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Textbook: Railway Operation and Control

History of Changes

last update: 2020-04-15

Changes in 4^th edition

General changes

By changing the file format for line diagrams, they appear now in better printing quality. In the reference list, one new reference was added, and several references were updated to newer editions.

Changes in Chapter 1

• The classification of railway systems was modified a little by adding a distinction between heavy and light rail systems. The heavy rail category contains standard railways, heavy mass transit (subways etc.), and industrial railways.
• The explanation of North American yard limits was extended with a new picture included.

• The section on block systems was reorganised. Different from the traditional terms used in some old national systems,  but according with the actual definitions in many recently issued international guidelines, the term block system is now only used for systems with positive locking of signals. For this reason, telephone and telegraph block working is no longer part of the section on manual block but was moved to a separate section. When explaining the block control logic, the diagram on protection of following movements was modified. Signal control was eliminated, so, as in the diagram on protecting opposing movements, it concentrates now on the pure functionality of the block system.
• The section absolute and permissive working on automatic block lines was extended by a more detailed discussion on degraded-mode operations in these two block working principles.
• In the ATP section, a paragraph on the Chinese Train Control System (CTCS) was added. With ETCS, CTCS, and PTC, all communication-based train control systems used today in mainline operations worldwide are now covered. 

There is now a new section on the handling of interlocking failures.

Changes in Chapter 5

There is now a more comprehensive explanation of the background behind analytical methods and simulation and of the strategies to apply these methods. In particular, the topic of the different estimation of waiting times is addressed, since an understanding of this issue is crucial for a sound application of these methods. 

Changes in 3^rd edition

The main changes in the 3^rd edition of 2014 were made to keep track with the state of the art in signalling and train control technology. That's why the revision concentrates on the relevant Chapters 3 and 4. The total number of pages and illustration just slightly increased, since the intention of the revision was not to add more content but to keep the content up to date and to make it more relevant. Major changes are:

General changes

For the increased use of this textbook in university teaching and academic institutions, I replaced the 'Suggested Reading' in the appendix by a reference list with all sources now clearly referenced within the text. Five new references were added.

• The paragraph on types of signals was reorganised and moved from Chapter 3 to Chapter 1.
• The pictures and equations in the introductory section on the theory of train separation are no longer based on the distances between trains but on the headway.
• In addition to the blocking time theory, there is now also a short explanation of the protected zone model.
• The section on ETCS was extended and updated by the latest developments. There is now also a new section on the North American Positive Train Control (PTC) comparing it with the European approach. The former separate paragraph on radio-based train control was integrated into the ETCS part. For this, the passages on Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) were removed, since this technology has more or less completely lost it's relevance for further developments of radio-based train control systems. However, the principle of RETB is now mentioned in the manual block section when talking about token block.
• The description of token block now also covers interfaces between token sections and CTC. Furthermore, a short paragraph on block protection one-train-working sections was added.
• A avoid misunderstandings due to the different names for signal aspects in British and North American rules, I introduced generic terms for the basic block signal indications. The signal symbols were modified in a way to show the signal indication. This is used to make aspect sequences on block signals more plausible.

• The section on points locks was completely revised. The example was replaced by a more advanced claw lock type. Internal point locks requiring stretcher bars are now also mentioned.
• The section on flank protection was revised with some terms slightly modified and a more comprehensive explantion of the control principles of selective protective points.

The chapter was reorganised. There is now an introductory section of the purpose of scheduling. The section on clockface timetables was renamed in cyclic timetables and extended.

Changes in 2^nd edition

The 2^nd edition of 2009 is a thoroughgoing revise with 28 pages and 25 illustrations added. Major changes are:

General changes

• Use of the generic term 'interlocking station' both for the North American term 'interlocking tower' and the British term 'signal box'
• Use of SysML notation for process control diagrams
• 10 important textbooks published since 2004 added to the reference list

• New section on classification of railway systems
• More detailed description of basic turnout arrangements
• Introductory discussion of the two basic philosopies of limiting interlockings
• Total of new illustrations: 6

• More detailed explanation of block control logic
• More comprehensive explanation of track circuits with description of impedance bonds
• New section on the European Train Control System (ETCS)
• Total of new illustrations: 14

• Explanation of flank protection area added
• More comprehensive explanation of the control logic of selective protective points
• Total of new illustrations: 5

• General definition of capacity added
• In blocking time diagrams, within a blocking time stairway, blocking times referring to another than the relevant track are displayed in white colour
• More detailed explanation of how the consumed capacity can be derived with and without a given timetable
• Recommended capacity limits of UIC Code 406 added

• Comparing different priciples of assigning headways
• Improved blocking time diagrams as in chapter 5
• Explanation of the role of the cycle time in clock face timetables and classification of clock face timetables added
• Total of new illustrations: 1

• More details to train describers added
• Total of new illustrations: 4

Errata in 4^thd edition

• only in the printed version: In the list of contents, the item 'Positive Train Control (PTC)' should be numbered 3.5.5
• Page 120: In the line below the table, 'frequency-codes' should be replaced by 'frequency-coded'.
• Page 274: In the definition of PERMISSIVE SIGNAL, 'with authority' should be replaced by 'without authority'.
• Page 162: In Figure 4.34, in the last line, 'route N3' should be replaced by 'route 33-35'.

Errata in 3^nd edition

• Page 131: In the 2^nd and 3^rd item of the listing in the upper part of the page, 'flexible' should be replaced by 'flexibly'. We intend to correct this in later printings of this edition.

Errata in 2^nd edition

• Page 188: In Table 5.8 and Table 5.9, the value of the route combination a-a must be 0.036. By this, the route conflict rates change to 0.529 in Table 5.8 and 0.364 in Table 5.9. The relative improvement changes slightly from 0.32 to 0.31.

Errata in 1^st edition

• Page 37: The equation reads correctly: t = ∫(1/v(s))ds (corrected in 2^nd printing of 2004)
• Page 48: In Figure 3.6 the left end of the marked minimum dis- tance of trains doesn't accurately correspond with the beginning of the blocking time (corrected in 2^nd printing of 2004).
• Page 119: In Figure 4.23 routes starting at signal 32 require points No. 5 to be locked in reverse position (corrected in 2^nd printing of 2004).
• Page 171: In 3rd row 'location interlocking signals' has to be re- placed by 'location of interlocking signals' (corrected in 2^nd printing of 2004).
• Page 176: In Figure 6.1 train ID RB 4025 occurs twice. The cor- rect ID of train that departs from Station D at 08:11 is RB 4026 (corrected in 2^nd printing of 2004).
• Page 184: The equation reads correctly: n_MP ≥ 2 · t_rt / t_fix - 1

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