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EP-4737263-A1 - RAILWAY SIGNALLING SYSTEM

EP4737263A1EP 4737263 A1EP4737263 A1EP 4737263A1EP-4737263-A1

Abstract

Railway signalling system comprising a first trackside (100) having a first controller (110) for controlling a first type of trains (10) of a first train control system in a first line (120), the first type of trains (10) having a first core processing unit (11) of the first train control system for exchanging information with the first controller (110), and a second trackside (200) having a second controller (210) for controlling a second type of trains (20) of a second train control system on a second line (220), the second type of trains (20) having a second core processing unit (21) of the second train control system for exchanging information with the second controller (210), the first train control system and the second train control system are different train control systems, and wherein the first controller (110) is further configured for controlling the second type of trains (20) of the second train control system in the first line (120).

Inventors

  • LARRAMENDI ARBURUA, Mikel
  • GÓMEZ GARCÍA, Carmen
  • VELADO MARTINEZ, Ivan
  • IRAZABAL GARCIANDIA, Ion

Assignees

  • CAF Signalling, S.L.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20241031

Claims (15)

  1. Railway signalling system comprising: - a first trackside (100) having a first trackside equipment with a first controller (110) configured for controlling a first type of trains (10) of a first train control system in a first line (120) safely, - the first type of trains (10) having a first train onboard equipment with a first core processing unit (11) of the first train control system for exchanging information with the first controller (110) for circulating in the first line (10) safely, - a second trackside (200) having a second trackside equipment with a second controller (210) configured for controlling a second type of trains (20) of a second train control system on a second line (220) safely, the first train control system and the second train control system are different train control systems, - the second type of trains (20) having a second train onboard equipment with a second core processing unit (21) of the second train control system for exchanging information with the second controller (210) for circulating in the second line (220) safely, characterized in that the first controller (110) of the first trackside equipment is further configured for controlling the second type of trains (20) of the second train control system in the first line (120) safely.
  2. Railway signalling system according to claim 1, wherein the first train control system is a Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system, and the second train control system is the European Train Control System (ETCS).
  3. Railway signalling system according to claim 2, wherein the first controller (110) of the first trackside equipment is configured to send messages to the first type of trains (10) according to the Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system and to send messages to the second type of trains (20) according to the European Train Control System (ETCS).
  4. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first type of trains (10) are configured to send a first message to the first trackside equipment of the first trackside (100) when entering in the first line (120) and the second type of trains (20) are configured to send a second message to the first trackside equipment of the first trackside (100) when entering in the first line (120), the first message being different from the second message, such that first controller (110) recognises the train entering the first line (120) based on said different messages, such that the first controller (110) controls the first type of trains (10) within first line (120) safely using the first train control system and the first controller (110) controls the second type of trains (20) within first line (120) safely using the second train control system.
  5. Railway signalling system according to the preceding claim, wherein the first message contains a reference identifying the train (10) and the second message not containing said reference.
  6. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first line (120) has an entry (121) connected with the second line (220) for entry of the second type of trains (20) in the first line (120), and the second train onboard equipment of the second type of trains (20) continuously sends the position of the train (20) to the second controller (210), such that the second controller (210) is used to transfer the train control right of the train (20) from the second controller (210) to the first controller (110) when the train (20) is reaching the entry (121) of the first line (120).
  7. Railway signalling system according to the preceding claim, wherein the second trackside equipment of the second trackside (200) has a balise (201) close to the entry (121) of the first line (120), said balise (201) has information for connecting with the first controller (110), such that the second train onboard equipment of the second type of trains (20) reads the information of the balise (201) to connect to the first controller (110).
  8. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the train onboard equipment of the trains (10,20) continuously sends the position and speed of the train (10,20) and the first controller (110) continuously send a movement authority (MA) to each of the trains (10,20) to maintain a safety distance between the trains (10,20).
  9. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first trackside equipment comprises an automatic train supervision system (ATS) and a plurality of zone controllers (ZC), each zone controller (ZC) controls a section of the first line (120), wherein the trains (10,20) continuously sends the position and speed to the zone controller (ZC) and zone controller (ZC) continuously sends a movement authority to each of the trains (10,20) to maintain a safety distance between the trains (10,20).
  10. Railway signalling system according to the preceding claim, wherein the automatic train supervision system (ATS) sends messages to the first type of trains (10) and the second type of trains (20) when entering the first line (120), said messages contains a journey profile (JP) with information of the mission to be done by the train (10,20) within the first line (120).
  11. Railway signalling system according to the preceding claim, wherein the journey profile JP have information of the stopping points where and when the train (10,20) has to stop along the line, and/or the dwell time at each stopping point.
  12. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first core processing unit (11) of the first type of trains (10) is further configured for exchanging information with the second controller (210) for circulating in the second line (220) safely.
  13. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first trackside equipment of the first trackside (100) comprises a radio communication system for communicating with a radio (13) of the first train onboard equipment and a radio (23) of the second train onboard equipment, and wherein said a radio communication system uses a same wireless radio technology for communicating with both radios (13, 23).
  14. Railway signalling system according to the preceding claim, wherein the first core processing unit (11) is configured to send messages to the first controller (110) according to the Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system and to send messages to the second controller (210) according to the European Train Control System (ETCS).
  15. Railway signalling system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first line (120) is a railway urban line, and the second line (220) is a railway suburban line.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to railway signalling systems for controlling trains of different train control systems safely. PRIOR ART The number of people that needs to travel between the suburbs of the cities and the city centre is increasing, being the railway transport an increasingly popular option for this kind of mobility. Inside the city centre, where traffic density is higher, urban lines widely use Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) systems to control train safely. On the contrary, on the suburbs, outside from the city centre, although sometimes the traffic can be relatively dense, suburban lines need to be more open in order to allow a great variety of trains, of different kind, with different lengths and independent providers, so the standard European Train Control System (ETCS) is widely used to control train safely on the suburban lines. However, both types of train control systems, CBTC and ETCS, are incompatible, what results in uncomfortable commutes for the passenger as well as duplicated equipment. A usual approach to overcome this incompatibility problem is using transfer stations that allows passenger to change from suburban lines to urban lines. Another approach allows trains to directly pass from a suburban line to an urban line without the need of passengers to get off the train. For said purpose, trains with duplicated onboard equipment are used. Said trains have a first train onboard equipment implementing a ETCS system and a second onboard equipment implementing a CBTC system, so in said approach, when the train is reaching the transition zone between the suburban line and the urban line, the driver has to switch between the first onboard equipment to the second onboard equipment, so the train can exit the suburban line governed by the ETCS system and enter the urban line govern by the CBTC system. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a railway signalling system, as defined in the claims. The invention refers to a railway signalling system comprising: a first trackside having a first trackside equipment with a first controller configured for controlling a first type of trains of a first train control system in a first line safely,the first type of trains having a first train onboard equipment with a first core processing unit of the first train control system for exchanging information with the first controller for circulating in the first line safely,a second trackside having a second trackside equipment with a second controller configured for controlling a second type of trains of a second train control system on a second line safely, the first train control system and the second train control system are different train control systems,the second type of trains having a second train onboard equipment with a second core processing unit of the second train control system for exchanging information with the second controller for circulating in the second line safely, and wherein the first controller of the first trackside equipment is further configured for controlling the second type of trains of the second train control system in the first line safely. The proposed railway signalling system provides interoperability between both systems allowing the second type of trains coming from the second line to be controlled by the first trackside equipment within the first line safely. In this way, the second type of train is managed within the first line as if it were a first type of train of said first line. The first train control system may be preferably a CBTC system (Communications-Based Train Control) and the second train control system may be preferably the ETCS system (European Train Control System). As a consequence, it is not necessary to use transfer stations to allow passengers to change between lines, nor it is necessary to use trains having a duplicated train onboard equipment for circulating within both lines safely. These and other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent in view of the figures and the detailed description of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows an example of a railway signalling system according to the invention.Figures 2a and 2b show train onboard equipment according to the invention.Figure 3 shows a scheme of communications established in the railway signalling system.Figure 4 shows another scheme of communications established in the railway signalling system. DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 shows a railway signalling system comprising a first trackside 100 with a first line 120 for a first type of trains 10 of a first train control system and a second trackside 200 with a second line 220 for a second type of trains 20 of a second train control system. The first train control system and the second train control system are different train control systems. The first train control system has a first communication protocol that regulates the com