Challenges of Vital Overlay System Acquisition

Safety is a top priority of federal agencies, rail transit agencies, railroads, and the public. Acquisition of a new safety-critical or vital rail system requires a thorough specification of functional, operational, maintenance, performance, and program requirements. A comprehensive System Safety Program is required to be implemented and safety quantified for the entire system. Once an acceptable level of system safety has been achieved it must be maintained for the life of that system. What must be considered in the specification for a safety-critical or vital system to be implemented to operate as an overlay to an existing safety-critical or vital system? This paper will look the challenges of specifying the requirements for implementing and verifying system safety of the new vital functions while maintaining the safety of the underlying system. This paper looks at applying Systems Engineering to specifying a specific type of positive train control (PTC) implementation, as an overlay to an existing railroad.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures;
  • Pagination: 9p
  • Monograph Title: 2013 Rail Conference

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01502496
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Dec 24 2013 1:09PM