Transmission balise-locomotive (Dutch: Transmissie Baken Locomotief) (TBL) (English: "Beacon-to-Locomotive Transmission") is a

train protection system A train protection system is a railway technical installation to ensure safe operation in the event of human error. Development Train stops The earliest systems were train stops, as still used by the New York City Subway, the Toronto subway, ...

used in Belgium and (until 2021) on

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta ...

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 1996 ...

Versions

TBL1

The TBL system is designed to stop a train passing a red signal, with operating speeds of up to 160 km/h. In 2006 13% of the Belgium train network used the original TBL system, introduced in 1982. The system requires the train driver to manually acknowledge a warning when passing a double yellow signal (similar to the Memor/ Le Crocodile system), as well as stopping a train automatically if it passes a red signal.

TBL1+

TBL1+ began to be installed on the Belgian rail network in 2006, with full conversion to the system expected by 2012. The system is a development of TBL1, but uses

Eurobalise A Eurobalise is a specific variant of a balise being a transponder placed between the rails of a railway. These balises constitute an integral part of the European Train Control System, where they serve as "beacons" giving the exact location of a ...

s, providing compatibility for later reconfiguration to an

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

system. An additional safety measure is the addition of an additional balise 300m up-line, which forces an automatic stop on trains travelling at more than 40 km/h ahead of a red signal. The roll-out of TBL1+ was accelerated after the

Halle train collision The Halle train collision (also known as the Buizingen train collision) was a collision between two NMBS/SNCB passenger trains carrying a combined 250 to 300 people in Buizingen, in the municipality of Halle, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, on 15 ...

on 15 February 2010, which killed 19 and injured 171 people. An upgraded version, TBL1++ was also unable to prevent the 2017 Leuven derailment while ETCS would have. Similar to the Swiss EuroSignum approach, it simply converts the aspects from TBL1 into a digital transmission packet so that it is compatible with

, while not interfering with ETCS functionality, by using the national datagram (packet number 44) that is defined in the ERTMS / ETCS specification requirements specification (subset 026).

TBL2/3

The TBL2/3 system is nearly identical to the Dutch ATB-NG, and allows operating at speeds of up to 300 km/h. The system is used on the high speed line between

Bierbeek Bierbeek () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Bierbeek proper, Korbeek-Lo, Lovenjoel and Opvelp. On January 1, 2006, Bierbeek had a total population of 9,147. The total ...

(

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

) and

Ans Ans or ANS or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Ans, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium * Ans, Denmark, a village in Denmark * Angus, Scotland, UK; a council area by its Chapman code * Ainsdale railway station, England, UK (by station code ...

(

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from ...

). All other high-speed lines will be equipped with ETCS level 2, as shown in the network statement published by Infrabel on its website. Line 4, linking Antwerp to the Dutch High Speed Line South, is equipped with both Level 2 and, as fallback, Level 1.

Overseas usage

The TBL system has been in use by local trains on Hong Kong's

, a trunk line of the

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit netwo ...

network, since the late 1990s. It was intended as a replacement for the line's original

Automatic Warning System The Automatic Warning System (AWS) was introduced in the 1950s in the United Kingdom to provide a train driver with an audible warning and visual reminder that they were approaching a distant signal at caution. Its operation was later extended ...

(AWS), a British train protection system, so as to allow for increased traffic and capacity on the East Rail line. With the introduction of an Automatic train operation (ATO) system supplied by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avel ...

in 2002 the said TBL system now functions as the

safety-critical A safety-critical system (SCS) or life-critical system is a system whose failure or malfunction may result in one (or more) of the following outcomes: * death or serious injury to people * loss or severe damage to equipment/property * environme ...

part of the said ATO system, and also serves as a fallback in case the ATO system fails or is not available. Intercity trains, which use the East Rail line within Hong Kong territory but do not stop, continue to operate with AWS. TBL on the East Rail line is due to be replaced in 2020 with a

communications-based train control Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accurat ...

(CBTC) system, similar to that on the

West Rail line The West Rail line () was a rapid transit line that formed part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong until 27 June 2021. Coloured magenta on the MTR map, the line ran from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom, with a total length of , ...

, as part of the

Sha Tin to Central Link The Sha Tin to Central Link (abbreviated SCL; ) is an extension of the MTR rapid transit network. It is divided into two sections. The first section, named "Tuen Ma line (Phase 1)”, runs from Tai Wai station in the New Territories to Hung ...

upgrades. However, on the day where the CBTC system was supposed to be deployed, it encountered some signalling faults, hence it was changed back to the TBL system. In February 2021, MTR announced that the TBL system will be phased out on 6 February 2021 and the CBTC system will be put into service with the MTR R-Trains. The ATP system installed on the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

is based on TBL.

References

External links

* *{{citation, url =http://www.infrabel.be/en/etcs, title =Automatic train control systems, work = www.infrabel.be, publisher =

Infrabel Infrabel is a Belgian government-owned public limited company. It builds, owns, maintains and upgrades the Belgian railway network, makes its capacity available to railway operator companies, and handles train traffic control. Infrabel was creat ...

Train protection systems