Coordinated train control and energy management control strategies

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, USA, in collaboration with Hughes Aircraft Company and Harmon Industries, is in the process of developing an advanced automatic train control (AATC) system to replace the current fixed-block automatic system. In the long run, the AATC system is expected to not only allow for safe short headway operation, but also to facilitate coordinated train control and energy management. This new system will employ spread spectrum radios, installed on-board trains, at wayside locations and at control stations, to determine train locations and reliably transfer control information. Sandia National Laboratories has worked cooperatively with BART to develop a simulator of the train control and power consumption of the AATC system. They are now in the process of developing enhanced train control algorithms to supplement the safety critical controller in order to smooth out train trajectories through coordinated control of multiple trains, and to reduce energy consumption and power infrastructure requirements. The control algorithms so far considered include: (1) reducing peak power consumption to avoid voltage sags, especially during an outage or while clearing a backup; (2) rapid and smooth recovery from a backup; (3) avoiding oscillations due to train interference; (4) limiting needle peaks in power demand at substations to some specified level; (5) coasting; and (6) coordinating train movement, e.g. starts/stops and hills.