TCAS – Indian Railway Train Control System

ByMahesh Mangal

Sr. ED/Signal/RDSO

26 July 2014

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Train Protection system on IR

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Auxiliary Warning System at Mumbai

Working in Mumbai suburban since 1986. Track Magnet based system working in Mumbai

suburban area (329 RKm), where trains run at a Headway of 3 to 4 minutes

Opto coupler to interface & collect signal aspect

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This system is now getting obsolete and we have now developed a advance system which is interoperable with existing system.

Train Protection & Warning System(TPWS)• System is installed on Chennai –

Gummidipundi section of SR, Nizamuddin – Agra section of NR/NCR and on Metro Kolkatta.

• Works have been sanctioned for suburban section of ER, SER, SR & auto signalling sections (3330 RKM, 2362 onboard, Rs. 1737 cr).

• TPWS specification is based on proven European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) Level-1 configuration.

Even though the system is working, but lot of time has been taken for customizing and it has not been possible to use system on trains running at more than 120 kmph.

Anti Collision Device (ACD) Installed on 1800 Kms of BG section of N.F.

Railway in the year 2005-06 It is GPS based non signalling system.Train transmit their location and track ID and

if a dangerous event like collision is likely to occur, automatically apply brakes and prevent the collision or minimize the impact of collision.

Prevents head on/rear/side collisions. Provides station approach warning to drivers. Provides warning to road users at LC gates. Detects parting/jumbling of trains.

GPS Satellites

UHF Data Radio Modem

I R I RGPS Receiver

To detect track ID in station, deviation count theory used results in wrong identification and cause false alarm resulting in operational and other problems. As such, not been found effective and has not been proliferated.

Loco ACD

Loco ACD

Experience of IR with existing TPWS Requires lot of data entry at the start of train which is

inconvenient for existing loco pilots. Braking is not optimized for mixed rolling stock on IR. Intermittent update of MA results in un-necessary brake

intervention whenever signal aspect is updated on approach.

Needs lot of cable and trackside electronics which are failure prone.

The procedure for train trip or start is cumbersome and any customization is not possible.

No protection is available in case on non interlocked working.

Does not provide facility of SoS which is considered essential as there are many collisions on IR due to derailment obstructing other track.

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Development of Indigenous system

RDSO started about 2 years ago to develop TCAS to take care the problems of ACD installed on NFR.

However, in this period, not only the system developed takes care this problem but it also provides Automatic Train Protections(ATP) features as available in advance Train Control systems like ETCS L1 & L2.

Multiple sources with interoperable product are developed with IPR being shared by firm and RDSO and cost of system is expected to be much lower than ETCS and only marginally higher than ACD.

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Comparison of ETCS & TCAS

Feature ETCS L-1 ETCS L-2 TCAS

Cab Signalling Yes Yes Yes

Line side signal Required Optional Required

Continuous supervision Yes Yes Yes

Continuous update No Yes Yes

Suitable for Auto signal Yes Yes Trials to be conducted shortly

Collision prevention (independent of Signalling)

No No Yes

SOS feature No No Yes

SIL-4 Yes Yes Yes

Vulnerability to theft Yes No No

Easy to operate No No Yes

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TCAS - System configuration

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Radio Communication

Radio Communication

Radio Communication

Loco TCAS

Loco TCAS

Station TCAS

RFID READER

RFID READER

GNSS/ GPS

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• Automatic Train Protection(ATP) FEATURES• Detection and Prevention of SPAD• Full cab signalling with Display of signal

aspect, movement authority, target distance and speed

• Continuous train control• Protection for Permanent and temporary

speed restriction.• Detection of roll back

• TRAIN COLLISION FEATURES• Head On• Rear End Collision• Side On Collision

Features of TCAS

• SOS from Loco and Station• Derailment Alert with auto generation of SOS • Automatic and Manual Brake Test• Continuous horn while approaching LC gate

or gang working.• Detection of unusuals in interlocking like

signal cleared for occupied line or train entered in wrong line etc. and controlling the train.

• Live display of train movement with their speed, location and any unusual in control office.

Additional features to improve safety

STATION EQUIPMENT

• Station TCAS – Gathers

signaling inputs & loco

inputs and transmits

signaling inputs to Loco

TCAS• Radio- For communication

with Locos• SMI – Station

Master Interface • GPS – For time

synchronization

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LOCO EQUIPMENT

• Loco unit – Gathers inputs from RFID tags, speedometer and Station.

• BIU – Brake Interface Unit • DMI – For In-cab display of

signal aspect, TCAS status, alarms and alerts, SOS buttons.

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• Radio & Antenna- For

communication with stations

and other Locos • RFID Reader- To read RFID

tags• GPS and GPRS

ON TRACK EQUIPMENT

• RFID Tags provided in block

section at every 1 km and

station yard for each track and

signals.• Used for track identification,

correction of location of train

and identifying train direction.

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Status of present development

• Work for undertaking extended field trial on 250 RKM section with 40 locomotives sanctioned.

• Section in Secundrabad division identified for trial.• Section divided in three sub sections. Contract already

awarded to 3 firms.

Wadi

TCAS

Territory

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Status of present development

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Status of present development

• Two firms have successfully developed the system. Field trials have been done by for 5-6 months.

• It has been also possible to achieve interoperability of product developed by two vendors.

• Third Firm (Awarded the developmental work in Nov-2013) has also tested their onboard equipment.

• Trial done on 4 stations with 4 Locos on 32 km Route-km, with Brake Interface Unit and most of the important features with interoperability tested.

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Scenarios tested in recent trials

• In Cab Display of Signalling related information such as Movement Authority, Target Speed, Target Distance, Signal Aspect etc.• Brake Test : To assess braking characteristics of

train• Prevention of SPAD• PSR and TSR• Loop line speed control• Prevention of collisions in block section• SoS from loco and station• LC gate warning• Control of train for certain interlocking abnormalities.

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Current status

• After these trials, firms have manufactured the final equipment and type testing is in progress. The installation at stations, track and locomotives likely by Sep, 2014.

• Extended trials with 40 locos and on 250 kms sections will commence within 3 months.

• The present system being developed is suitable for absolute block signalling and RDSO is also working to upgrade this equipment later for automatic signalling.

• Lab for testing interoperability and offline testing of various scenarios has been setup at RDSO.

Trial Video (10 Mins)

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THANKS