METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE SAFETY-RELEVANT DETECTION AND PROCESSING OF STATUS INFORMATION OF DECENTRAL / CENTRAL CONTROL DEVICES ON MOTOR VEHICLES

摘要

With prior art systems, the safety of railway travel is ensured largely by means of fixed signals which visually signal to the train driver an interdiction or authorization to proceed. For high speeds, complementary systems providing driver's cab signalling and acting linerarly on the train have come into use. Owing to their high safety requirements, however, such systems involve very high capital and operating costs. In the method proposed, when authorization to proceed is required the status of each of the track-safety installations relevant to a particular length of track is determined by interrogating the installations in accordance with a predetermined programme by radio, using a device fitted on board the traction unit, and the status of each safety installation is compared with reference data stored in the system for this length of track to determine conformity with pre-defined criteria. If these criteria are met, authorization is given to proceed along the length of track, the authorization being indicated visually on the display in the traction unit in addition to the track display. The method proposed can be used for the collection, processing and visualization of status data for the control of safety-relevant processes. It is particularly suitable for the economical operation of tracks with light or medium-intensity traffic. If the device in the traction unit is a mobile one, there are no restrictions on the operation of other traction units.