Signalling block system
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by Michael Johnson (talk | contribs) 18 years ago. (Update timer) |
Safeworking is the application by railways of sets of rules and phyical equipment so as to avoid collisions between trains. It may or may not invove the use of signals. Safeworking is used to control trains between stations and yards, and not normally within them. Different methods of safeworking ar required Different methods are required for single track, where a danger exists of both head on and rear end collision, and double track where the main danger is rear end collision.
The objective of this article is to describe the various methods of safeworking used around the world. For the purporses of this article a station is any place on a railway where the rules of the railway allow two trains to pass, while a dispatcher is an official who's roll is to control the movement of trains across the railway. Dispatcher is a common term in the United States, the British equivelent is train controller.
Safeworking and Standard Time
Safeworking and Telegraphic Communication
Methods of Safeworking
One Engine in Steam
The rules of the railway only allow one engine to operate at one time, making any collision a physical impossibility. This method is only feasable on short railways with minimal traffic.
Strict Timetable Operation
Trains operate according to a strict timetable, that is cannot leave a station until an appointed time and until any other trains they were to meet at that station have arrived. Rarely used as a method of safeworking, as if one train is delayed, all trains it is scheduled to meet are delayed. This can quicky lead to all trains on the railway being affected.