The present disclosure provides a method and system for controlling a heavy-haul train based on reinforcement learning. The method includes: obtaining operation state information of a heavy-haul train at a current time point; obtaining a heavy-haul train action of a next time point according to the operation state information of the heavy-haul train at the current time point and a heavy-haul train virtual controller, and sending the heavy-haul train action of the next time point to a heavy-haul train control unit to control operation of the heavy-haul train. The heavy-haul train virtual controller is obtained by training a reinforcement learning network according to operation state data of the heavy-haul train and an expert strategy network; the reinforcement learning network includes one actor network and two critic networks; the reinforcement learning network is constructed according to a soft actor-critic (SAC) reinforcement learning algorithm.

A vehicle control system includes a controller that communicates between a first vehicle and a second vehicle and/or a monitoring device in a vehicle system. The controller determines a communication loss and, responsive to determining the communication loss, switches to communicating via a different communication path. The controller also determines an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on the communication loss that is determined, obtains a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system at one or more different locations along a route being traveled by the vehicle system, different distances along the route being traveled by the vehicle system, and/or different times. The controller automatically changes the movement of the vehicle system according to the operational settings designated by the transitional plan to reduce the movement of the vehicle system to or below the operational restriction.

A system is provided having a vehicle. The vehicle includes a chassis, and a first network bus extending from internally in the chassis to a first network port attached externally to the chassis at a first side of the vehicle. The vehicle includes a second network bus extending from internally in the chassis to a second network port attached externally to the first chassis at a second side of the vehicle. The first network bus has a first electrical configuration and the second network bus has a second electrical configuration that is different than the first electrical configuration.

Communication systems and methods for vehicles are provided. A method includes receiving a command message from a first vehicle at a second vehicle, wherein the first vehicle and second vehicle are communicatively coupled to define at least a portion of a vehicle group; receiving a status reply message from the second vehicle at the first vehicle in response to a trigger event; controlling an operation of one or more vehicles in the vehicle group based at least in part on a determined communications status of a communication network comprising at least one communication device with respect to the command message and the status reply message.

A computer-implemented method comprises: receiving, at a first one of the first electronic devices, a first wireless signal transmitted by a second electronic device attached to a vehicle; transmitting, from the first electronic device, a second wireless signal, wherein the second electronic device determines a location of the vehicle along the transportation pathway according to the second wireless signal; receiving, at the first electronic device, a third wireless signal transmitted by a second electronic device, wherein the third wireless signal identifies the determined location of the vehicle; and transmitting, from the first electronic device, a fourth wireless signal, wherein the fourth wireless signal identifies the determined location of the vehicle, wherein other ones of the first electronic devices wirelessly relay fifth wireless signals along the transportation pathway, wherein the fifth wireless signals identify the determined location of the vehicle.

An automated speed control system for a locomotive having a tractive effort mechanism for moving the locomotive along a track and a braking mechanism for reducing the locomotive's speed along the track. The system including a locomotive controller that includes a memory to store computer-executable instructions, and a processor in communication with the memory to execute the instructions to retrieve one or more track grade maps each indicative of a grade of at least a portion of the track along which the locomotive is travelling, retrieve train makeup, obtain a maximum distance to a specified stopping point of the locomotive along the track, and dynamically calculate a speed limit for movement of the locomotive along the track, according to the retrieved track grade map, retrieved train makeup data, and obtained maximum distance to the specified stopping point.

A solution for managing vehicles both individually and as a group of associated vehicles is provided. A vehicle node can be located on each vehicle in the group and obtain and process data from a plurality of sensors also located on the vehicle. The vehicle node can be configured to communicate, either directly or indirectly, with a group system assigned to the group using a wireless communications solution. The group system can acquire monitoring data for all of the group of associated vehicles, which can be used to manage the group of associated vehicles and/or one or more individual vehicles in the group. The group system can be located on a vehicle traveling as part of the group of associated vehicles or at a fixed location.

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.

Described herein are techniques for determining motion characteristics of trains traveling along a train track. In some embodiments, a processor may determine an estimated position of a train using an observed position obtained using one or more UWB antennas and an observed position obtained using one or more GNSS receivers. In some embodiments, a processor may access information specifying a geometry of a train track and determining the position of a train along the train track using an observed position determined using one or more UWB antennas and/or GNSS receiver(s) and the information specifying the geometry of the train track. In some embodiments, a processor may determine estimated positions of a train using the geometry of the train track and at least one observation of the train obtained using one or more positioning devices and select the position of the train from among the estimated positions.

Railyard management system for managing, assembling, disassembling and validating train consists and monitoring railcars in the railyard. The system provides for the collection of data and the movement of data from lower processing levels to higher processing levels, where an inference engine draws inferences regarding the current state of railcars and train consists within the railyard. The inferences can be based on characteristics of a transmission signal received at their respective railcars, said railcars forming a train consist. The system can be used to track the location and orientation of railcars in the railyard and to validate order and orientation of assets in a train consist based on the characteristics of the transmission signal at said railcars.