A drive system for a rail vehicle includes a plurality of drive motors. The drive motors include at least one permanent magnet motor and at least one asynchronous motor and/or at least one reluctance motor. A rail vehicle having wheelsets, each of which includes two oppositely disposed wheels and which are driven at least partially by the drive system, is also provided.

Systems and methods are provided for decentralized rail signaling and positive train control. A decentralized train control system may include a plurality of wayside units, configured for placement on or near tracks in a railway network, and one or more train-mounted units, each configured for use in a train operating in a railway network that support use of the decentralized train control system. Each train-mounted unit may configured to receive communicate with any wayside unit and/or train-mounted unit that comes within range, with the communicating including use of ultra-wideband (UWB) signals, and for generating control information based on the UWB signals, for use in controlling one or more functions associated with operation of the train.

A method and device of multi-train operation trend deduction. Temporary speed limit information, scheduling information, line information and train status information are obtained; the coupling relationship between the trains traction calculation and the area of space-time scope which is under temporary speed limit are analyzed, and the time saving driving strategy of the first train within the time domain is calculated; according to the running position and speed of the front train, a multi-train operation tracking model under different block systems is established; according to the temporary speed limit information, the driving strategy of following tracking train is deduced, and the operation of the multi-train is calculated; the operation trend of multi-train to the driving scheduling platform is sent.

A travelling vehicle includes a body including a small marker and a large marker, an imager, a pattern recognizer, and a state determiner. The large marker includes a display pattern including a first region, a second region with a lower reflectance than a reflectance of the first region, and a region where the small marker is located. The small marker has a display pattern including a third region with a lower reflectance than the reflectance of the first region and a fourth region with a lower reflectance than the reflectance of the third region and a lower reflectance than the reflectance of the second region.

A communication system and method receive, at an energy management system disposed onboard a vehicle system formed from a lead vehicle and one or more remote vehicles, trip data that represents one or more characteristics of an upcoming trip of the vehicle system along a route. A selected portion of the trip data is communicated from the energy management system to a distributed power system disposed onboard the vehicle system. The selected portion includes identifying information and one or more orientations of the one or more remote vehicles. Using the distributed power system, communication links between the lead vehicle and the one or more remote vehicles are established using the identifying information and the one or more orientations.

Generally, a system including an imaging device and a processing unit is disclosed. The imaging device may be configured to acquire a plurality of datasets of corresponding plurality of image frames by performing corresponding plurality of image frame handling cycles. The processing unit may be configured to define a special region of interest (SROI) in each of at least some of the plurality of the image frames acquired by the imaging device, based on the datasets of the respective image frames. The imaging device may be further configured to acquire at least one partial dataset of the SROI, during each of at least some of the plurality of image frame handling cycles and within a residual time between an end of an image frame acquiring time and an end of the respective image frame handling cycle.

Control software, which is intended for a multiplicity of rail vehicles, contains basic functions that are required for the basic operation of the rail vehicles. In addition, optional functions are implemented in the control software which are required for carrying out customer-specific requests. The basic functions and the optional functions are tested, validated and approved in their specifications, combinations and functional processes prior to installation in the rail vehicles. The basic functions and the optional functions are then implemented in the rail vehicles. In a selected rail vehicle, at least one optional function is activated or deactivated using a switching parameter which is individually associated with the optional function. The required switching parameter is created outside of the rail vehicle and subsequently transferred to the selected rail vehicle. The switching parameter is transferred encrypted to the selected rail vehicle, selectively specific to an individual vehicle.

A car control device includes a driving force calculating unit that calculates driving force necessary for a train to travel; an operating number calculating unit that determines the number of M cars to be operated on the basis of the driving force; and a driving force command calculating unit that calculates driving force commands to be given to the M cars that operate depending on the number of M cars to be operated, wherein the driving force command calculating unit continuously changes the driving force commands when the number of M cars to be operated changes.

A rail vehicle including a wheel assembly having wheels configured to traverse rails of a railroad track, a controller having a processor in communication with the wheel assembly, and a non-transitory computer readable medium, disposed on the vehicle, and containing instructions, which, cause the following steps in real-time as the vehicle traverses the rails: determine a rail pressure of the wheels on the rails, determine a degree of curvature of the rails as the vehicle moves along the railroad track, determine a minimum rail pressure of the wheels on the rails based on the degree of curvature, determine if the rail pressure is equal to or greater than the minimum rail pressure and adjust the rail pressure of the wheels on the rails to be the minimum rail pressure when the rail pressure is less than the minimum rail pressure to maintain stability of the vehicle on the railroad track.

A system (e.g., a control system) includes a sensor configured to monitor an operating condition of a vehicle system during movement of the vehicle system along a route. The system also includes a controller configured to designate one or more operational settings for the vehicle system as a function of time and/or distance along the route.