A vehicle control system and method includes identifying a segment of a route where one or more first vehicle systems were operated manually instead of operated by one or more processors according to one or more trip plans during prior traversals of the segment by the one or more first vehicle systems. A segment plan is generated for traversing the segment under control of the one or more processors. The segment plan is generated based on how the one or more first vehicle systems were manually operated during the prior traversals of the segment. One or more second vehicle systems are controlled with the one or more processors to traverse the segment according to the segment plan.

Presented are a transportation system apparatus and method of operation. An exemplary transportation system includes an elevated track and a vehicle coupled with and operable to traverse the elevated track. Additionally, the transportation system includes a first elevated track loop wherein the vehicle is operable at a first speed, a second elevated track loop operable to receive the vehicle merging from the first elevated track loop, wherein the vehicle is operable at a second speed, and an elevated track section operable to receive the vehicle merging from the second elevated track loop, wherein the vehicle is operable at a third speed.

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.

A method is provided that may include obtaining image data related to a route from a imaging device associated with a vehicle. The method may also include determining an environmental condition based on the image data, and operating the vehicle or communicating an alert signal based on the environmental condition that is determined.

A wheel impact load detection system for detecting defects in wheel of railroad vehicles is presented. The system can receive data from sensors and/or a weather station to determine a maximum force applied to a rail, and subsequently calibrate the determined maximum force to account to environmental conditions. Additionally, the present disclosure can assign severity levels and generate alerts with the assigned severity levels, and such severity levels can facilitate the proper prioritization of the alerts. It is an object of the invention to provide a system for accounting for variable environmental conditions and/or variable rail tension in assigning severity levels to mitigate unneeded stoppage of railway traffic.

In an example, the autonomous vehicle (“AV”) can be configured among the other vehicles and railway to communicate with a rider on a peer to peer basis to pick up the rider on demand from a location on a track, like a railway, tram or other track, rather than the rider being held hostage to -a fixed, railway schedule. The rider can have an application on his/her cell phone, which tracks each of the AVs. and contact them using the application on the cell phone. In an example, the AV is configured for both on-track and off track operation with different operating parameters for on-track and off track, including speed, degree of autonomy, sensors used etc.

A system, method and assembly for detecting the operational status of one or more discharge gates on one or more railcars. The system and method monitor parameters that include whether the discharge gate is open or closed, whether the railcar is in motion or not, and whether the railcar is in a location where it is acceptable for the discharge gate to be open. Sensors carry out the monitoring, and the information obtained by monitoring the parameters are used to determine if a notification event has taken place and if so, a notification of such event can be transmitted to a remote receiver. A change in the status of any one of the monitored parameters can trigger the determination of whether a notification event has occurred.

A system and method for on-board or rail-side monitoring of train track, wheels, running gear, and other railway systems' component health by constant monitoring of acoustic, vibration, and potentially other modalities is described. These data are then processed to arrive at the track health data per track location, arrive at specific vehicle component health, and ride quality data from either passenger comfort or cargo damage protection of view.

Systems and methods for railway asset management. The methods comprise: using a virtual reality device to recognize and collect real world information about railway assets located in a railyard; and using the real world information to (i) associate a railway asset to a data collection unit, (ii) provide an individual with an augmented reality experience associated with the railyard and/or (iii) facilitate automated railyard management tasks.

A method and an apparatus for a train control system are disclosed, and are based on virtualization of train control logic and the use of cloud computing resources. A train control system is configured into two main parts. The first part includes physical elements of the train control system, and the second part includes a virtual train control system that provides the computing resources for the required train control application platforms. The disclosed architecture can be used with various train control technologies, including communications based train control, cab-signaling and fixed block, wayside signal technology. Further, the disclosure describes methodologies to convert cab-signaling and manual operations into distance to go operation.