A broken rail detection system including: a power module having: a first electrical connection to the first rail to apply a direct current voltage; and a second electrical connection to the second rail to apply a direct current voltage; a diode shunt arrangement; a measurement device to sense or measure current; and a controller programmed or configured to: (i) cause at least one application of a direct current voltage of a first polarity on the railway track; (ii) determine the current resulting from the application step (i); (iii) cause at least one application of a direct current voltage of a second polarity on the railway track; (iv) determine the current resulting from the application step (iii); and (v) determine the presence or absence of a break based at least partially on the determined current.

A system includes a signal system controller electrically connected to a first track section of a first rail of a track system, and electrically connected to a second track section of the first rail, in which the first track section is separated from the second track section by a first rail insulated joint. The signal system controller is configured to transmit a test signal on the first track section and configured to receive the test signal on the second track section to test the first rail insulated joint between the first track section and the second track section.

Method for detecting a track signal leakage on at least one railway track, a track signal being a signal transmitted via the rails of a railway track to detect the presence of a railway vehicle and/or to transmit information to a railway vehicle, the at least one railway track including at least two track sections being electrically isolated against each other, wherein at least one receiver is associated to each track section, the method including: transmitting a test signal via a first track section; activating one or more receivers associated to the plurality of track sections, wherein the plurality of receivers are adapted to receive the test signal; receiving the test signal via one or more track sections; determining the one or more track sections, where the test signal has been received; determining whether a leakage between a first track section and at least one second track section exists.

A method and system are for estimating forces in rails of a railway line which are due to the temperatures of the rails. Values of the electrical resistance of one rail of a railway track section are calculated. Based on the calculated values of the electrical resistance for the rail, corresponding values of the temperature of the rail can be estimated, and based on the estimated values of the temperature of the rail, estimated values of forces acting in the rail due to the temperature values can be estimated.

A system and method for virtual block operational status control with long block time delay is presented. The present disclosure can advantageously increase the capacity and safety of the existing railroad track infrastructure used by the railroads by determining whether a virtual block is healthy or unhealthy. The long block mode can provide a coarse granularity on the presence of a train. In virtual block mode, the system can implement a finer granularity so the virtual aspects of the sub blocks can be realized. The present disclosure provides a long block mode that can provide the system an opportunity to analyze the potential tradeoffs between granularity and reliability by determining which mode (virtual block or long block) is best utilized in a given situation. The system can operate by default in long block mode and ignore the virtual block capabilities until absolutely needed.

A system and method for virtual block operational status control with long block time delay is presented. The present disclosure can advantageously increase the capacity and safety of the existing railroad track infrastructure used by the railroads by determining whether a virtual block is healthy or unhealthy. The long block mode can provide a coarse granularity on the presence of a train. In virtual block mode, the system can implement a finer granularity so the virtual aspects of the sub blocks can be realized. The present disclosure provides a long block mode that can provide the system an opportunity to analyze the potential tradeoffs between granularity and reliability by determining which mode (virtual block or long block) is best utilized in a given situation. The system can operate by default in long block mode and ignore the virtual block capabilities until absolutely needed.