Method for managing the circulation of vehicles on a railway network and related system

A controller onboard a vehicle circulating on a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, each resource of the network being associated with a single ground controller, each ground controller including:

• radio communications;
• a processor permitting allocation of the associated resource and ordering a change in the interlocking state of the associated resource;
• a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, on command by the processor, driving the associated resource according to interlocking parameters of a received interlocking request, the onboard controller comprising:
• onboard controller radio communications permitting exchange of messages between the onboard controller and the ground controllers;
• an identifier permitting identification of a group of resources that, on condition of each of the resources being allocated to the vehicle and being in a requested interlocking state, would permit the vehicle to continue a mission, by taking a path on the network corresponding to the group of identified resources, the mission being managed by a regulating unit including a planner so as to manage, on a network scale, movements of the vehicle and any other vehicles and to create a mission for each of the vehicle and any other vehicles, the regulating unit being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, including a wireless communications permitting communication with the onboard controller to transmit the mission assigned to the vehicle;
• an allocator and releaser permitting, from a group of identified resources, generation of resource allocation requests intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the identified resources, and processing of resource allocation responses coming from the ground controllers, and permitting, from a group of allocated resources, generation of resource interlocking requests, which include interlocking parameters, intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the allocated resources, and processing of resource interlocking responses coming from the ground controllers;
• and
• a verifier permitting verification that all of the resources of a group of identified resources have been allocated to said vehicle and that all of the resources of a group of allocated resources are in the requested interlocking state.

A ground controller capable of being associated with at least one resource of a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, and, onboard a train circulating on the network, an onboard controller including radio communications and an allocator and releaser permitting generation of a resource allocation request intended to be sent to the ground controller, or a resource interlocking request including interlocking parameters and intended to be sent to the ground controller, the ground controller comprising:

• radio communications capable of receiving an allocation or interlocking request for the resource associated with the ground controller;
• a processor capable of allocating the associated resource in compliance with a received allocation request and ordering a modification of the interlocking state of the associated resource in compliance with a received interlocking request;
• and
• a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, upon command from the processor, driving the associated resource according to the interlocking parameters of the interlocking request.