Virtual Lineside Signalling

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Nearly all railway signalling for manually driven trains has, since its inception, relied on the timely presentation to train drivers of appropriate images at appropriate locations. Traditionally this has involved lineside signals and bespoke, wired communications systems. Once icons of modernity, these systems now appear increasingly obsolete and expensive to maintain.

Meanwhile, the railways' own passengers and staff have grown adept at sending digital images from anywhere, to anywhere, instantly and cheaply via commercial wireless mobile picture messaging services running on their camera phones and laptops.

The VLS white paper attempts to address this recent, but historically ironic, technological disparity by first examining how signal aspects differ from wirelessly transmitted digital images, e.g. geolocation and fail-safe behaviour. It then proposes a number of technical measures to mitigate these differences such that centrally transmitted digital images displayed in the train cab can effectively function as virtual lineside signals.

It is argued that practical application of this novel technique could result in significant savings in both initial installation and ongoing maintenance cost compared to either conventional lineside signalling or current generation cab signalling systems.