A service and emergency braking control system for at least one railway vehicle, including a plurality of braking control modules is provided. Each braking control module is equipped for: if, when achieving a determined braking torque value from an applied braking torque, an instantaneous deceleration value is lower than the target deceleration value, increasing the applied braking torque until the instantaneous deceleration value reaches the target deceleration value, or until the maximum available adhesion from an axle controlled by said braking control module is indicated.

A system for determining a wheel-rail adhesion value for a railway vehicle including at least one axle to which two wheels having a radius are coupled is provided. The system includes a deformation detection circuit coupled to an axle arranged to detect a torsional deformation of the axle due to a longitudinal adhesion force transferred from the axle to the rail, and a controller arranged to estimate a torque value as a function of the torsional deformation detected to convert the estimated torque value into the longitudinal adhesion force value as a function of the radius of the wheels, and to calculate the wheel-rail adhesion value through the ratio between the longitudinal adhesion force value and a normal load value that the axle exerts on the rail. A method for determining a wheel-rail adhesion value for a railway vehicle is also provided.

An electromechanical service and emergency braking actuator for a railway vehicle is described, comprising a safety unit arranged to regulate a first emergency braking control signal so as to indicate to first emergency braking energy release means to release the energy stored in first emergency braking energy storage means when an emergency braking request signal indicates a request for an emergency braking and a first electrical signal of actual braking force does not indicate, within a predetermined maximum delay time, a force value coinciding with a further emergency braking force value calculated by said safety unit or a force value that does not fall, within a predetermined maximum delay time, in a predetermined tolerance range including the additional emergency braking force value calculated by said safety unit. Electromechanical braking systems are also described.

An electronic control system of the braking of a railway vehicle is described, comprising an emergency braking module which generates a respective intermediate braking pressure signal indicative of an emergency braking and a service braking module which generates a respective service braking pressure signal; the emergency braking module is arranged to: generate a braking pressure control signal corresponding to the service braking pressure signal, when the higher among the one or more intermediate braking pressure signals indicative of an emergency braking is lower than a threshold; generate a braking pressure control signal corresponding to the higher among the one or more intermediate braking pressure signals indicative of an emergency braking, when the higher among the one or more intermediate signals braking pressure indicative of emergency braking is equal or higher than the threshold; and convert the braking pressure control signal by an electropneumatic actuator.

A method for suppressing braking noise in a vehicle by a central server, methods for suppressing braking noise in a vehicle to be carried out in a vehicle, and an associated central server, an associated vehicle control module and an associated data storage medium are disclosed. The data processing is divided between the vehicle and the central server.

Systems and methods are provided for train operation control and enforcement. A vehicle mounted system for train control may include a vehicle mounted data radio mounted on a railway vehicle and a vehicle mounted controller. The vehicle mounted controller may be connected to the vehicle mounted data radio. The vehicle mounted data radio may be in wireless communication with a wayside reporting station, which may be in communication with a signal control point that is associated with a safety point that is further associated with an interlocking, and the vehicle mounted data radio may be configured to receive signal state status information from the wayside reporting station. The vehicle mounted controller may be configured to determine a distance between the railway vehicle and the safety point. The vehicle mounted data radio may be an ultra-wide band (UWB) radio.

A system for monitoring usage of rail car brake equipment and determining whether the actual lifespan of the brake equipment is shorter than an expected lifespan had the brake equipment been used under normal or constant parameters. The system includes a sensor for collecting and outputting data indicating how the brake equipment has been actually used. A controller is programmed to receive the data regarding how the brake system component has been used and to calculate whether the brake system component has an estimated lifespan that is shorter than the expected lifespan. The sensor may comprise an ambient temperature sensor, a flow sensor that determines the air used by the braking system that includes the brake system component, and/or a pressure sensor that can determines how frequently and in what manner the brake system has been used.

A pressure equalization valve arrangement for a rail brake system includes a hold valve and a membrane vent valve each having a control chamber. The hold valve and vent valve are piloted by a respective solenoid valve. A further solenoid valve is connected to the control chamber of the vent valve to allow the pressure across the vent valve membrane to be equalized with the brake cylinder pressure to decrease the pressure difference across the membrane. This results in an improved vent time.

A system includes a plurality of wheels, a braking system, and one or more sensors. The plurality of wheels includes a guardian wheel and at least one non-guardian wheel and is disposed on a wheeled vehicle. The braking system is operatively connected to the guardian and non-guardian wheels and applies a first braking force to the at least one non-guardian wheel and a second braking force to the guardian wheel. The second braking force increases a slide risk of the guardian wheel beyond a slide risk of the at least one non-guardian wheel. One or more sensors disposed within the wheeled vehicle detect sliding of the guardian wheel allowing a corrective action to be taken to prevent sliding of the at least one non-guardian wheel.

There is provided an automatic train operation system which can stop a train precisely at a stop target position without worsening ride quality even with the control system being a discrete system. The automatic train operation system comprises a relative distance measuring device to acquire information about a relative distance of the train relative to a stop position of a station to output average distance information that is the average of relative distances and a brake control device. The brake control device includes a sensor information holding unit to hold speed information and position information detected by sensors to output; a correction amount computing unit to compute a specifying value correction amount to output; and an instruction planning unit to compute a deceleration specifying value based on the specifying value correction amount and sensor information.