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Originally Posted by RailProject
Thanks for the input from so many people, athough I would like to know what any of your thoughts are regarding the concept of our 'solution' (measuring time taken for signal to be reflected from train short-circuit)
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No probelms with reliable track circuits - that can only be a good thing and I wish you well with the project.
But as future user (driver) of this system I'm afraid I feel fairly luddite about real time speed information. Given the current situation of delay attribution that already causes a Spanish Inquisition over who is to 'blame', I can only see shedloads of grief being caused a system that could be used to display running speeds.
The concept is fine, but the problem is what is done with the information. Every driver regulates his train differently according to his/her assessment of weather, adhesion conditions, braking force, etc. As is so common in British Industry, the data for delays is handled by clerks who wouldn't know the difference between a fishplate and a fish supper. They have the authority to make hell for people at the front end, and they consistently do. It can only put addtional pressure on signallers and drivers, and give rise to thousands more accountants.
(NB, this isn't paranoia about drivers having overspeed events, as trains have carried data recorders for years).
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Any thoughts as to what are going to be major issues regarding this method of detection?
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Well not surprisingly you've been very coy and not told us anything
technical about what you will be doing. If I were to assume that you might be 'firing' very high frequency signals along the rails and measuring the 'echo' time, I would suggest that you might find alot of nasty harmonics generated by the traction packages and electric motors on the trains themselves (since even modern diesel locos use electric motors). However DSP is dead clever nowadays, so you can probably filter out the noise once you know what the nasties look like.
Hope this helps,
Foggy