Remote control of the railway contact line disconnectors

This paper presents various possibilities of remote control of the electrical disconnectors located on the railway´s contact line. The disconnectors´s can be controlled remotely by maneuvers made by the railway station dispatcher, when demanded by and with the approval of the railway power dispatcher. Disconnectors are electrically maneuvered by means of an actuator which can be controlled locally (directly from the device´s control panel or from the local railway station) and by remote control (from the railway power dispatch). The disconnectors´s remote control system is located in the office of the railway station dispatcher and it is composed of a local control panel, conductive elements and an interface relay panel. The local control panel has buttons that send remote control signals and lights that signal the command sent. The conductive elements are connectors between the local control panel and disconnector´s motor operating devices. The interface of the relay panel is necessary to obtain the disconnectors´s remote control. The implementation of programmable logic controllers, used in both in the command and the disconnectors´s status signal was possible by taking information from the interface relays. The traffic information received from railway stations and its integration in supervisory control and data acquisition distribution systems leads to major railway traffic improvement.