Railway Operating Technologies

This textbook covers two subjects of railway science that, while often taught separately, are closely connected. One subject is the signalling and train control principles, and the other subject is timetabling and capacity. Appropriate design of signalling and control systems requires an understanding of their capacity effects. On the other hand, profound knowledge of the signalling and train control principles is needed to establish a conflict-free timetable and to evaluate the operational capacity. After an introduction to the basic operational terms and definitions, the signalling principles for safe train control are covered in several chapters from an operational point of view. This is followed by a chapter on the modelling of train paths by calculating the running time, and applying the blocking time theory to estimate the time slots that must be kept clear around the time-distance line for conflict-free train movements. Since the understanding of the signalling principles provided by the previous chapters is essential for the blocking time theory, and an accurate train path model is needed for the following chapters on timetabling and capacity, this chapter is the connecting link between these two knowledge areas. A final chapter explains how traffic control is organised to control train movements based on a given timetable. Here, the two subjects come together. In many aspects, this textbook is based on ideas from my earlier textbook 'Railway Operation and Control', which was published in four editions from 2004-2018 by VTD Rail Publishing. However, by reworking the concept completely, it is much more than just a new edition of the former book. The objective was to deliver knowledge with a long-term value. For this, it concentrates rather on principles than on specific solutions. It is based on more than 30 years of teaching experience at universities in Braunschweig, Berlin, Beijing, and Bangkok, and in higher vocational training programs for the railway industry. Bonus for free: The e-book-PDF of this book is available upon registration. Users of devices with a PDF reader will have electronic access to all content through a search function.