At the National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory, we proposed a train control system using satellite positioning and general-purpose radio. However, in sections such as tunnels where satellite positioning is not possible, it is necessary to combine this with other methods of determining the absolute position. Therefore, we considered a method to accurately determine the absolute position of the vehicle by ascertaining the feature points by using a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor. In addition, as validation of the performance of the single LiDAR sensor, we installed a LiDAR sensor on a train to study its detection of humans and cars. Through validation of its performance in addition to its potential for absolute position detection, we tried to assess its effectiveness as an obstacle detection device for the future. The probability of accidents between an automobile and a tram is higher at an intersection. Hence, a specific aim of the basic experiments was to ascertain the possibility of using the LiDAR sensor to judge the approach of a car turning right onto a tram track at an intersection. The results of these experiments are reported here.

Railway traffic management in mass transit is often disturbed by perturbations on the running and the dwell times. Then, the headways between the trains may become insufficient and due to security distances between trains the perturbations propagate in the network and amplify. In this article, we propose a train-holding strategy in order to reset sufficient headways between trains. The mechanism is based on a heuristic which is simple and responsive. The prototype developed based on this concept was ex- perimented in a subpart of the SNCF Transilien network: the RER A and L lines. During a 2-week experimentation, the train drivers were advised to depart after a dwell time that was accurately computed. The obtained results and the experimental feedback confirm the relevance and the efficiency of such a mechanism in the mass-transit context with important flows.

A multi-agent route choice learning model for the microscopic simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) is used to investigate the effects of traffic information accuracy on drivers' day-to-day route choice decisions. Using the total relative gap convergence metric to quantify the convergence speed for some chosen update cycle length intervals, the results show that a slight decrease in accuracy has a negative effect on the rate of convergence. From a learning perspective, shorter information up-date cycles from an advanced traveller information system induce faster convergence when compared to longer information update cycles. This implies that drivers learn faster, given the additional computational and storage costs of travel information that the system is willing to invest in. Moreover, when the update cycle length is very long, it produces a worse result compared to a scenario where drivers rely only on their own travel experiences based on the routes they have chosen.

Electropneumatic brake systems are widely used on electric multiple units (EMUs) for high-speed railway and urban rail transit. The common marshalling of the EMUs varies from four to eight cars for urban mass transit and even 16 cars for high-speed way. Traditional methods for braking calculation, which are only suitable for unit-fixed and marshalling-fixed EMUs, are not able to deal with complicated braking process and various marshalling. In this article, a general method for flexible marshalling train braking process simulation is proposed. This method deals with an EMU consisting of 1–24 cars by dividing it into one to eight units and each unit has one to three cars. During braking of EMUs, braking force is calculated according to brake level and velocity, and then managed and applied according to units’ type and distributing principle. With this method, braking deceleration, speed, distance and electric braking force, pneumatic braking force and brake cylinder pressure of each car at any time during the whole braking process can be all presented. Simulation covers braking instruction transmission, braking force calculation and management at train level, electric pneumatic blending braking force distribution at unit level and braking force application at vehicle level. Simulation has been validated by field test results. Finally, an instance of simulation for a custom marshalling EMU is presented. The method can not only meet the needs of engineers and technicians to do brake calculation and braking performance validation of the existing fixed marshalling EMUs, but also provide reference for new design of novel flexible marshalling EMUs.

Railway systems in metropolitan areas support a high density of daily traffic that is exposed to different types of disturbances in the service. An interesting topic in the literature is to obtain action protocols in the presence of contingencies which can affect the system operation, avoiding the propagation of perturbation and minimizing its negative consequences.

Assume that, with a small margin of time (e.g. one day), the decision-maker of the transportation network is knowing that a part of the train fleet will become inoperative temporarily along a specific transit line and none additional vehicle will be able to restore the affected services. The decision to be taken in consequence will require to reschedule the existing services by possibly reducing the number of expeditions (line runs). This will affect travellers who regularly use the transit system to get around.

Consider that the decision-maker aims to lose the least number of passengers as a consequence of having introduced changes into the transit line. A strategy that could be applied in this context is to remove those line runs which are historically less used by travellers without affecting the remaining services. Another alternative strategy might be to reschedule the timetables of the available units, taking into account the pattern of arrivals of users to the boarding stations and the user behavior during waiting times (announced in situ).

The aim of this work consists of assessing the strategy of train rescheduling along the current transportation line when the supply must be reduced in order to reinforce the service of another line, exploited by the same public operator, which has suffered an incidence or emergency.

The city of Groningen, the Netherlands, introduced the Traffic Circulation Plan (Verkeerscirculatie- plan, VCP) in 1977, dividing its inner city into four sectors for cars by enforcing one-way restrictions throughout the inner city. It reduced car traffic in the inner city by half, improving the environment there, and revitalized the city centre. On the other hand, lacking opportunities for the public to par- ticipate, the process for introducing the VCP was by no means democratic in terms of participatory democracy, but democratic enough in terms of liberal democracy. In 2009, more than 30 years later, the city of The Hague introduced the Traffic Circulation Plan for the Central Area (Verkeerscirculatieplan Centrumgebied, VCPC), which was based on the sector model like the VCP. The purpose of this article is to re-examine the superiority of liberal democracy over participatory democracy, which was indicated in the case of the VCP, by studying the process for introducing the VCPC in terms of the two types of democracy and the effects of the plan. It turns out that political parties with a majority of seats in the city council took the initiative in introducing the plan while opposition against the plan, which was dominant in public participation, was mostly brushed aside. On the other hand, the plan reduced pollu- tion in the inner city while not undermining the economy there. It can be concluded that the case of the VCPC constitutes another example indicating the superiority of liberal democracy over participatory democracy in realizing the public interest.