Automatic Railway Signaling Generation for Railways Systems Described on Railway Markup Language (railML)

Abstract

Automatic railway signalling generation from a railway layout helps reduce human errors while considerably speeding up the process of signalling placement. In that regard, we designed an automated process that we named Railway Network Analyzer (RNA). This article will present that process, stating what an RNA implementation must observe to generate signalling from a railway layout stored in railML, a European open-standard used for railway infrastructure data exchange. The RNA analyses the layout’s static characteristics and gives essential information for further dynamic analysis. We will also introduce our RNA implementation in Python and comment on the obtained results of automatically processing canonical test layouts. Finally, railway practitioners conducted an analysis of an actual railway station using RNA, which confirmed the usability and robustness of our approach.