current travel demand in railways requires the adoption of novel approaches and technologies in order to increase network capacity. Virtual Coupling is considered one of the most innovative solutions to increase railway capacity by drastically reducing train headway. The aim of this paper is to provide an approach to investigate the potential of Virtual Coupling in railways by composing stochastic activity networks model templates. The paper starts describing the Virtual Coupling paradigm with a focus on standard European railway traffic controllers. Based on stochastic activity network model templates, we provide an approach to perform quantitative evaluation of capacity increase in reference Virtual Coupling scenarios. The approach can be used to estimate system capacity over a modelled track portion, accounting for the scheduled service as well as possible failures. Due to its modularity, the approach can be extended towards the inclusion of safety model components. The contribution of this paper is a preliminary result of the PERFORMINGRAIL (PERformance-based Formal modelling and Optimal tRaffic Management for movING-block RAILway signalling) project funded by the European Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.

An Integrated Methodology for the Multi-Objective Optimization of Port Railway Capacity: The Case Study of the Port of Trieste

The relevant pressure exerted on ports following the advent of globalization and containerization has contributed to transform the role of such intermodal transport facilities, increasing their complexity with reference to both performed activities and involved actors. The potential of solid hinterland connections in enhancing port competitiveness has sustained the larger embracement of the railway mode, which has proved to be a financially and environmentally sustainable solution, especially on long hauls. However, the limited residual capacity currently characterizing several railway network and nodes may threaten the accommodation of additional future traffic volumes and, thus, it requires the adoption of a coordinated strategy to more efficiently manage existing railway infrastructures, other than the realization of some new ones. In this regard, an integrated methodology has been developed to specifically model, simulate and optimize port railway processes, as part of a more complex system, imposing the maximization of capacity with the concurrent minimization of used shunting locomotives, to varying of infrastructural and operational conditions. This combination of techniques has been applied to the case study of the Port of Trieste, Italy, showing the greater influence of tracks availability over changes in the operational conditions, in terms of a shorter duration of specific administrative tasks and the employment of more shunting locomotives.

Construction of Differentiated Periodic Freight Train Paths in Dense Mixed Traffic

The article is focused on detailed framework process for hierarchized construction of periodic freight train paths (PFTPs) – allocation of pre-arranged railway capacity to freight rail operators. The framework process considers fluctuations in demand for capacity from freight rail opera-tors, so the quality of a freight train path is related with its construction priority. Introduced framework process aims to offer freight rail operators attractive train paths, with low number of scheduled stops, and this way enhance competitiveness and decrease energy consumption of freight railway as a factor for sustainable development. The proposed generic process is in-tended for all time horizons of capacity allocation. Correctness of the framework process is tested on the example of mainline Prague – Dresden, in the context of prospective (denser) mod-el passenger timetable.

The architecture of decision-making support systems used for the rational railway capacity management

Decision-making support systems in railway transport are systems that make it easier for traffic controllers and dispatchers involved in the regulation of train traffic to make individual decisions more easily and accurately. Without such systems, dispatchers usually make decisions based on previous experiences and feelings they have developed working in train traffic control. However, quality decision-making support systems are based on large amounts of data processed by one or several different artificial intelligence techniques. This paper will examine the architecture of such a system in railway transport, which helps the dispatcher to make decisions based on different criteria and values of individual criteria. The architecture of this decision-making support system has been developed to equal or, if necessary, use the maximum available double-track railway line capacity to resolve delays caused by lack of capacity for any given route. This system has been developed for the specific configuration of a double track, whereby each track is intended for one direction of train traffic. This paper will lay the foundation for understanding decision-making support systems and for the development of a specific model of decision-making support system in practice.

Increasing railway capacity with the installation of reactive power compensation

The article considers existing regulated installations of transverse capacitive compensation for increasing the capacity of sections of the traction network of 25 and 2×25 kV of Russian railways. Characteristics of a static reactive power generator based on bipolar IGBT transistors (manufactured by LLC NPP “RU-Engineering”, Naberezhnye Chelny), a switchable filtercompensating unit (manufactured by the Gorkovskaya Railway and the Nizhny Novgorod branch of SamGUPS), a three-stage switchable filter-compensating unit. To increase the capacity, all installations are switched on at the traction network sectioning posts. Long-term operation of the static reactive power generator and switchable filter-compensating unit have proven their operational efficiency. At the same time, the following upgrades are proposed: in a static reactive power generator it is proposed to reduce the installed power, replacing it with unregulated compensation, and in a switchable filter-compensating installation, it is proposed to switch in 400–500 V steps to normalize the traction mode of the electric rolling stock.It is shown that in terms of technical characteristics, a switchable filter-compensating installation with a thyristor switch is not inferior to a static generator of reactive power in terms of increasing the capacity, and in some respects it surpasses it. On the whole, in terms of payback period, a switchable filter-compensating installation surpasses a static generator of reactive power due to the high cost of the latter. The following options for using the considered installations are proposed. With the required power of transverse capacitive compensation units up to 5–6 MVAr, to increase the capacity, switchable filter-compensating units should be installed. Taking into account real loads, such a solution will be implemented at most sectioning posts. For installations with a capacity of more than 5–6 MVAr, the option of using a static reactive power generator of reduced power should be considered: at high loads, its efficiency will increase.

SAT modulo discrete event simulation applied to railway design capacity analysis

This paper proposes a new method of combining SAT with discrete event simulation. This new integration proved useful for designing a solver for capacity analysis in early phase railway construction design. Railway capacity is complex to define and analyze, and existing tools and methods used in practice require comprehensive models of the railway network and its timetables. Design engineers working within the limited scope of construction projects report that only ad-hoc, experience-based methods of capacity analysis are available to them. Designs often have subtle capacity pitfalls which are discovered too late, only when network-wide timetables are made—there is a mismatch between the scope of construction projects and the scope of capacity analysis, as currently practiced. We suggest a language for capacity specifications suited for construction projects, expressing properties such as running time, train frequency, overtaking and crossing. Such specifications can be used as contracts in the interface between construction projects and network-wide capacity analysis. We show how these properties can be verified fully automatically by building a special-purpose solver which splits the problem into two: an abstracted SAT-based dispatch planning, and a continuous-domain dynamics with timing constraints evaluated using discrete event simulation. The two components communicate in a CEGAR loop (counterexample-guided abstraction refinement). This architecture is beneficial because it clearly distinguishes the combinatorial choices on the one hand from continuous calculations on the other, so that the simulation can be extended by relevant details as needed. We describe how loops in the infrastructure can be handled to eliminate repeating dispatch plans, and use case studies based on data from existing infrastructure and ongoing construction projects to show that our method is fast enough at relevant scales to provide agile verification in a design setting. Similar SAT modulo discrete event simulation combinations could also be useful elsewhere where one or both of these methods are already applicable such as in bioinformatics or hardware/software verification.

Railway Capacity Enhancement with Modern Signalling Systems – A Literature Review

In times of ever stronger awareness of environmental protection and potentiation of a beneficial modal split, the railway sector with efficient asset utilization and proper investment planning has the highest chance of meeting customer expectations and attracting new users more effectively. Continuous increase in railway demand leads to an increase in the utilization of railway infrastructure, and the inevitable lack of capacity, a burning problem that many national railways are continually facing. To address it more effectively, this paper reviews available methodologies for railway capacity determination and techniques for its enhancement in the recent scientific literature. Particular focus is given to the possibility of increasing railway capacity through signalling systems and installing the European Train Control System (ETCS). The most important relationships with segments of existing research have been identified, and in line with this, the directions for a potential continuation of research are suggested.

Calculation Model of Railway Capacity Price in the Czech Republic

This paper presents a pricing model of railway infrastructure capacity allocation functioning as a regulatory measure while fulfilling the regulatory requirements on railway infrastructure capacity allocation. The prices of railway infrastructure capacity allocation will be modelled with regard to all economically justifiable costs of railway infrastructure capacity allocation. The structure of model has been developed as a set of calculation sheets in Microsoft Excel. The recommended prices for railway capacity have been found by simulation of a set of variants and the recommendation is done for different operational conditions in an individual way. It analyses different products offered by the railway infrastructure capacity allocator both in the annual working timetable mode, and in the individual ad hoc mode. The aim of the proposed model is to motivate not only railway undertakings, but also the railway infrastructure capacity allocator to submit requests for railway infrastructure capacity in the annual working timetable mode rather than in the individual ad hoc mode. The total price is then verified to the cost of railway infrastructure capacity allocation. This process then ensures the regulation of the demand of railway undertakings on the given route and can influence the decision about the use of the product offered.