Monitoring Train Position to Improve Emergency Response. Final Report for Safety IDEA Project 10

摘要

Known as 'Civil Overviews', the train monitoring system developed in this Safety IDEA project is intended for use by emergency response personnel to monitor the locations of freight and passenger trains in and around their towns and cities, enabling them to more effectively dispatch emergency vehicles. Knowing which rail crossings are currently blocked by trains and which will be blocked in the near future will inform routing decisions and, therefore, help reduce delays in responding to emergencies. This makes the Civil Overviews system an important tool for civil/municipal authorities who must deal with trains in the course of dispatching emergency vehicles. The system offers a secure, easy-to-understand depiction of tracks, trains, and crossings in the vicinities of towns and cities, and will be located primarily in emergency dispatch centers. The computer-based display presents a map on which the positions of trains, the tracks over which they currently have authorities to move, direction of travel and markers indicating the locations of grade crossings are overlaid. The maps also display streets, roads and highways along with landmarks and other points of interest. Emergency personnel are thus able to monitor where trains are and where they have authorities to move, which will help them make decisions about which roads emergency vehicles should follow when it is necessary for them to cross the tracks.