Background

CATO, Computer Aided Train Operation, is a development project run by Transrail and part-financed by the Swedish National Rail Administration and MTAB (operating iron ore trains in northern Sweden.

The scope of the project is to develop a foundation for a future traffic management system allowing trains to run as efficiently as possible considering the overall traffic situation on a rail line. Optimisation criteria may be reduction of energy or power consumption, optimisation of line capacity, reduction of wear etc. The idea is to do this optimisation without increase of running times, but by utilisation of slack in the time table or time slack occurring in the day-to-day traffic. Instead of idle time in front of signals or at sidings, the time shall be used for optimal running.

Our Solution

Optimal operation of the traffic and the individual trains cannot be achieved by a conventional signalling system. The driver needs to know at what time the train shall arrive to a station or at a signal, and this time may depend on the daily traffic situation. Furthermore, he needs to know how he shall run the train in order to arrive at the correct time and he needs early information in order to choose the best speed profile.

The concept of CATO is to feed computers at the traffic control centres with information about the current traffic situation such as delays, performance parameters for the individual trains etc. The CATO programme then calculates target points (position, time, speed) for each train. This information together with track data ahead is sent to the trains via GSM-R radio. Onboard the train, the optimal speed profile to the next target point is calculated by the CATO on-board programme and presented to the driver.

We are convinced that train driving techniques as presented above will be quite commonly used in the future. Not only will it allow optimal running of the train, but it will also relieve the drivers of the stress of causing delays and not driving in the most economical way.

The CATO test-phase is now (May 2010) nearing its end, as the final testing and data verifications are being made on the iron-ore lines in northern Sweden, and the first commercial installation on a passenger train is due in November this year.

For additional information, please refer to the CATO leaflet

You may also download the System Requirement Specification