Rail
Data networking technology vital for a modern railway
Ashleigh James from Westermo explains the importance of resilient data communication networks to the digitalisation of the rail network
I
t is perhaps a slight exaggeration to say that ‘the future of the rail industry depends on data communications technology’. However, data communication plays a critical role in ensuring the safety, reliability and availability of railway operations. In addition, the digital transformation of the rail network is seen as critical to meeting the challenges of decarbonisation, increasing passenger capacity, and improving the passenger travel time experience. High-performance data communication is fundamental to digitalisation, providing the necessary network availability, reliability, resilience, bandwidth and security to enable modern systems and services to achieve these desired performance improvements.
Network capacity
New rollingstock and infrastructure are needed to meet capacity demands but, emerging from the current political economic influences is the need for optimisation of existing trains and infrastructure. For example, signalling improvements can enable greater frequency of services, as seen on the Great Western Railway main line through Cornwall. By implementing an Internet Protocol (IP) based signalling upgrade, this increased the number of block sections on the mainline, enabling one extra train per hour to run in each direction between Plymouth and Penzance.
It was vital to ensure a resilient and secure data network for the new signalling section. At the heart of the modernisation project was a new Fibre IP network, which provided digital access to trackside locations to transmit axle counter data (which is used to detect a train passing) and signalling functions to Operational Control Centres. Westermo provides complete data communication solutions for both critical and non-critical rail systems and its robust and compact Lynx Ethernet industrial switches were installed trackside to securely manage the flow of data on the network.
Train-to-ground communication Wireless technology is also helping to revolutionise data communications within
14 June 2023 Components in Electronics
www.cieonline.co.uk.uk
rail applications. A digital data network that offers high levels of availability and reliability is essential for automatic train operation and communication-based train control systems, such as the PbS (Position-based signalling) used on the Pilatus-Bahnen Railway. The Pilatus-Bahnen Railway in Switzerland is the world’s steepest cogwheel railway and because of its popularity, larger and faster rail vehicles equipped with a modern, electronic
train control system were required. A wireless network developed specifically for train- to-ground communication was successfully designed and implemented to meet the requirements.
Based on a redundant Ethernet ring architecture, the network consists of wireless and wired Westermo devices. The use of the ring architecture and FRNT (Fast Recovery Network Topology) protocol ensures network
resilience in the unlikely event of a device or network failure via alternate data pathways. Security functions, such as data encryption, port security, active firewalls and other mechanisms, create a secure data network. Westermo Ibex-RT-370 infrastructure wireless access points installed at the trackside provide WLAN connection to the vehicles, along with redundant routing switches with firewall functionality in the stations. The
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