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#1 - Conversation with Matthew Tan
Doc Frank chats with Matthew Tan, a railway consultant from Birmingham, England. Matthew recently graduated with a Master of Science in Railway Safety and Control Systems from the University of Birmingham and wrote his master thesis about the interoperability of Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), which became a key topic for this conversation.
Show notes for better understanding:
1) Information about training courses for advanced signalling technologies that are proven to work for railway professionals regardless of their prior extent of signalling knowledge, including the CBTC Kickstarter and ETCS Kickstarter trainings, can be found on https://docfranktraining.podia.com.
2) In the London Underground network, the tracks for the Jubilee Line (fitted with Thales CBTC using inductive loops for data communications) and the Metropolitan Line (fitted with Thales CBTC using Wi-Fi radio for data communications) run in parallel between Finchley Road and Wembley Park stations. Under conventional fixed-block signalling, trains could be re-routed from one line onto the other in case of blockages on one line (on this section only). Under CBTC this does not work anymore due to the non-interoperability between the inductive loop CBTC and the radio-based CBTC, even though both systems were provided by the same supplier.
3) Doc Frank misunderstood during the interview that those two lines would share common tracks on that line section. Several of his comments are based on that assumption.
4) It can be argued whether it really is a significant operational constraint not to be able anymore to re-route trains between those two metro lines. As the lines get busier and operate closer to their capacity limits, the available slots for re-routing additional trains will be very limited. Keeping the operation of both lines separated also avoids any ripple effects where problems on one line affect other lines of the network.
5) Matthew’s master thesis on CBTC interoperability investigated the suitability of “ontologies” for resolving parts of the obstacles preventing interoperability.
6) The conversation displays an interesting contrast between a strongly academical view from Matthew and the more practical orientation of Doc Frank’s research results.
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By Doc FrankDoc Frank chats with Matthew Tan, a railway consultant from Birmingham, England. Matthew recently graduated with a Master of Science in Railway Safety and Control Systems from the University of Birmingham and wrote his master thesis about the interoperability of Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), which became a key topic for this conversation.
Show notes for better understanding:
1) Information about training courses for advanced signalling technologies that are proven to work for railway professionals regardless of their prior extent of signalling knowledge, including the CBTC Kickstarter and ETCS Kickstarter trainings, can be found on https://docfranktraining.podia.com.
2) In the London Underground network, the tracks for the Jubilee Line (fitted with Thales CBTC using inductive loops for data communications) and the Metropolitan Line (fitted with Thales CBTC using Wi-Fi radio for data communications) run in parallel between Finchley Road and Wembley Park stations. Under conventional fixed-block signalling, trains could be re-routed from one line onto the other in case of blockages on one line (on this section only). Under CBTC this does not work anymore due to the non-interoperability between the inductive loop CBTC and the radio-based CBTC, even though both systems were provided by the same supplier.
3) Doc Frank misunderstood during the interview that those two lines would share common tracks on that line section. Several of his comments are based on that assumption.
4) It can be argued whether it really is a significant operational constraint not to be able anymore to re-route trains between those two metro lines. As the lines get busier and operate closer to their capacity limits, the available slots for re-routing additional trains will be very limited. Keeping the operation of both lines separated also avoids any ripple effects where problems on one line affect other lines of the network.
5) Matthew’s master thesis on CBTC interoperability investigated the suitability of “ontologies” for resolving parts of the obstacles preventing interoperability.
6) The conversation displays an interesting contrast between a strongly academical view from Matthew and the more practical orientation of Doc Frank’s research results.