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 train control system comprising a track switch controller; RFID tags located at first and second track switches coupled via a length of track that store characteristics of train sets as they pass the track switches, and RFID tag readers located on the train sets, connected to a network. The train sets write data to the RFID tags such that the data is read by RFID tag readers of subsequent trains; and the data stored in the RFID tags is overwritten with new data each time a train set passes by the RFID tags.

The present invention is adapted to the technical field of communication, and provides a stop announcement system and a method thereof. The stop announcement system comprises: at least one platform beacon disposed on at least one stop site of a transportation means for identifying a position message of the stop site, and sending a message of position change according to the position change of the transportation means relative to the stop site; and at least one stop announcement device disposed on the transportation means for receiving the message of position change and sending a corresponding stop announcement message when the transportation means moves into a range of a preset communication distance of the at least one platform beacon; wherein the stop announcement message at least comprises a prompt message of entering into the stop site and/or a prompt message of stopping on the stop site and/or a prompt message of leaving the stop site. By virtue of this, the present invention achieves timely and accurately stop announcement in operation of the transportation means.

A system for determining a location of a rail vehicle based on a radio frequency (RF) signal includes at least one processor programmed or configured to receive an RF signal transmitted by at least one radio transmitter device, where the RF signal includes location data associated with the location of the at least one radio transmitter device, determine a location of the at least one radio transmitter device based on the location data associated with the location of the at least one radio transmitter included in the RF signal, and determine a location of a rail vehicle based on the location of the at least one radio transmitter device. A method and computer program product are also disclosed.

Based on a ratio between Doppler frequencies calculated from a plurality of reception signals outputted by a receiver, a position detector calculates a relative position of a plurality of antennas in a mobile wireless apparatus to a stationary wireless apparatus. A train position detector calculates a position of a train from the calculated relative position, a placement position of the stationary wireless apparatus and placement positions in the train of the plurality of antennas.

A robust system processor comprising three parallel processors, each configured to process in parallel an input and emit an output; and a reconciler that compares the three outputs, determines whether at least two of the outputs are equal, and if so validates the majority output and communicates the validated output via a network to at least one other system processor.

A system includes a safety mode activation device disposed onboard a vehicle system and operatively connected to a controller of the vehicle system. The safety mode activation device is configured to receive a status signal indicating a presence of one or more of an operator or an active work marker in a location proximate to the vehicle system. The safety mode activation device is further configured to transmit a lockout signal to the controller to prevent movement of the vehicle system along a route responsive to receiving the status signal.

A train control system comprising a track switch controller; RFID tags located at first and second track switches coupled via a length of track that store characteristics of train sets as they pass the track switches, and RFID tag readers located on the train sets, connected to a network. The train sets write data to the RFID tags such that the data is read by RFID tag readers of subsequent trains; and the data stored in the RFID tags is overwritten with new data each time a train set passes by the RFID tags.

A method operates a track-bound traffic system which carries out a determination that a first track section part lying between a track-bound vehicle and a second track section is free of vehicles. A track-side device disposed in a first track section at a distance to an adjacent second track section, transmits status information which characterizes the second track section as being free of track-bound vehicles, and the transmitted status information is received by a vehicle traversing the first track section. The distance is measured such that no other track-bound vehicle fits in a first track section part lying between the track-bound vehicle and the second track section when the track-bound vehicle receives the status information, and the first track section part lying between the track-bound vehicle and the second track section is identified as being free of other track-bound vehicles by the track-bound vehicle based on the received status information.

A method and an apparatus for a train control installation are disclosed, and are based on the absolute permissive block concept. The train control installation employs a plurality of generic absolute block signal units (ABSU), wherein each signal unit includes means for detecting the crossing of a train passed a discrete point, means for exchanging data with adjacent ABSUs, means for generating and communicating a movement authority limit to a train, means for generating and displaying a signal indication, and means for enforcing a stop aspect. The train control installation can be used in conjunction with a communication based train control (CBTC) system to provide a degraded mode of operation without impacting the availability and the reliability of the CBTC system. Further, the train control installation has a self-healing feature to maintain train service during an ABSU failure.