CBTC under way in Alaska - Rail Update - communications based train control

Railway Age, Jan, 2004

The Alaska Railroad has completed the first two phases of its Collision Avoidance System (CAS), a computer-based network that will prevent train-to-train collisions, protect track maintenance forces, and enforce speed limits (RA, June 2003, p. 20).

An implementation team incorporating labor and management has solved technical and installation problems to implement a system-wide Data Radio Network (DRN) and a locomotive onboard system. The team installed 28 base stations covering the entire ARRC network, and equipped all 58 locomotives with integrated data radio, global positioning satellite technology, and a fuel sensor package.

"The CAS represents an important technology initiative for the Alaska Railroad and for the industry," says ARRC Assistant Vice President-Operating Rules and Control Systems 3mdy Schiestl. "The infrastructure implemented in this phase of the pro gram establishes the foundation for locomotive onboard applications and dispatcher office applications that will complete the safety and efficiency goals of the program. The remaining phases will provide digital delivery of onboard authority, automatic enforcement of authority limits and speed restrictions, and protection for roadway workers. The current implementation provides us with accurate, continuous, real-time knowledge of train location, advanced traffic planning with automated updates based on actual performance to plan, and remote fuel monitoring, via a private controlled network."

Schiestl describes CAS as a communications-based train control (CBTC) system "well suited for implementation on the ARRC. Use of more conventional systems utilizing track circuits and signals are hindered by the lack of commercial power, and the northern latitudes in which our railroad operates make solar power unfeasible without backup generators." Continuing design, development, and testing of the onboard train management system, and dispatcher system "are well under way."

The suppliers on the CAS project are Meteor Communications Corp., Kent, Wash.; and Quantum Engineering, Orange Park, Fla. MCC is providing the DRN, including base station, locomotive, and wayside applications. MCC also developed a communications backbone and provided a two-way messaging system between ARRC locomotives, On-Track Equipment (OTE), and the Network Operations Center; and a GPS tracking system for locomotives and OTE at all points along the ARRC right-of-way. In addition, MCC is supplying the display functionality that enables ARRC personnel to observe dynamic train movements. Quantum is supplying collision avoidance hardware and software for the locomotives and Network Operations Center.

The ARRC is working with both suppliers to produce a Product Safety Plan (PSP) compliant with the Federal Railroad Administration's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for processor-based signal and train control systems. The PSP, says Schiestl, "will fulfill all of the FRA's 19 requirements, from design to training to human factors."