Control system and method for a transportation network

A system comprising:

• a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle comprising:
• a location device configured to determine and provide a geographic location of the respective vehicle;
• a communication device operable to communicate with a control system;
• and an energy storage device having a measurable state of charge, the energy storage device being configured to supply power to a propulsion system of the vehicle;
• an off-board control system to communicate with the communication device of each vehicle and configured to:
• determine criteria comprising at least the geographic locations of the vehicles and the state of charge of the energy storage devices associated with the vehicles;
• identify and select which vehicles within the plurality are to establish a connection with each other for the purpose of sharing electric energy from their respective energy storage devices;
• the selection based at least on:
• the geographic locations of the vehicles;
• and the respective states of charge of their energy storage devices;
• wherein the selected vehicles are configured to exchange power based on the determined criteria;
• and wherein the off-board control system comprises a neural network configured to:
• receive one or more operational parameters from the communication device of one or more vehicles within the plurality of vehicles;
• and generate an output comprising an action, or sequence of actions, to be taken by one or more vehicles within the plurality of vehicles based at least partially on the one or more operational parameters received by the neural network.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of vehicle systems, each of the vehicle systems comprising one or more vehicles, wherein each vehicle system further comprises one or more:
• location devices, each configured to determine and provide a geographic location of the respective vehicle system;
• communication devices, each operable to communicate with a control system;
• and
• energy storage devices, each having a measurable state of charge, and each being configured to supply power to one or more propulsion systems of the respective vehicle system;
• one or more energy tenders, each energy tender comprising:
• a location device configured to determine and provide the geographic location of the respective energy tender;
• a communication device operable to communicate with a control system;
• and
• an energy storage device having a measurable state of charge, the energy storage device being configured to supply power to a propulsion system of the respective energy tender;
• an off-board control system to communicate with the one or more communication devices of each vehicle system and the communication device of each of the one or more energy tenders, the off-board control system configured to:
• determine criteria comprising at least the geographic locations of each of the vehicle systems within the plurality of vehicle systems, the geographic location of each of the one or more energy tenders, the states of charge of the one or more energy storage devices associated with each of the vehicle systems within the plurality, and the state of charge of the respective energy storage device of each of the one or more energy tenders;
• identify and select which of the one or more energy tenders are to couple with one or more of the vehicle systems for the purpose of sharing electric energy from their respective energy storage devices;
• the selection based at least on:
• the geographic locations of each of the vehicle systems within the plurality;
• the geographic location of each of the one or more energy tenders;
• the respective states of charge of the one or more energy storage devices of each vehicle system;
• and
• the state of charge of the energy storage device of each of the one or more energy tenders;
• wherein the selected one or more energy tenders are configured to exchange power with the selected one or more vehicle systems based on the determined criteria.