Article April 2016 issue Railway Gazette International
Testing of the Thales SelTrac IS Radio CBTC to be deployed on four London Underground routes is now underway. The Sub-Surface Upgrade is an essential part of Transport for London’s efforts to cope with increased ridership as the capital’s population grows by a projected 1·2 million over the next 15 years. The four lines are currently carrying 1·3 million passengers a day, and the introduction of longer trains operating under attended ATO (GoA2) is expected to increase peak capacity by 33%, as well as shortening journey times. “This is probably the most complex metro resignalling project in the world”, believes Stuart Harvey, Systems Programme Director at LU’s Capital Programmes Directorate.
Primary train location is achieved using passive RFID transponders from TagMaster, which are positioned in the track at approximately 25 m intervals, or more frequently in station areas. These provide the train with information about its absolute location and the position of the following tag. Each train reports its position back to the VCC, allowing the SMC to update its scheduling decisions accordingly. As well as the tag readers, the trains will each have four tachometers and an accelerometer.
To read the article from Railway Gazette International in pdf Click here
*Image from Railway Gazette International
TagMasters RFID Tags mounted in the track. Absolute train positioning for moving-block operation is provded by RFID tags in the track at approximately 25m intervals.