Positive Train Control With Dynamic Headway Based on an Active Communication System

Safety, capacity, and timely schedules are some of the most crucial objectives in railway operations. Positive train control (PTC) is a concept whose goal is to improve the safety and efficiency of railway operations by using advanced information technologies. Information technologies such as active communications enable the use of a dynamic headway policy, which can increase the track capacity and improve dispatching efficiency in addition to improving safety. In this paper, we propose a dynamic headway system for PTC based on active communications, which we integrate with a dynamic dispatching model in order to improve track capacity and safety in railway operations. We use a simulation model of a rail network in southern California to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach. The simulation results of different scenarios show reductions in train delays of at least 55% and reductions in travel time of at least 35% when using the dynamic headway versus using a fixed headway.