Positive Train Control Testing for Wayside Interface Units

Transcription

1 Number of words: 2408 ABSTRACT: Positive Train Control Testing for Wayside Interface Units David Thurston, PhD, P.E. FIRSE Vice President, Rail Systems Parsons 1601 Market Street, Suite 900 Philadelphia, PA This paper is an introduction the AREMA process for Positive Train Control Manual Parts and describes the activities of AREMA Committee 39. The paper will specifically deal with two manual parts related to testing and placing in service Wayside Interface Units (WIUs) that are an integral part of the field components of PTC. Examples of I-ETMS type PTC will be used to fully describe the process and tools required. INTRODUCTION TO COMMITTEE 39 In years past, AREMA committee 37 produced Interoperable Positive Train Control Recommended Practices based on wayside integration and simplified radio based cab signaling [1]. That effort preceded the events leading up to the passage of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 that require Positive Train Control (PTC) to be installed on most of the nation s railroads. When the details for Positive Train Control (PTC) were codified by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in 2009 [2], it became apparent to the rail industry in the United States that the available resources would be stretched to the limit to meet the final cut-in date of December 31, The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) has long been involved in standards and recommended practice that increase the efficiency of engineering, construction and maintenance staff. This is largely accomplished by streamlining signal and communications work through uniform approaches to work flow and material supply. Therefore it was logical for AREMA to be involved in areas of PTC for the same purposes. Committee 39 Positive Train Control within the Communications and Signals (C&S) Functional Group was formed to provide the resources within AREMA for the creation and maintenance of s within the C&S Manual for use by all railways in the United States AREMA 2013

2 Figure 1, The Classic I-ETMS Equipment Layout for PTC. Composed of 143 members from various interests in the rail systems industry, Committee 39 has been very busy working towards the goal of providing useful manual parts for the last three years. During that time, the full committee has met twelve times at various venues including the RSSI Product Show, the AREMA annual conference and Class 1 railroad offices. A sample agenda is shown in Figure 2, below. Full Committee 8:00-9:00 Welcome Safety Briefing Self Introductions Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting AREMA Board Update 9:00-10:00 ITC Update 10:00-10:15 Break 10:15-11:00 Sub-Committee Updates & Assignments 11:00-11:30 Sub-Committee Breakout 11:30-1:00 Lunch 1:00-2:30 Sub-Committee Breakout 2:30-2:45 Break 2:45-5:00 Full Committee Review of Sub-Committee Work 5:00 Adjourn Figure 2, A typical Committee 39 meeting Agenda. The committee s make up consists of approximately 34% railroad employees, 35% from the supply community, and 31% from consultants. This meets the expectations and guidelines for committee diversity as required by AREMA. MISSION STATEMENT From the first committee meeting, the guiding principal has remained constant. This is true even as the technology and standards as produced by; the Interoperable Train Control AREMA

3 committees of the AAR, ACSES and ITCS type PTC types continue to develop. Our mission statement is as follows: The purpose of AREMA Committee 39 is to continually review current and new technology addressing the installation, testing and maintenance of Positive Train Control wayside equipment and systems and develop recommended "industry practices" with the overall goal of improving the safety and reliability of train operations [3]. In keeping with AREMA s role and Committee 39 s focus, the manual parts produced relate to the design and installation of field PTC equipment and not the locomotive, communications network, or dispatch interface. COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION Committee 39 is currently organized with elections for officers as follows: Sid Bakker: Chairman Harvey Glickenstein: Vice Chairman John Moore: Secretary Dave Gove: Chair of Subcommittee 1 Mark Engels: Chair of Subcommittee 2 David Thurston: Chair of Subcommittee 3 Greg Rogers: Chair of Subcommittee 4 Open: Chair of Subcommittee 5 It should be noted that the Committee benefited from previous leadership for Secretary from Dave Gove, for Subcommittee 1 Chair from Greg Hackbarth, and for Subcommittee 5 Chair 5 from Tom Burns. In addition, a special thanks goes to Jim Barrett, who served as Committee 39 Chairman from its inception until Originally composed of three subcommittees, it has since been expanded into five recognizing the importance of Information Technology as a major component of PTC and Communications for the review of all functions that were previously assigned to that group as a separate committee on its own right. These five subcommittees are described below: Subcommittee 1: Design and Installation. Subcommittee 2: Configuration Management. Subcommittee 3: Testing and Maintenance. Subcommittee 4: Communications. Subcommittee 5: Information Technology. Over the three plus years of operation, Committee 39 has been productive in establishing several new s, reviewing existing s for relevance to PTC, and establishing a level of expertise in PTC application. Each subcommittee had contributed to the process and it can generally be seen through the numbering style used for s. They generally indicate Positive Train Control content (Chapter 24), then the subcommittee number (1 through 5 as above) and, then the sequential order of the document. Therefore indicates it is PTC related, originated in subcommittee 1 (Design and Installation) and was the first Manual Part from that subcommittee. The currently approved manual Parts are listed below in Table AREMA 2013

4 Table 1, Current AREMA Committee 39 s [4] Recommended Practices for Incorporating Hand Throw Switches into Non-signaled Territory PTC Systems ITC TYPE Recommended Instructions for Test of Positive Train Control Wayside Interface Units (WIU) before Placing in Service Recommended Instructions for End to End Test of Positive Train Control Wayside Interface Units (WIU) Recommended Design Guidelines for Maintainer Interface on PTC Communication and Network Equipment Recommended Installation Practices for RF Transmission Systems In addition, Committee 39 reviewed existing s from other committees for applicability to PTC work. The following lists the s reviewed and modified by Committee 39 in table 2 below: Table 2, AREMA s Reviewed for PTC Applicability [4] Recommended Design Criteria for Wayside Communication Surge Protection Recommended Clean Cab Radio Channel Designators and Railroad Radio Service VHF Frequency Table Listing of Allocated Frequencies in the Railroad Radio Service Recommended Design Criteria/Functional Guidelines for Interface of Radio Communications Module in "Clean Cab" Locomotive Recommended Functional/Operating Guidelines for Remote Control of Engine by Portable Radio Recommended Design Criteria for Rack Mounted Frequency Modulated Transceiver and Accessories Recommended Practices for Installation of Digital Data Radio Systems for Wayside Applications The committee also is producing other manual Parts for future distribution in the AREMA Signal Manual of Recommended Practices. This is part of the regular process that all AREMA committees utilize to establish and maintain s as a Standards Body for the Railway industry. These draft s are presented below in table 3. AREMA

5 Table 3, Future AREMA s for PTC Recommended Design and Installation Criteria for Lightning Protection, Grounding, and Equipotential Bonding Systems for Wayside Communication Recommended Design Criteria for Wayside Communication Surge Protection Recommended Guidelines for PTC Monitoring of Signals Recommended Installation Practices for RF Transmission Systems Recommended Design Guidelines for Maintainer Interface on PTC Communication and Network Equipment Recommended Practices for PTC Systems with Back office Servers Recommended Practices for Interoffice Extranet Recommended Practices for Intra Railroad Networking In addition to the s mentioned above, Subcommittee 3 (Testing & Maintenance) is also taking on the review of Chapter 23 s from the earlier effort to standardize radio based cab signals [1], and is developing a PTC related seminar for a future AREMA function. SUBCOMMITTEE 3 DETAILS MAINTENANCE AND TESTING FOR WIU Within the Committee 39 structure, Subcommittee 3 is responsible for PTC aspects of testing and maintenance of wayside PTC systems. Specific to the mission of Committee 39, the field equipment that is of interest is the Wayside Interface Unit (WIU) that converts the status of wayside signal equipment to a serial message sent to approaching trains. If the Wayside Status Relay Service (WSRS) is installed on the PTC system, it is also possible for WIUs to communicate to the Interoperable Train Control Message (ITCM) server stack for regular messages for approaching trains as well as health monitoring at remote locations [5]. The Subcommittee s approach to testing of WIUs used the viewpoint of the railroad maintenance forces typically charged with this function. Therefore, the documents created by the Subcommittee are centered on the use of tools that can be used to test the WIUs with a minimum of time or disarrangement of circuits. Since the Association of American Railroads (AAR) specification details the use of Ethernet as the means of communicating the serial messages from the WIU to the Wayside Message Sever (WMS) or communications network [6], the Subcommittee concentrated on using a laptop computer to interrogate the WIU in place of the connection to the rest of the PTC open network. MANUAL PARTS PRODUCED As a result of meetings of the Subcommittee and the overall Committee 39, two Manual Parts were created to describe the required testing of Positive Train Control WIUs. The first describes the procedure for testing WIUs as a standalone unit in preparation for final commissioning of the device into the PTC open Communications Network. The second 1166 AREMA 2013

6 describes the procedure for testing WIUs as part of an overall functional PTC system to test that the correct data is being transmitted to the approaching train. Figure 3, below, is a sample of the documents produced [7]. Figure 3, An example of the s produced for WIU testing [7] Within the s, the procedure describes the actual connection process between the WIU and the laptop computer used for testing. The figure used in the for the standalone test is shown below in figure 4. Figure 4, This is Figure from for standalone WIU Test [7] AREMA

7 Once the standalone was drafted, consideration was given to the holistic test with the full build out of PTC infrastructure. This resulted in the second [8]. Although very similar in process, the key difference with the second testing Manual Part is that the testing laptop computer is not used and is replaced with a working locomotive Train Management Computer (TMC). This can be an actual locomotive, a portable test set mounted on a hirail vehicle, or any form of equipped substituted for these. Figure 5 below shows this arrangement for end t end testing described in Figure 5, This is Figure from for end to end WIU Test [8] Figure 5 below shows an actual testing laptop computer in use testing WIUs on the Metrolink project. This scene represents a standalone test as describe in Figure 6, An actual field test example 1168 AREMA 2013

8 The Committee 39 activities in setting industry recommended practice and standards was applied to Positive Train Control in several key areas including design, installation, configuration management, testing, communications, and information technology. This paper illustrated the application of the AREMA process for creating manual parts for the testing of field apparatus in preparation of commissioning PTC systems. As more PTC systems are developed, Committee 39 will continue to address the future needs for s for the rail industry. REFERENCES [1] William A. Petit, Interoperable Positive Train Control (PTC), AREMA 2009 Annual Conference, Communications and Signals Track, September, 20-23, Chicago, IL. [2] Code of Federal Regulation, Part Subpart i. [3] Initial Documents related to the formation and function of Committee 39 during the first meeting at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee on May 20, [4] AREMA Communications and Signals Manual of Recommended Practice, [5] Henry McCreary, Presentation on PTC Communications Design & Implementation Alternatives to I-ETMS Workshop in St. Louis, MO, October, 2012 [6] Interoperable Train Control Wayside Interface Unit Requirements, Railway Electronics Specification AAR S-9202, Version 1.2.5, ITC Accepted Draft, June 27, [7] AREMA 24_3_1 Recommended Instructions for Test of Positive Train Control Wayside Interface Units (WIU) before Placing in Service Revised [8] AREMA 24_3_2 Recommended Instructions for End to End Test of Positive Train Control Wayside Interface Units (WIU) Revised LISTING OF ALL TABLE TITLES AND FIGURE CAPTIONS Figure 1, The Classic I-ETMS Equipment Layout for PTC.... Figure 2, A typical Committee 39 meeting Agenda.... Figure 3, An example of the s produced for WIU testing [7]... Figure 4, This is Figure from for standalone WIU Test [7]... Figure 5, This is Figure from for end to end WIU Test [8]... Figure 6, An actual field test example... Table 1, Current AREMA Committee 39 s [4]... Table 2, AREMA s Reviewed for PTC Applicability [4]... Table 3, Future AREMA s for PTC... AREMA

9 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH David F. Thurston David Thurston is Vice President for Rail Systems for Parsons, a position he has held for the past 5 years. David joined Parsons after 20 years with SYSTRA, where he served in a similar role. Previous to these assignments, he held positions at Conrail and Norfolk Southern. He received his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clemson University in 1977, a MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from George Mason University in 1989, and his PhD in Engineering from Temple University in He is a registered Professional Engineer in 8 States. Currently Chair of the Land Transportation Division within the Vehicular Technology Society of the IEEE, he lead the 2012 Joint Rail Conference held at Temple University in Philadelphia that presented 150 peer reviewed academic papers from across the globe. David is also a Fellow in the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers and serves as the North American Section Chair. He is currently Sub Committee Chair for Maintenance and Testing on AREMA Committee 24 for Positive Train Control, and a member of Committee 2 (Track Measurement Systems) and 38 (Information, Defect Detection & Energy Systems) AREMA 2013

10 PTC Testing for WIUs David Thurston, Ph.D., P.E., FIRSE Vice President Rail Systems, Parsons Transportation Group, Philadelphia, PA AREMA Conference, October 1, 2013 AREMA

11 PTC Testing for WIUs AREMA has long been involved in standards and recommended practice that increase the efficiency of engineering, construction and maintenance staff. This streamlines signal and communications work through uniform approaches to work flow and material supply. It was logical for AREMA to be involved in areas of PTC for the same purposes. INTRODUCTION TO COMMITTEE 39 Past PTC work produced Interoperable Positive Train Control Recommended Practices based on: 1) Wayside integration and 2) Simplified radio based cab signaling. However, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required different requirements for PTC. When PTC was codified by the FRA in 2009, it was apparent that industry resources would be stretched to the limit to meet the December 31, 2015 date. PTC Testing for WIUs Committee 39 Positive Train Control within the Communications and Signals (C&S) Functional Group was formed to provide the resources within AREMA for the creation and maintenance of s within the C&S Manual for use by all railways in the United States. Committee members, Providing useful manual parts for 3 years. The committees make up consists of approximately: 34% railroad employees, 35% from the supply community, and 31% from consultants. This meets the expectations and guidelines for committee diversity as required by AREMA. Committee 39 Mission Statement The purpose of AREMA Committee 39 is to continually review current and new technology addressing the installation, testing and maintenance of Positive Train Control wayside equipment and systems and develop recommended "industry practices" with the overall goal of improving the safety and reliability of train operations. Committee 39 is currently organized with elected officers as follows: Sid Bakker.Chairman Harvey Glickenstein..Vice Chairman John Moore Secretary Dave Gove Chair Subcommittee 1 Design and Installation. Mark Engels...Chair Subcommittee 2 Configuration Management David Thurston Chair Subcommittee 3 Testing and Maintenance Greg Rogers.Chair of Subcommittee 4 Communications. Open.Chair of Subcommittee Information Technology AREMA 2013

12 Current AREMA Committee 39 s Recommended Practices for Incorporating Hand Throw Switches into Non-signaled Territory PTC Systems Recommended Instructions for Test of PTC Wayside Interface Units (WIU) before Placing in Service Recommended Instructions for End to End Test of PTC WIUs Recommended Design Guidelines for Maintainer Interface on PTC Communication and Network Equipment Recommended Installation Practices for RF Transmission Systems AREMA s Reviewed for PTC Applicability Recommended Design Criteria for Wayside Communication Surge Protection Recommended Clean Cab Radio Channel Designators and Railroad Radio Service VHF Frequency Table Listing of Allocated Frequencies in the Railroad Radio Service Recommended Design Criteria/Functional Guidelines for Interface of Radio Communications Module in "Clean Cab" Locomotive AREMA s Reviewed for PTC Applicability Recommended Functional/Operating Guidelines for Remote Control of Engine by Portable Radio Recommended Design Criteria for Rack Mounted Frequency Modulated Transceiver and Accessories Recommended Practices for Installation of Digital Data Radio Systems for Wayside Applications Future AREMA s for PTC Recommended Design and Installation Criteria for Lightning Protection, Grounding, and Equipotential Bonding Systems for Wayside Communication Recommended Design Criteria for Wayside Communication Surge Protection Recommended Guidelines for PTC Monitoring of Signals Recommended Installation Practices for RF Transmission Systems Future AREMA s for PTC Recommended Design Guidelines for Maintainer Interface on PTC Communication and Network Equipment Recommended Practices for PTC Systems with Back office Servers Recommended Practices for Interoffice Extranet Recommended Practices for Intra Railroad Networking SUBCOMMITTEE 3 DETAILS MAINTENANCE AND TESTING FOR WIU Subcommittee 3 represents testing and maintenance of wayside PTC systems. Primarily concerned with Wayside Interface Unit (WIU) that converts the status of wayside signal equipment to a serial message sent to approaching trains. Wayside Status Relay Service (WSRS) allows the elimination of the 220 MHz local radio AREMA

13 PTC Testing for WIUs The Subcommittee s approach to testing of WIUs: documents created by the Subcommittee are centered on the use of tools that can be used to test the WIUs with a minimum of time or disarrangement of circuits. ITC specifications use Ethernet to communicate between the WIU to the Wayside Message Sever (WMS) or communications network allowing the use of laptop computers to interrogate the WIU. PTC Testing for WIUs The Subcommittee s s have been updated continuously as more development is completed on the various PTC systems for standalone WIU Testing shows the inter-connection of the testing device. PTC Testing for WIUs for end to end WIU Test uses an equipped train that is defined as a train or device that uses the ITCM network. PTC Testing for WIUs This illustrates the application of the testing device to a field WIU on the Metrolink PTC project. PTC Testing for WIUs PTC Testing for WIUs In addition to the s mentioned above, Subcommittee 3 is also taking on the review of Chapter 23 s (the earlier effort to standardize radio based cab signals), and is developing a PTC related seminar for a future AREMA function AREMA 2013

14 PTC Testing for WIUs The Committee 39 activities in setting industry recommended practice and standards was applied to Positive Train Control in several key areas including design, installation, configuration management, testing, communications, and information technology. As more PTC systems are developed, Committee 39 will continue to address the future needs for s for the rail industry. PTC Testing for WIUs Thank You AREMA