BENEFITS OF THE MEET/PASS PLANNING AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT SUBSYSTEMS OF THE ADVANCED RAILROAD ELECTRONICS SYSTEM (ARES)

The Advanced Railroad Electronics System (ARES) is one of several advanced train control systems (ATCS) now under development by U.S. railroad suppliers. This article quantifies the expected benefits from ARES for a large U.S. railroad in two areas: fuel savings and improved meet/pass planning. The ARES package will include both an Energy Management System (EMS) which is intended to optimize train velocity profiles--within schedule constraints--to minimize fuel consumption, and a meet/pass planning algorithm that "paces" trains to arrive at meeting points exactly as scheduled. It is concluded from this analysis that the EMS, while certainly technically feasible, as currently conceived does not produce reliable fuel savings. The meet/pass planning software is far more successful than the EMS in its present form. Achievement of major reductions in running times for bulk commodity trains, without penalty to priority freights and intermodal trains, is a very significant achievement.

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00495733
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jul 31 1990 12:00AM