Convoy Operation of Linear Motor Driven Railway Vehicles

A test track of 530 m length for autonomously driven railway vehicles in scale of 1:2.5 was built at the University of Paderborn in 2002. The doubly-fed linear motor utilized for this plant enables convoy building on the track during drive operation as well as transferring power to the vehicle, so the need for pantographs or a third rail for supplying auxiliary power does not arise. In this contribution, the principle of driving several vehicles in a convoy is explained. The autonomous operation requires a complex communication structure and demands safety concepts, which are described here. A method for operating point assignment for convoy driving is presented together with simulation results of convoy building.