Railroad virtual track block system
AssigneeBNSF Railway Company
InventorsJerry Wade Specht, Ralph E. Young, Mitchell Wayne Beard, Kent Robert Shue
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Abstract
A method of railroad track control includes partitioning a physical track block into a plurality of virtual track blocks, the physical track block defined by first and second insulated joints disposed at corresponding first and second ends of a length of railroad track. The presence of an electrical circuit discontinuity in one of the plurality of virtual track blocks; is detected and in response a corresponding virtual track block position code indicating the presence of the discontinuity in the one of the plurality of virtual track blocks is generated.
Claims20
A railroad track control system for maintaining a braking distance onboard a locomotive comprising:
- a plurality of control systems each disposed at a corresponding end of a corresponding physical track block, each control system operable to:
- partition a physical track block into a plurality of virtual track blocks, the physical track block defined by first and second insulated joints disposed at corresponding first and second ends of a length of railroad track;
- detect a position of an electrical circuit discontinuity in one of the plurality of virtual track blocks, wherein the electrical circuit discontinuity is an open circuit indicating a broken rail within the one of the virtual track blocks;
- and
- in response to detecting a presence of the broken rail in one of the plurality of virtual track blocks, generate a corresponding virtual track block position code;
- and
- generating an alert to an operator indicating the broken rail within the one of the virtual track blocks.
A method of railroad track control, comprising:
- partitioning a physical track block into a plurality of virtual track blocks, via a plurality of control systems each disposed at a corresponding end of a corresponding physical track block, the physical track block defined by first and second insulated joints disposed at corresponding first and second ends of a length of railroad track;
- detecting a position of an electrical circuit discontinuity in one of the plurality of virtual track blocks, wherein the electrical circuit discontinuity is an open circuit indicating a broken track within the one of the virtual track blocks;
- and
- in response to detecting a presence of the broken track in the one of the plurality of virtual track blocks, generating a corresponding virtual track block position code indicating the position of the broken track in the one of the plurality of virtual track blocks;
- and
- generating an alert to an operator indicating the broken track within the one of the virtual track blocks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.