Pneumatic brake system redundancy in locomotive consists

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive, followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling a braking pressure in said train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives has a brake control handle device including at least one brake control lever, for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer, said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of said ECPBS, the braking pressure in said brake pipe;
• said communication layer including independent communication links connecting in said locomotives the respective brake control handle device with the corresponding ECPBS;
• first and second independent electronic modules being connected to angular position encoder means coupled said at least one brake control lever, said electronic modules being connected to said independent communication links and predisposed for converting angular position signals into brake commands.

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive, followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling a braking pressure in said train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having a brake control handle device including at least one brake control lever, for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer;
• said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of said ECPBS, the braking pressure in said brake pipe;
• said communication layer providing independent communication links connecting in said locomotives the respective brake handle device with the corresponding ECPBS;
• first and second independent electronic modules being connected to first and second, independent, angular position encoder means associated with each brake control lever, said electronic modules being connected to said independent communication links and being predisposed for converting angular position signals into brake commands.

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling a braking pressure in said train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having a brake control handle device for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer, said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of said ECPBS, the braking pressure in said brake pipe;
• said communication layer extending through the lead locomotive and said at least one trail locomotive, connecting the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of said at least one trail locomotive through gateway means capable of converting a first protocol for local communication between an ECPBS and the corresponding brake control handle device into a second protocol for inter-locomotive communication;
• said communication layer being predisposed for forwarding braking commands from the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of said at least one trail locomotive;
• said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of the ECPBS of said at least one trail locomotive, the pressure in said brake pipe extending through the whole train consist.

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive, followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling a braking pressure in the train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having a brake control handle device for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer;
• said communication layer extending through the lead locomotive and said at least one trail locomotive, connecting the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of said at least trail locomotive;
• said communication layer being arranged for forwarding braking commands from the brake control lever device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of the trail locomotive;
• said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of the ECPBS of the trail locomotive, the pressure in said brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having means for enabling and disabling the respective brake control handle device to allow and prevent said brake control lever device from issuing brake commands over said communication layer.

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive, followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling a braking pressure in the train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having a brake control handle device for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer, said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of said ECPBS, the pressure in the brake pipe extending through the whole train consist;
• said communication layer extending at least through the lead locomotive and said at least one trail locomotive, connecting the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of said at least one trail locomotive;
• said communication layer being arranged for forwarding said braking commands from the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of at least the first trail locomotive, in order to control the braking pressure in said brake pipe through the ECPBS of a trail locomotive connected to said communication layer, according to brake commands generated by the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive;
• the lead locomotive having a man-machine interface connected to said communication layer, arranged to display operating values, including the brake pipe pressure, provided by the ECPBS of said trail locomotive.

A train consist comprising a lead locomotive and at least one adjacent trail locomotive, followed by a plurality of cars, wherein:

• each of said locomotives has an electronically controlled pneumatic brake system (ECPBS) connected to a train brake pipe that extends through the whole train consist, said ECPBS being capable of controlling the braking pressure in the train brake pipe;
• each of said locomotives having a brake control handle device for generating braking commands to be delivered to the respective ECPBS through a communication layer, said braking commands being suitable to control, by means of said ECPBS, the pressure in the brake pipe extending through the whole train consist;
• said communication layer extending at least through the two first adjacent locomotives, connecting the brake control handle device of the lead locomotive to the ECPBS of said at least one trail locomotive;
• said communication layer extending at least through the two first adjacent locomotives, through pins in multi-unit connectors.