Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOVINGRAIL (MOving block and VIrtual coupling New Generations of RAIL signalling) Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-12-31 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project The Shift2Rail project MOVINGRAIL addresses the topic ‘Analysis for Moving Block and implementation of Virtual Coupling concept’. The new generation of railway signalling is represented by train-centric signalling, where train separation is governed by the actual train braking distances depending on the current speeds and braking curves rather than by geographical fixed blocks. This increases capacity and reduces way-side life-cycle costs. Moving Block is an established standard in ETCS L3 and metro systems, while Virtual Coupling is still in the conceptual stage. Both are based on train-centric solutions using integrity and position information from the trains rather than track-side train detection. Moving Block allows train separation based on the absolute braking distance between trains, while Virtual Coupling enables a relative braking distance wherein the braking distance of the leading train is also taken into account. MOVINGRAIL supports the transition to train-centric signalling with a multidimensional analysis framework to assess operational, technological and business considerations, while highlighting the differences to traditional fixed block signalling. In particular, MOVINGRAIL assesses operational procedures and advanced testing methods for ETCS L3 Moving Block signalling, as well as communication technologies and market potential of Virtual Coupling. The main objectives are as follows.• Objective 1. Identify Operational procedures for Moving Block and Virtual Coupling signalling, which ensure safe train separation, especially in critical areas such as stations and junctions. • Objective 2. Validate the Moving Block Operational and Engineering Rules and identify operational differences from traditional signalling to provide recommendations for easier implementation of Moving Block. • Objective 3. Define improved strategies and methods for testing of Moving Block signalling systems, including trade-offs between laboratory and on-site testing. • Objective 4. Assessing requirement compliance of radio-based communication structures proposed in Shift2Rail IP1 and IP2 and define improved architectures that more effectively satisfy user requirements in terms of costs and performance. • Objective 5. Investigate Automated Vehicle communication technologies and identify analogies for potential applicability to the railways for fast-tracking Virtual Coupling development. • Objective 6. Identify market potentials for Virtual Coupling and assess impacts on different railway market segments in terms of costs, performance and operator needs. • Objective 7. Provide a roadmap for the introduction of Virtual Coupling considering potential business risks and possible migration issues. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far Fundamentals of train-centric train operation were developed to derive operational procedures for Moving Block and Virtual Coupling, specifically in interlocking areas. Elementary operational manoeuvres and scenarios have been developed with a formal representation at the required level of detail that extends the blocking time theory to Moving Block and Virtual Coupling. This allows a direct reference to the procedures of the UIC Capacity Code 406 for performance comparison. The X2RAIL-1 Moving Block Operational and Engineering Rules were assessed on typical operational situations using serious gaming, which identified a number of issues and recommendations. An extended functional architecture for the ETCS L3 Moving Block Trackside has been proposed with new functions and relations that improves the X2RAIL-1 Moving Block system specification.Functional requirements for testing safety-critical systems were identified and a high-level operational concept and testing strategy for Moving Block has been derived. An extensible architecture has been developed for Moving Block system testing compatible with existing ETCS testing standards. The interfaces between the main subsystems in the architecture were defined and automated testing routines for Moving Block systems have been proposed that minimize on-site testing.Communication technologies were identified meeting the needs of virtual coupling for low-latency direct communication. A 5G architecture in which trains maintain a cellular network connection for long-distance communication and an integrated Peer-to-Peer direct connection for short-range communication has been proposed to enable virtual coupling. A clear synergy was identified with Automated Vehicles, where 5G evolved to incorporate Peer-to-Peer sidelink communication that is already incorporated into the 3GPP standards for 5G. Other analogies that allow piggybacking on the automotive sector include enabling technologies, cooperative Intelligent Traffic Systems, and interactive traffic management, although the communication distances between trains and SIL targets are significantly greater in the Railways.A Multi-Criteria Analysis framework was developed for assessing the impact of train-centric signalling in the operational, technological and business domains based on a SWOT analysis of Virtual Coupling for each railway market segment. Virtual Coupling and Moving Block were compared and benchmarked with fixed-block signalling on the eight criteria costs, capacity, stability, travel demand, energy consumption, safety, acceptance, and regulatory approval. A hybrid Delphi-Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) technique was used to weigh and combine the different criteria in final performance scores. The results showed that Virtual Coupling outperforms Moving Block on most criteria but the open safety issues of Virtual Coupling weigh heavily on the overall comparison until an equal safety maturity level will be achieved. In particular, train platooning will enable a significant increase in infrastructure capacity and operational efficiency.The main challenges of Virtual Coupling were identified along with the required step changes to the safety, communication and control technology: interlocking, train-to-train communication, cooperative train protection and control, and integrated traffic management. Scenario-based roadmaps were developed for the various market segments based on the identified step-changes and estimated priorities, time orders, and durations. The roadmaps provide a long-term strategy for a gradual transition towards the deployment of Virtual Coupling, where system safety and performance depend on a smooth interaction of the safety and control components.The main business risks associated with Virtual Coupling refer to late or no adoption due to poor benefit-to-cost ratios or safety concerns. Operational and commercial barriers were identified that help stakeholders in prioritising their mitigation measures to ensure timely and safe adoption of the new technology. Technical challenges and safety concerns must be resolved to give complete confidence in the system, while delivering cost-effective solutions. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) MOVINGRAIL developed methodologies that help stakeholders to analyse and test operational processes and assess the impact of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling on multiple criteria. This will support the introduction of the new technology in a purposeful, timely, and safe manner. The developed roadmaps and risk analysis can be used as efficient tools for stakeholders to identify and solve potential criticalities and risks to the deployment of Virtual Coupling as well as to plan necessary investment and development actions. Reasons for the benefits of Virtual Coupling over Moving Block Proposed 5G communication structure for Virtual Coupling to mainline railways Main challenges for the implementation of Virtual Coupling for each Market Segment Multiple-criteria performance scores of Moving Block and Virtual Coupling
