A New Generation of Equipment for the provision of Safety Traffic

For more than two decades, once with the information exhibition and the rapid increase of the IT performances it is obvious on the world plan the tendency to transit to a new generation of equipment that provide the safety traffic: the interlocking system, based on IT, the dispatcher equipment for command and control of the railway traffic, the performant equipment meant for the automatic protection of the train etc.
Presently, on our continent there are in development stage a series of projects which represent the concepts for the new generations of safety equipment: ERTMS/ETCS, RENE, ETCS - LC, EUROBALISE, EURO-INTERLOCKING. In the same time there is aimed their harmonization and integration in a unitary system, which allow the interoperability of the railways.
The European bodies (CEN, CENELEC, ERRI etc.) have been made important efforts for the normalization of these activities, for the creation of a common framework of development, meant to provide the harmonization of the technical and safety conditions of the various railway administration.
For more than three decades, being included among the railway administration that are very advanced from the point of view of the safety concept and of the technology used for the safety traffic. For the increase of the performances through the alignment to the modern tendencies, the Romanian Railways has started off a vast program, on long term, for the rehabilitation and the modernization of the safety traffic equipment, within the rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure. By putting into operation, in Ploiesti Sud railway station, of the first interlocking system, CFR SA has made an important step forward in the modernization of equipment meant for the railway safety traffic.
The most important advantages of the new generation of safety traffic equipment are:
- the increase of the capacity for the management of the traffic and the execution of the shunting actions;
- the increase of the level of safety traffic;
- the improvement of the information system referring to the traffic (train describer, the memorization of important data etc.);
- the chronological recording of the transitions on the graphical interface, with the possibility to achieve the play-back;
- the increase of the liability and the availability of the equipment, fact that will aim the decrease of the volume of the preventing and overhaul maintenance, as well as at: the improvement of the maintenance activity, through the utilization of the diagnosis and maintenance assisted by computer;
- the reduction of the volume of the necessary spare parts;
- the automatic designing facilities for the software and hardware, the possibilities to perform the modifications of the configurations of the station during the operation, without being necessary a significant interruption period.
The interlocking system equipment is achieved based on the two concepts unanimously accepted on international plan: the diversity principle, which utilizes the same hardware base, and the majority logistic principle, which uses the same software bases.
Both ways of approaching are the probabilistic principles of achieving the safety during the operation, fact that makes a fundamental difference from the classical principle - fail safe -, used in the other previous types of railway centralization.
Taking into consideration the performances and the analysis of the risk, for the big and medium spaces, in Europe it is preferred the majority logistic principle, which has the tendency to definitively impose itself in the next years, taking into account that:
- the system has its own hardware redundancy, fact that reduces very much the possibility to get out of order;
- the duration for the achievement of the travels is more reduced, fact that is very important in the big stations;
- the risks in the safety traffic are more reduced, because, once with the achievement of the basic software for Romania, it is attested and, further on, the design is only a matter of personalization of the system;
- the performance of the changes for the stations configurations, in the case of certain modifications of the track device, it is performed very simply. There should not be rewrite the entire assembly of equations, as it is done in case of the diversity principle;
- worldwide, almost all the big railway stations are designed based on the majority logistic principle.
For the interlocking system equipment there have been imposed by the Romanian Railways a series of requirements of high level, as: the safety level to be maximal - SIL 4, defined according to the CENELEC EN 5012650129 normative, the system has to be designed in a very flexible way, which will allow the taking over of the safety concept and of the operation rules of the Romanian Railways; there is a warm redundancy on the relevant levels of system processing; the graphical interface to be of vital type, the communication between the modules of the system to be sure and liable, the interfaces to be surely connected with the objectives in the field, and the times of answering at the objectives' command, as well as at the achievement of the routes to be equal with the current equipment endowed with relays.
There has been also imposed, that the system will have the capacity to be extended or retrained without affecting the safety degree.
There have been formulated, at the highest level, the requirements related to the electro-mechanism of the switch point, of the track circuit, of the lighting signals and the signaling at the level crossings with the railways.
On Ploiesti Sud Railway Station operates, for more than a year, the interlocking system equipment of SIMIS W type, with graphical interface VICOS OC 111, achieved by SIEMENS AG company on the majority logistic principle, the first equipment of this kind in Romania and the biggest of the ones installed in the central and eastern Europe. This is centralization on the geographical principle.
There is considered to be relevant its extension in order to demonstrate the qualities of the SIMIS W equipment, in the near future, and in the other railway stations from the railway complex Ploiesti (the Ramification Ploiesti Marshaling Yard), Ploiesti Vest and Ploiesti Est).
At the achievement of this interlocking system equipment have been also used Romanian components, as: the track electronic circuits, the lighting signals of traffic and shunting, the electrical cables and the distribution boxes, as well as the terminals of the blocks of the adjacent automatic line, which have proved to be compatible with the interlocking system equipment delivered by SIEMENS AG company.
From the non-reimbursable funds offered by the European Commission, in an overall of 31.5 million Euro, there has been founded the PHARE Project RO 9604 - 01-02, for the electronic centralization of over 700 switch points, in other four objectives: the railway stations Arad, Brasov, Timisoara and Railway Complex Bucharest Nord (Bucharest Baneasa, Pajura Halt, Giulesti Post, Bucurestii Noi and Bucharest Nord), as well as the PHARE Project RO 9604 -01-02/1/2, meant for the technical assistance for all the works.
The auction has been gained by ALCATEL company, and the works are in development stage, being stipulated to be finalized up to August 2004.
According to the provisions of the contract, ALCATEL will equip these railway stations with interlocking system equipment ESTW L90 Ro type (the version for Romania has been designed the concept ESTW L90), achieved on the majority logistic principle. The electronic equipment from Bucharest Nord Railway Station will include the logic of the interlocking system and the command posts for Bucharest Nord railway station, as well as for the rest of the stations in the respective complex. ESTW L90 is centralized on the routes logistic principle.
The building of the new precincts of the interlocking system equipment represents the Romanian contribution on this project. In Timisoara and Arad, these are in finalization stage, at Brasov the works are also in advanced stage, and at Bucharest Nord Complex they are going to be started off. The outside works are in a very good stage in Arad, Timisoara and Brasov railway stations, and the ones for the outside will be also advanced, to the extend of the finishing process of the buildings.
There are estimated that the interlocking system equipment from Arad railway station will be made available for the Probation Commission on April 2003, and the order for putting into operation of the equipment being implied to be performed is: Arad, Timisoara, Brasov and Bucharest Nord.
A very important component for the modernization of the SCB equipment is the command by computers of the track operator), a solution stipulated for the small and medium railway stations, starting with the ones located on the pan-European corridors for railway transport which transit Romania. The major advantages of this solution are the ones conferred by the man-machine interface, the same as in case of the interlocking system equipment. The implementation of the IT technology for the command post of the track operator creates the premises for the achievement of the a railway dispatcher equipment, as well as the automatic acquisition of the data from the equipment and the process necessary in the management through IT technology of the railway transport activity.
In order to have another alternative to the external offers, the Romanian Railways has promoted two Romanian solutions for the implementation of the IT technology at the command post of the track operator, which will be introduced in Vidra (within Bucharest Rail Region ) and Timisu de Sus (within Brasov Rail Region) railway stations. There is appreciated that the solution enforced in Vidra station will be able to evolve to a Romanian interlocking system.
For the provision of the interoperability with the European railway network - as part of the integration program of Romanian to the European Union - there will be implemented on the Romanian sections of the European corridors IV and IX the ETCS (Europeans Train Control System), the level 1 STM, with infill, which will allow to the passengers trains to reach the 160 km/h speed, in the conditions of the implementation of the standoffing signaling with four indications, which keep the current length of the block sectors. The current equipment, INDUSI, will remain further on operational for the freight trains and for the ones meant for passengers which are not endowed with ETCS on board, which will operate with speeds of less than 120 km/h.
On Sibot - Cugir railway section, on Brasov Rail Region area, there has been tested - obtaining good results! -, the control of the current line between the two stations with electronic count of the axles produced by ALCATEL company, which represent a cheap solution, for the secondary lines, with reduced traffic, that will allow that, in the conditions of certain acceptable costs, to be reduced the personnel necessary for the train stopping reporting.
The Romanian Railways has the experience of certain equipment of railway dispatcher, either imported, or produced inland, achieved with the technique of the '80s, which generally has been used for the remote control of the stations. Currently, the Romanian Railways is prepared, in the conditions of obtaining the necessary financing, to introduce performant railway dispatchers (with all the advantages that are issued from that), as well as to create a national center for the railway traffic management.
In order to provide the interoperability with the European railway network there have been started off the rehabilitation works on Corridor IV. The first section, where the works are in development stage is Bucharest - Campina section, and the next railway section will be Baneasa - Fundulea, for which the auction will be finalized in the first trimester of the year 2003.
Within the rehabilitation works that are unfolded on the Corridor IV there will be also partially modernized the traffic safety equipment. There will be implemented the ETCS system, level 1 STM with infill; there will be adopted the signaling with multiple speed steps in the railway stations where there are introduced large beam switch points that allow the operation in digression with increased speed, for these switch points being stipulated performant electro-mechanisms; there will be approached the standoffing signaling with four indications and will be modernized BAT equipment and the track circuit. On the following railway sections it is stipulated to be also performed the implementation of IT technology of the IDM command posts.

Magdalena Fedeles
eng. Dumitru Munteanu