Title Rail head contamination and track circuit reliability
Author Chapman, A
Conference AusRAIL PLUS 2007, Celebrating the Past, Creating the Future, 4-6 December 2007, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Publication Date 2007
Location ARRB library
Server
Abstract The issue of track circuit reliability in circumstances of infrequent rail traffic has been of concern for some time, due to the potential for increasing rail head contamination to impact on the operation of track circuits. This is particularly the case when considering active level crossing protection in infrequent traffic areas, where the correct operation of the approach track circuit is critical to the initiation of the crossing protection and in providing the required duration of warning to road traffic. The standard mitigation uses operational rules to control train movements across the level crossing, which is less efficient than normal train operations. To enable this problem to be better understood, in both extent and effect, RIC and ARTC recently engaged PB to analyse the impact of infrequent trains on level crossings throughout regional NSW. The ultimate aim of this work was to develop appropriate technical and operational solutions that may be implemented to mitigate the risks created by infrequent train traffic at affected level crossings throughout regional NSW.
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Alan Chapman
Subjects Traffic management
Level crossing
Signal controller
Railway track
Maintenance