Improving signal aspect awareness of a driver advisory system over the Dutch signalling system to increase capacity

Abstract

The increasing passenger demand for rail service in the Netherlands, urges the Dutch infrastructure manager (IM) ProRail to increase network capacity. Instead of building new infrastructure, ProRail promotes information and communications technology solutions which aim for a more efficient utilization of the existing infrastructure. One of the ways to achieve improved capacity utilization is through decreasing the variability of train runs, i.e. by attaining more uniform train driving profiles. A driver advisory system (DAS) constitutes such a solution and it serves as a support for the driver to perform the train driving tasks. Additionally, the rollout of the European Train Control System Level 2 (ETCS L2) on the first part of the mainline Dutch network is planned for 2030. Developing a DAS compatible with ETCS L2 operation would yield high quality advice. Still, until the complete roll out of ETCS L2, ProRail aims to improve capacity on given bottlenecks using existing systems. A DAS constitutes a nonsafety critical, Grade of Automation 1 system. Under DAS operation, the driver adjusts the train controls and he/she is responsible for the safety of operations. A frequently arising problem when using a DAS, is that its advice usually leads to conflicts due to poor or no consideration of the actual traffic. An approach to handle this, is to provide the speed profile calculation module of a DAS with a dynamic speed profile that considers static and temporary speed restrictions as well as speed restrictions originating from the signalling system. The latter approach increases a DAS’s awareness regarding the actual signal state. This study aims to tackle conflicts with the latter approach. This approach for coping with conflicts when using a DAS is mentioned by several publications or commercial DASs but none of them explicitly defines how this is achieved. The main aim of this study is to increase the awareness of a conceptual CDASOn board regarding the actual signal state in order to minimise conflicts in disturbed operations. The proposed framework addresses the a CDASOn board operating on top of the Dutch signalling system NS’54 and the ClassB automatic train protection system ATBEG. In order to increase the proposed model’s effectiveness, this information must be provided in real time. Realtime signalling information is delivered on board by the maximum allowed speed data stream (Figure 1). It is proven that the only missing function from existing ProRail systems to provide this realtime information flow, is to determine the red signal in real time. Thus, the initial objective of this study can be scoped down to determining the red signal. It is also proven that the goal of determining the red signal is equivalent to the goal of locating the predecessor train. This information is planned to be fed to the on board equipment of a DAS via a novel data stream. Additionally, this section explained how this data stream fits to the train control architecture using a CDASOn board.