Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 15 (2007) 11561162

www.elsevier.com/locate/simpat

An improved equation model for the train movement

KePing Li *, ZiYou Gao
State Key Laboratory of Rail Trac Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, PR China
Received 6 July 2006; received in revised form 2 June 2007; accepted 23 July 2007
Available online 31 July 2007

Abstract
In this paper, a new term is introduced into the equation of train movement, which is about the inuences of the safety
stopping distance and stations on the motion of train, when there are many trains on the line. The aim is that the improved
equation can well describe the motion of train under the moving block condition. In order to test the improved model, we
use a simulation analysis approach to solve a simplied form of the improved equation model. In the simulations, we investigate the spacetime diagram for the railway trac ow and the trajectories of the train movement. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the improved model can well describe the dynamic behaviour of the train movement under
the moving block condition. Some complex phenomena of train movement can be well reproduced but more work is
required for a full simulation of the general model.
2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Train movement; Simulation analysis; Moving block

1. Introduction
Train movement depends on the calculation of the speed and distance prole while a train is travelling
from one point to another. In general, train movement is governed by many factors, such as the track geometry, control signalling, traction equipment, power supply system and speed restrictions. When we analyze and
evaluate the theoretical control algorithm of train movement, the equation of the train movement is the basis
for any computer simulation. In this eld, one of the important problems is how to establish and solve the
equation of the train movement.
In the past decades, a number of studies have been done for the optimization and control of train movement. Most of them were focused on the solution to the optimal control of a single train. Petar and Guedial
solved the problem of the energy optimal control of the motion of a train by the maximum principle [1]. Howlett and Cheng derived the equation of the motion of a train to determine the optimal control strategies for a
train [2]. Ref. [3] proposed a solution algorithm to nd an optimal driving strategy for train movement where
discrete control is used and speed limits are imposed. Liu and Golovitcher outlined a method for the calcu*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 5168 2892.

E-mail address: kpli@eyou.com (K. Li).

1569-190X/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2007.07.006

K. Li, Z. Gao / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 15 (2007) 11561162

1157

lation of energy optimal control [4]. In Ref. [5], Howlett used a generalized equation of train movement to
determine an optimal driving strategy, where the continuous control and discrete control are all discussed.
Some other studies discussed the traction and braking applications. For example, Adinol et al. accessed
the impact of the train braking techniques on the energy consumption [6].
However, all of them mentioned above did not consider the inuences of other trains and stations in the
equation of the train movement. Hence the calculation of train movement is isolated and may not dynamically
capture the characteristic behaviour of a busy network. This limitation will strongly aect the computer simulation of railway trac. In this work, we propose a new equation model, where the inuence of other trains is
considered especially in relation to the requirement that safe distances be maintained behind preceding trains
that have stopped at a station. Using the proposed model, we hope that the computer simulation can well
describe the reality of railway trac. The paper is organized as follows. We introduce the principle of the moving block system in Section 2. In Section 3, we propose the improved equation model. The numerical and analytical results for a simplied form of the improved model are presented in Section 4. Finally, conclusions of
this approach are presented.
2. Moving block system
Moving block (MB) system is a special type of train signalling system [7]. Its advantages are that the line
capacity can be increased, and the trac uidity and the energy eciency can be improved. In practice, MB
relies on continuous communication between train and wayside equipment, which can be used for control,
protection and regulation of train movement. With the MB train control system, the minimum train separation to be dened solely by the dynamic performance of the train can be provided.
On a MB equipped system, electronic communications between the control center and the train continuously control the trains, and make them maintain a safe stopping distance. At the same time, trains transmit
continuously their current speeds and locations to the control center so that the control center knows the
speeds and locations of all the trains in its area all the time. Using this information, controllers can optimize
system performance and respond to events quickly and eectively. Fig. 1 indicates how two trains brake, and
maintain a safety distance. From Fig. 1, we can see that as long as the following trains have sucient braking
capabilities, they can travel closely.
One of the moving block schemes is the moving space block (MSB) [7], it is a simple scheme, in which the
safety stopping distance between two successive trains is
d min v2max =2b SM;

here vmax is the maximum speed, b denotes the deceleration rate of trains and SM is the safety margin distance.
In general, the distance SM can be written as SM = svmax, where s is called the delay time. The delay time s is
the driver and train equipment reaction time, which is an adjustable parameter. For the purposes of the present paper, we consider only the MSB scheme for our numerical simulations, here the delay time s is set to be
s = 1.
In automatic train control (ATC) system, the critical period occurs at the approach to station, where the
preceding train must leave in time for the following train to travel into the station following its worst-case

speed

Braking Curve

Braking Curve

for Train 1
Train 1

for Train 2
Train 2

distance
Fig. 1. Principle of the moving block system.

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braking curve so that trains travel at a safe distance. The period can be described by the minimum time headway which is dened as the time interval between successive trains passing the same site at a station. In this
work, we discuss the situation where trains travel on a single railway line. Under this condition, the minimum
time headway Tf is dened as follows [8]:
r
vmax
2Ld Lt
;
2

Tf s Td
a
b
here a denotes the acceleration rate of trains, Td is the station dwell time, Lt is the length of the train and Ld is
the distance that the preceding train has travelled from the station. When the length Lt and the distance Ld are
omitted, i.e., Lt = 0, Ld = 0, the minimum time headway is written as
vmax
Tf s Td
:
3
b
In our simulations, we record the minimum time headway between two successive trains at a station. In
order to obtain the time Tf, the station dwell time Td is set to be large enough so that at a station, trains travel
in close proximity.
3. The proposed model
In the theory of railway trac, the motion of a train can be described by the following equation [4]:
dv=dt uf f v  ub bv  wv  gx;

where uf is called the relative traction force which is dened as the proportion of the actual traction force to
the maximum traction force, uf 2 [0, 1], f(v) is the specic maximum traction force, ub is called the relative
braking force which is dened as the proportion of the actual baking force to the maximum braking force,
ub 2 [0, 1], b(v) is the specic maximum braking force, w(v) is the specic resistance to motion, and g(x) is
the specic external force caused by track grade and curve resistance. For simplicity, in this work, we only
take into account the inuences of the traction force and braking force. Under this constraint, Eq. (4) can
be simply written as:
dv=dt uf f v  ub bv:

Although this is a gross simplication of the actual motion it is nevertheless adequate for the purposes of
the MB simulation we will propose. Under the MB condition, train movement is mainly under the constraint
of the safety stopping distance dmin. When the distance between two successive trains is smaller than the safety
stopping distance, the following train would be forced to brake to a lower speed. This is an important characteristic behaviour of train movement under the MB condition. We propose that when we describe the
motion of a train under the MB condition, the distance between the train and its preceding train should be
considered in the equation of the motion of the train. This condition is imposed so that studies of train simulation, such as optimal control and scheduling of trains on a busy network, can properly describe the interaction between adjacent trains. In addition, the inuence of the stations on train movement is also an
important factor, which should be considered in the equation of the train movement.
Based on the concepts mentioned above, we revise the equation of the train movement, i.e. Eq. (5). The
revised equation is as follows:
dv=dt uf f v  ub bv  uh hdDx;

here uh is an adjustable parameter. In the revised equation, we introduce an additional term, i.e. the last term
in the right hand side of the formula (6). The idea is that drivers adjust the train speeds according to the obtained values of d(Dx). When the current train i is behind the train i + 1, the terms xi and xi+1 are the locations
of the trains and di(Dx) is the dierence between the minimum distance and the actual distance. When the current train i is behind a station, and the station is occupied by the train i + 1, di(Dx) = dmin  (xs  xi), otherwise, d i Dx v2i =2b  xs  xi , xs represents the site of the station in front of the train i. In the proposed
model, h(d(Dx)) is a hard limit function, which can be wrote as h(d(Dx)) = [1 + sign(d(Dx))]/2. This additional

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1159

term means that when the distance between two successive trains is smaller than or equal to the safety stopping
distance, the following train would be forced to brake to a lower speed. In general, when the distance between
two successive trains is larger than the safety stopping distance, the following train is allowed to move with a
larger speed.
There are three terms in the right hand side of the formula (6). The rst term and second term are dominated by the train speed, and the third term is dominated by the distance headway, which is related to the
safety control of train movement. When a train travels on a railway line, sometimes it accelerates by the traction force, and sometimes it decelerates by the braking force. In the former case, uf > 0, ub = 0 and uh = 0. In
the latter case, uf = 0, ub > 0 and uh > 0.
We consider many trains moving on a single line which has a length L. These trains are numbered as 1, 2,
. . ., from the last train. As discussed above, the equation of the motion of the train i is as follows:
dvi =dt uf f vi  ub bvi  uh hd i Dx:

By changing the time derivative to the dierence in Eq. (7) can be further simplied to a discrete model,
vi t dt vi t dtuf f vi t  ub bvi t  uh hd i Dxt;

where dt is an adjustable parameter that allows for the time lag when the railway trac ow is varying. Here dt
is set to be dt = 1.
The dierence equation model described by Eq. (8) is suitable for the computation simulation analysis since
the time variable is discrete. In this work, we simulate the equation model under the open boundary condition.
The open boundary condition is as follows. Firstly, when the section from the site 1 to the site Ls is empty, a
train with the speed vmax is created. This train immediately moves according to the equation model. The
parameter Ls is called the departure interval, it is larger than the safety stopping distance. Secondly, at the
site L, trains simply move out of the system. In order to compare simulation results to eld measurements,
one iteration roughly corresponds to 1 s, and the length of a unit is about 5 m. This means, for example, that
vmax = 10 units/update corresponds to vmax = 180 km/h.
It should be pointed out that in the proposed equation model, the braking force includes two terms, i.e.
ubb(v) and uhh(d(Dx)). The term ubb(v) is related to the speed control of single train where the inuence of
other trains and stations on the motion of the train are not considered, and the term uhh(d(Dx)) is related
to the inuences of other trains and stations. In our simulations, we only focus on the inuences of the safety
stopping distance and stations on the motion of train. So ub is set to be ub = 0. In many other studies, such as
the optimal control of the train movement, the term ubb(v) is necessary. In other words, if we consider the
optimal control of the train movement, the term ubb(v) must be considered.
4. Numerical simulations
We carry out a computer simulation for the train movement described by Eq. (8). The computation
approach is to iterate Eq. (8) under the open boundary condition. The main program is that at each time step,
for all trains, we use the current speeds and positions of trains to calculate the speeds and sites of these trains
at the next time step. In addition, vi must meet two conditions: (1) vi 6 vmax; (2) vi P 0. In the simulations,
these two constraints can be completed by the following steps: (1) if vi > vmax, then vi = vmax; (2) if vi < 0, then
vi = 0. In simulations, we focus on the case where the density of trains is high. Under such a condition, we can
observe how trains change their speeds, and maintain the safety stopping distance between them.
The trac situation employed in this work is as follows. A number of trains are travelling on a single line
with the length L = 1000 (L = 1000 units corresponds to L = 5000 m). The length of the simulation time is
T = 1000. One station is designed at the middle of the system, i.e. the site l = 500. When trains arrive at
the station, they need stop for a time Td, and then leave the station. The parameters ub and uh must be selected
with suitable values so that the sum of the braking capabilities of two dierent sources do not exceed the total
braking capabilities. Here the parameters ub and uh are set to be ub = 0 and uh = 1. In this case, we assume that
the braking capabilities of train are within the scope of the total braking capabilities. uf is set to be uf = 0.5.
In order to study the complex dynamic behaviour of the train movements, we investigate the spacetime
diagram of the railway trac ow. The parameters vmax, Ls and Td are, respectively, set to be vmax = 10,

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K. Li, Z. Gao / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 15 (2007) 11561162

Fig. 2. Local spacetime diagram of the railway trac ow.

Ls = 70 and Td = 5. Fig. 2 plots the spacetime evolution of the railway trac ow. Here the simulation (and
for the other simulations too) makes a further simplication by assuming that f(v) = 1. The horizontal direction indicates the direction in which trains move ahead, and the vertical direction indicates time. In Fig. 2, the
positions of trains are indicated by dots. From Fig. 2, we can nd that the railway trac ow is similar to that
of road trac. The main dierence is that in railway trac, the safety stopping distance must be maintained
among the trains. All trains start from the departure site, i.e. the site l = 1, and then arrive at the station, i.e.
the middle site l = 500. After the station dwell time Td, they leave the station. When they arrive at the arrival
site, i.e. the site l = 1000, they leave the system. Before the station, the train delays form and propagate backward. These are the characteristic behaviours of the train movements on a single railway line under the MB
condition.
In reality, the dynamic behaviour of train movements and train trac are complex near any station. When
a train arrives at a station, it needs to stop to enable passengers to board and alight. In this case, if the station
dwell time is larger than its planned time, the train delays possibly form and propagate backward. Fig. 3 shows
the local spacetime diagram, which displays the positions and speeds of the trains near the station. Here numbers represent the speeds of the trains and P denotes the site of the station. The values of the parameters vmax,
Ls and Td are same as that used in Fig. 2. From Fig. 3, it can be clearly seen that the train c needs to stop at the
station, it decelerates, at the following steps, the train d that is directly behind the train c decelerates, and then,
750

time

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740

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720

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P
400

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550

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position
Fig. 3. A diagram displaying the positions and speeds of trains near the station.

K. Li, Z. Gao / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 15 (2007) 11561162

1161

distance headway

150

100

50

10

train
Fig. 4. Distribution of the distance headway for vmax = 10, Ls = 80 and Td = 5.

the train e that is behind the train d also decelerates. As the time proceeds, a number of trains that are before
the station P are delayed. The delayed eect increases the number of trains near the station. This is the reason
that delays form before the station. These results demonstrate that the proposed model can successfully capture the expected delay in train movements.
Under the MB condition, one of the important characters of train movement is that the safety stopping
distance between two successive trains must be maintained. Whenever the distance between two successive
trains is smaller than the safety stopping distance, the following train must decelerate. In order to investigate
the situation about the spatial organization of trains, we measure the distribution of the distance headway Dsi
at a given time. Here Dsi is distance from the train i to the train i + 1. Fig. 4 shows the distribution of the
distance headway at the time t = 1000 for uh = 1. Here the solid line denotes the measurement results, the dotted line denotes the safety stopping distance and the dash line denotes the safety margin distance. In Fig. 4, at
the time t = 1000, there are many trains travelling on the single line. From Fig. 4, we can see that the measurement results are all larger than the safety margin distance, but some of them are smaller than the safety
stopping distance. The simulation results indicate that if the density of trains is high, trains often decelerate to
maintain the safety stopping distance.

35

minimum time headway

30
25
20
15
10
5

10

15

20

maximum speed
Fig. 5. How the minimum time headway varies with the maximum speed for uh = 1 and Td = 5.

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K. Li, Z. Gao / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 15 (2007) 11561162

The minimum time headway at the approach to station is critical and can be used to test the proposed
model. For this purpose, we record the time headway of trains at the station and compare them to the theoretical results calculated by Eq. (3). Fig. 5 shows how the minimum time headway Tf varies with the maximum
speed vmax. Here we make many measurements with dierent values of Ls, and then average them. In Fig. 5,
the dotted line denotes the measurement values using the proposed model, and the solid line denotes the theoretical results. From Fig. 5, it is obvious that the simulation values of Tf using the proposed model are basically close to the theoretical values. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, many simplications have been
adopted in the proposed equation model. This reduces the accuracy of the proposed model.
In Ref. [4] the train speed is subject to a constraint, i.e. v 6 V(x). Here V(x) is a step function of coordinate
x, which is not related to the motion of its preceding train. Under the MB condition, we use the optimal
approach proposed in Ref. [4] to control the motion of a train. When the condition v < V(x) is met, the train
would accelerate. In this case, if the distance between this train and its preceding train is smaller than the
safety stopping distance, this train must decelerate. The reason of the occurrence of the conicting result is
that under the MB condition, the control of a train is related to the site of its preceding train, however, this
factor was not considered in Ref. [4]. In fact, the similar problems also exist in other optimal control
approaches, such as Ref. [5]. In order to overcome these deciencies, we directly introduce a new term into
the equation of the motion of a train, i.e. the term uhh(d(Dx)) in Eq. (6).
5. Conclusions
In conclusions, we introduce a new term into the equation of the motion of a train under the moving block
condition. Using the iterative algorithm, we simulate the train movement described by Eq. (8). The numerical
simulation results indicate that the proposed model can well describe the train movement under the MB condition. Not only the dynamic behaviours of the train movement can be described, but also some complex phenomena observed for real railway trac, such as the train delays, can be reproduced.
Our studies are based on a simplied form of the equation of motion outlined in Ref. [4] with an additional
term added to capture the interaction between adjacent trains. Further similar studies should be done based on
the general equation of motion but without the subsequent simplications used here. In addition, the new term
h introduced into the improving equation model has a simple expression. Further studies also include more
realistic forms for the delay function h. We think that it is worthy of further study.
Acknowledgement
The project is supported by National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2006CB705500,
the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 60634010, New Century Excellent Talents
in University under Grant No NCET-06-0074, the Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education under Grant
No 107007 and the Science and Technology Foundation of Beijing Jiaotong University under Grant No
2004SM026.
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(1997) 388411.
[3] J. Cheng, Y. Davydova, P. Howlett, P. Pudney, Optimal driving strategies for a train journey with non-zero track gradient and speed
limits, IMA J. Math. Appl. Bus. Ind. 10 (1999) 89115.
[4] Rongfang (Rachel) Liu, Iakov M. Golovitcher, Energy-ecient operation of rail vehicles, Trans. Res. A 37 (2003) 917932.
[5] P. Howlett, The optimal control of a train, Ann. Oper. Res. 98 (2000) 6587.
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[7] L.V. Pearson, Moving block signalling, Ph.D. thesis, Loughborough University of Technology, England, 1973.
[8] R.J. Hill, Electrical railway traction: Part 4 Signalling and interlocking, IEE Power Eng. J. (1995) 201.