TTG helping make more efficient train drivers

Providing real-time advice to make drivers and networks more efficient

An Australian-developed driver advisory system aims to improve the efficiency and capacity of railways without the need for expensive track or rollingstock upgrades.

THE ENERGYMISER SYSTEM, from Australian firm TTG Transportation Technology, uniquely combines both energy efficient driving advice with schedule optimisation. It has helped operators on five continents reduce energy costs and emissions by up to 15 per cent, and improve on-time arrivals by 10 per cent, and reduces operating risks by enhanced situational awareness.

“Energymiser does three key things, it keeps trains on time, it reduces energy use, and via its real time junction and line scheduling capability, it reduces network delays,” TTG Group Managing Director Dale Coleman tells Rail Express. “The timekeeping aspect is particularly important on congested rail networks, where small delays to trains can propagate throughout the network and cause congestion. Energymiser can replan dynamically to minimise the impact of disruptions.”

The Energymiser Driver Advisory System (DAS) can be retrofitted into any cab or carried as a portable device by a train’s driver. Connected via GPS and the mobile data network, the DAS advises the driver to help run the train precisely to an optimisedtimetable. The DAS communicates with a central server housing trip logs, timetables, temporary speed restriction information, track data and train characteristics. Webbased reports can then be generated for performance analysis, benchmarking and administrative purposes.

With over 4,000 units deployed on diesel and electric passenger, freight, heavy haul and very high speed trains, Coleman says Energymiser has become a worldleading solution for rail operators “given our solutions are proven in the full range of rail operations”. It’s used on trains travelling up to 320km/h, and on trains up to 2.5 kilometres long, weighing up to 22,000 tonnes. “Energymiser has been deployed or has been trialled around the world on many

types of railways, including bulk railways in Mauritania and Queensland, freight railways in New Zealand and the UK, and passenger railways across the UK, Ireland, France and Spain, and in trials in China, India and Europe,” he says.

A civil engineer by trade, Coleman has over 48 years’ experience in the rail, engineering and mining sectors. Over the last 35 years he has worked in technical and management roles across the rail sector, specialising in both project management and consulting and in the development of railway operational planning and asset managementsoftware. He says Energymiser was designed to configure precisely to a customer’s requirements. The system can integrate with existing traffic management systems including TMS, ETCS and ATO, as well as on train integration into TCMS. Energymiser is the only DAS product that has been fully integrated into ATO. In terms of service options, Energymiser’s DAS-Lite system provides realtime advice and punctuality relative to the last timing point, based on limited route data. Then there’s Energymiser DAS, which given detailed route data can provide enhanced real-time advice to further reduce emissions and energy consumption, operation and maintenance costs, while improving on-time running, rail capacity and safety.

Finally, the Connected DAS, or C-DAS, can receive real-time timetable updates from Traffic Management Systems to respond to incidents on network, improving recovery time and reducing congestion.

“Our recent focus has been on using C-DAS to smooth the flow of trains on congested rail networks such as the busy passenger networks in the UK,” Coleman says. “Random delays to trains can sometimes result in interference between trains, particularly at junctions. If a train encounters a restrictive signal, delay increases. We are using Energymiser to monitor the progress of trains in real time.

ABOVE: A TTG Transportation Technology DAS in action.

“Central scheduling systems detect when trains will interfere with each other and calculate small adjustments to the individual train schedules to resolve any conflicts. The adjusted schedules are sent back to the trains, and the on-board Energymiser units calculate updated driving profiles and advise the driver how to drive to the new plan.” Meanwhile in Spain, Energymiser is integrated into the train control systems on high speed passenger trains to provide efficient automatic train operation between stops. And in France, Coleman says TTG is investigating how small changes to the schedules of many trains can reduce the peak electricity demand of the rail networks, and are working very closely with SNCF on the next generation of digital train operation optimisation.

“The future is focused on automation, digitalisation and energy-efficiency, to provide real-time coordination of trains on busy networks, to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and we are proud of the role ourproducts are playing,” Coleman concludes.