July marked the time for the two day MOVINGRAIL Month 6 project workshop and Park Signalling Ltd were delighted to host the project at Houldsworth Mill in Reddish (Stockport). As well as Park Signalling, attendees came from the Delft University of Technology, the University of Birmingham, the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Dutch firm Technolutions who specialise in autonomous vehicles.
The MOVINGRAIL project is funded by the European Union through the Shift2Rail programme. The project will assess operational procedures and advanced testing methods for ETCS Level 3 Moving Block signalling as well as communication technologies and market potential of Virtual Coupling.
The project will analyse the application of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling signalling considered as the most promising technologies for increasing line capacity and reducing wayside life-cycle costs. The two concepts are in a different stage with Moving Block being an established standard in ERTMS/ETCS Level 3 and metro systems, while Virtual Coupling is still in the conceptual stage. Both signalling approaches are based on train-centric solutions using position information from the trains rather than train detection information from tracks. They differ in the fact that Moving Block allows train separation based on an absolute braking distance between trains, while Virtual Coupling enables a relative braking distance incorporating the braking behaviour of a leading train.
For more information, contact Park Signalling on: sales@park-signalling.co.uk or +44(0)161 219 0161