Electronic Coupling of Next Generation Trains

Abstract

An objective of the European Commission is to move thirty percent of road and short-distance air transport to the modes of railroad and shipping. This, for railroad, will overload the already existing bottle necks in the Trans European Network (TEN) even more. One solution without extensive infrastructure measures is a more intensive use of the existing network by reducing the headway of trains by means of an innovative safety system: Electronic coupling will allow trains to drive on the same track with a shorter quasi-constant distance. Moreover dynamical joining and splitting of trains and while driving shall provide the flexibility for railway operators to adapt to the changing traffic demands and to use short platforms with long train compounds. In order to realize dynamic Train coupling, position and speed information must be reliably exchanged between trains. New communication technologies offer this ability of direct communications between vehicles with high rate and low latency. In this paper we present a controller concept that supports the fore mentioned novel operational procedures. One critical issue is compound stability. For this theoretical stability analysis is carried out and verified with simulations. Furthermore we present the concept for execution of rendezvous manoeuvres.