Union Switch & Signal, Inc.

Kenneth M Gottschlich

Michael J Ehrenberger

Jack I Wilson

Randall S Mecca

Christopher R Harper

A method is provided for transferring control of a railway vehicle from a controlling wayside controller that controls a first zone within which the railway vehicle was previously positioned, to an adjacent wayside controller that controls a second zone within which the railway vehicle has traveled, wherein the second zone is adjacent to the first zone and separated from the first zone by a predetermined boundary in a communication based signaling system. The method utilizes information requests and control transfer requests that are transmitted and received by each of the controlling wayside controller and the adjacent wayside controller and the railway vehicle in accordance with method steps which are performed asynchronously, independently, and in parallel for each of the controlling wayside controller, the adjacent wayside controller, and the railway vehicle. Advantages of the method of the present invention include the elimination of the need for constant exchange of information about the states of wayside control zones which are adjacent to the zone controlled by the wayside controller which controls the railway vehicle, and the elimination of the need for two wayside controllers which are separated by a predetermined boundary to have full knowledge of the state of the wayside.

Method of transferring control of a railway vehicle in a communication

A system and method of communicating via digital radio between a train and a device positioned at the wayside of a railway system, wherein the device detects defects at the wayside and information related to the defects is transmitted from the wayside to the train for display in the locomotive cab. A communications unit having a microprocessor control circuit and a transceiver is electrically coupled, preferably by serial connection, to the defect detector along the wayside. The transceiver of the communications unit is in radio communication with an existing transceiver in the head-of-train (HOT) unit located in the locomotive cab at the head-end of the train. The head-of-train unit has a microprocessor control circuit that drives a display which is preferably alphanumeric, for the purpose of displaying messages related to the defects detected by the defect detector at the wayside, and subsequently transmitted between the transceiver of the communications unit and the transceiver of the HOT unit. In a preferred embodiment, the HOT unit includes recording apparatus for recording the messages displayed and an alarm for notifying an operator that a message is being displayed.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Kenneth M Gottschlich