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A Method of Evaluating Railway Signalling
System Based on RAMS Concept
Shigeto Hiraguri, Koji Iwata, and Ikuo Watanabe
Railway Technical Research Institute,
2-8-38, Hikari-cho, Kokubunji-city, Tokyo, Japan
{hiraguri, kouji-i, ikuo}@rtri.or.jp
Abstract. Since the IEC 62278 (RAMS Standard) was published in
2002, its importance and impact to Japan have been conspicuous.
On the contrary, various new train control systems based on infor-
mation technology are under active development. Considering such
situations, we assume that it is essential to establish an evaluation
method to design railway signalling systems which have an excellent
balance to the RAMS indicators at low costs. We propose a basic
method to evaluate the performance of a signalling system by a cost
indicator based on the concept of RAMS, and confirmed that the
method can evaluate systems appropriately considering grade of the
line, circumstances and other factors.
Keywords: Railway Signalling, RAMS, Cost, System Architecture, Evalu-
ation
1
Introduction
A railway signalling system has been contributing to ensure safety of rail-
way transport for long years. However, conventional systems were developed
gradually by bottom-up or experience-based approaches. In 2002, IEC 62278
(RAMS standard) of which a basic concept is to realise excellent performance
by a systematic approach. Furthermore, various new train control systems
based on information technology are under active development. Consider-
ing these situations, it is required to establish an evaluation method which
is applicable to design the signalling system, which has an excellent RAMS
performance and appropriate functional architecture adapting to a given cir-
cumstance.
2
Railway Signalling System and RAMS Indicators
There are several types of conventional signalling systems, according to char-
acteristics such as the grade of the line. When a railway company introduces
a new signalling system, experts comprehensively consider the grade of the
