LOCOPROL (Low Cost satellite based train location system for signalling and train Protection for Low density traffic railway lines) has been a project to research the integration of satellite navigation into railway networks targeting low-density track lines. It is supposed to extend the
ERTMS
The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...
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 rapid ...
s. The partner project LOCOLOC was looking into cab signaling and speed control measures.
Foundation
Locoprol has its technical foundation in systems like Euteltrac / OmniTRACS from Qualcomm in use since 1991 for satellite-based fleet management
[acroread ] followed by APOLO (Advanced Position Locator), ECORAIL (EGNOS Controlled Railway Equipment) and the parallel INTEGRAIL project (2001–2003) der ESA
The LOCOPROL project was funded by the 5.
Framework Programme of the EU
just like the
GADEROS project (GAlileo DEmonstrator Railway Operation System)
starting at the same to research the integration of satellite navigation into the ERTMS standard (project partners were INECO, TIFSA, Railways Safety, ERRI, Aena, GMV Sistemas, Sener, NSL).
The project was coordinated by Alstom.
Project partners and related projects
The LOCOPROL project partners were Alstom (Belgium), Honeywell Regelsysteme Gmbh (Germany), INRETS (France), Alstom Transport (Italy), Trasys (Belgium), Alstom Transport (France), BPV (Germany), Septentrio (Belgium), Reseau Ferré de France (France), Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (Belgium), Northern Jiaotong University (China), European Road Transport Telematics Implementation Coordination Organisation S.C.R.L. (Belgium).
The project did officially end in 2005 however it was continued in other projects building on its results. The
ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
started in 2006 the project RUNE (Railway User Navigation Equipment) to use
Galileo (satellite system) to create "virtual
balise
A balise ( ) is an electronic beacon or transponder placed between the rails of a railway as part of an automatic train protection (ATP) system. The French word '' balise'' is used to distinguish these beacons from other kinds of beacons.
Bali ...
s"
and the projekt GEORAIL at the UIC continues to research satellite navigation in rail transport since 2004.
the 6. Framework Programme of the EU contains GIRASOLE (accompanied by GPS-LOC of the SCNF), GRAIL and M-TRADE which ran until 2007.
In England LOCASYS project was started continuing the LOCOPROL project with a target on dependability until 2009.
In Belgium the LOCOPROL pilot railway track was extended in the TransLogisTIC project between 2007 and 2009 looking into integration of railway and classic fleet management.
The actual usage of satellite navigation in railway systems can be currently found systems like the Tr@in-MD of SCNF for dangerous goods
wagons traceability and Gédéon of SCNF for
tracking of freight.
Results
The results of the LOCOLOC/LOCOPROL project
[LOCOLOC - Final Presentation](_blank)
Noordwijk, December 2004 have shown that satellite navigation in urban areas is highly restricted by satellites in range. The project has developed algorithms to map satellite signals to a 1D flat track map that allows to check the position even with only two satellites in range (from 6 satellites required for a safe
EGNOS
The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the European Space Agency and Eurocontrol on behalf of the European Commission. Currently, it supplements GPS by reporting ...
measurement it allows 3 failures and in some cases 4 failures).
Still the results have not been able to meet
SIL4 safety of life boundaries (with 98% of measures successful outside tunnels)
however the test model had not been conclusive regarding dependability on all system conditions.
[LOCOLPROL - System Safety Report](_blank)
, "The
safety objective of 10−9/h for the LOCOPROL signalling system could only be accepted when
the set of proof will take into account all the involved parameters, including common failures
modes and degraded situation management, and the assessment of the dependability of the
whole system.", "Therefore a full compliancy to the railway safety CENELEC standards and best practices in the railway field is clearly not achievable to this research project.", "The signalling also validated the fact the use of, at least, passive eurobalises is necessary to mitigate the risk during train position initialisation but also at singular location as points or in the vicinity of a railway station to counter the lack of accuracy of the satellite train positioning." The results indicate so far that passive (fixed data)
balise
A balise ( ) is an electronic beacon or transponder placed between the rails of a railway as part of an automatic train protection (ATP) system. The French word '' balise'' is used to distinguish these beacons from other kinds of beacons.
Bali ...
s are necessary in the vicinity of railway stations to counter the lack of accuracy of the satellite train positioning.
Potential re-evaluation
As EGNOS certification for safety of life applications will be achieved in 2010 the LOCOPROL results may be re-evaluated with the system running in a non-prototype environment. In comparison, the North American Joint Positive Train Control system is testing with two Differential GPS receivers combined with an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors (gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning th ...
for
dead reckoning
In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating the current position of a moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and incorporating estimates of speed, heading (or direction or course), and elapsed time. T ...
in areas with not enough satellites in sight. The Italian
Ansaldo STS
Hitachi Rail STS SpA (from ''Hitachi Rail Signalling and Transportation Systems'') or Hitachi Rail STS (previously Ansaldo STS) is an Italian transportation company owned by Hitachi with a global presence in the field of railway signalling and in ...
has developed a train control system based Russian entwickelte
KLUB-U
KLUB is the name of the modern Russian train control systems. The abbreviation "КЛУБ" stands for , ''Integrated Train Protection System''.
Variants
The most common variant is KLUB-U where the U stands for ''unified'' ().
KLUB-U in-cab signa ...
safety systems - the ITARUS-ATC takes advantage of satellite navigation in combination with an inertial navigation system and wheel sensors to measure the travel distance reaching a safety level ready for passenger transport in Russia - it will be deployed on the track to Sotchi up to the winter games 2014.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
LOCOPROL website (archived)GaLoROI website
Train protection systems