Alstom Transport Technologies

Richard Lawson

Jeffrey Michael Fries

Nicholas Nagrodsky

Chris Schuchmann

James Kiss

Shawn T Clark

John Ross

James Frisbie

John Hounschell

A system for controlling one or more vital wayside devices of a railway network, comprising one or more vital switches, each vital switch being comprised in or operatively connected to an associated device of the one or more vital wayside devices, and a controller which is configured to control the one or more vital wayside devices. The controller is connected to each of the one or more vital switches by means of at least one optical fiber cable and is configured to output one or more light command signals over the at least one optical fiber cable, and each vital switch is configured to switch from an open status to a closed status to provide power and ground to the associated vital wayside device upon receiving at least one corresponding light command signal outputted by the controller for commanding an action of the associated vital wayside device.

System for controlling vital wayside devices of a railway network, and vital switch for such vital devices

A method is for determining a status of a track section of a railroad. Each end of the track section is connected to a respective detector. One of the two detectors transmits a current along the rails of the track section towards the other detector and receives a current transmitted along the rails of the track section from the other detector. The track section is further equipped with a computer in communication with the two detectors. The computer calculates an instant value of the status of the track section as a function of an instant vector based on a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by a first of the detectors as measured by the first detector (Txl), a measure of an intensity of the current received by the first detector as measured by the first detector (Rxl) and a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by the second detector as measured by the second detector (Txl).

Method for determining a status of a track section of a railroad; associated apparatus and non-transitory computer readable medium

A wayside communication system for transmitting coded current signals through running rails of a railroad track between wayside control devices. A power line common to the wayside control devices is used as the return path for the current signals. The system features train and broken rail detection. The system allows sending signals long distances since rail to rail current leakage is no longer an issue.

Wayside communication system using power grid lines

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Melbourne Beach, FL, United States of America

Richard Lawson