A railway signal is a visual display device that conveys instructions or provides warning of instructions regarding the driver’s authority to proceed. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly. Typically, a signal might inform the driver of the speed at which the train may safely proceed or it may instruct the driver to stop.
Railway signalling (BE), also called railroad signaling (AE), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormous weight and inertia of a train, which makes it difficult to quickly stop when encountering an obstacle. In the UK, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 introduced a series of requirements on matters such as the implementation of interlocked block signalling and other safety measures as a direct result of the Armagh rail disaster in that year.
The Sheffield Supertram is a tram and tram-train network covering Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The infrastructure is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), with Stagecoach responsible for the operation and maintenance of rolling stock under a concession until 2024, under the brand name Stagecoach Supertram.
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a train driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the names of the section it belongs to. A token system is more commonly used for single lines because of the greater risk of collision in the event of a mistake being made by a signaller or traincrew, than on double lines.
The Alamein railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Ashburton through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Glen Iris and Ashburton. It is part of the Melbourne rail network, which is operated by Metro Trains Melbourne.
The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia.
A signal passed at danger (SPAD), known in the United States as a stop signal overrun and in Canada as passing a stop signal, is an event on a railway where a train passes a stop signal without authority. In the United States and Canada, this may be known colloquially as running a red, though this idiom principally refers to automobiles passing red traffic signals.
Centralized traffic control (CTC) is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America. CTC consolidates train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system consists of a centralized train dispatcher's office that controls railroad interlockings and traffic flows in portions of the rail system designated as CTC territory. One hallmark of CTC is a control panel with a graphical depiction of the railroad. On this panel, the dispatcher can keep track of trains' locations across the territory that the dispatcher controls. Larger railroads may have multiple dispatcher's offices and even multiple dispatchers for each operating division. These offices are usually located near the busiest yards or stations, and their operational qualities can be compared to air traffic towers.
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
The Abermule train collision was a head-on collision which occurred at Abermule, Montgomeryshire, Wales on Wednesday 26 January 1921, killing 17 people. The crash arose from misunderstandings between staff which effectively over-rode the safe operation of the Electric Train Tablet system protecting the single line. A train departed carrying the wrong tablet for the section it was entering and collided with a train coming the other way.
The railway signalling system used across the majority of the United Kingdom rail network uses lineside signals to control the movement and speed of trains.
Australian railway signalling varies between the states of Australia, because each railway system was established under the different colonial governments with separate legislation. Just as with the notorious variation of Australian rail gauges, there are differing signal systems. The systems in New South Wales generally follow British precedents, although American influence has increased somewhat since the 1990s. Victoria uses American-style speed signalling on its main lines. That can cause confusion where the systems meet.
The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was a railway in south west Scotland which linked Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire to Dumfries.
Signalling block systems enable the safe and efficient operation of railways by preventing collisions between trains. The basic principle is that a track is broken up into a series of sections or "blocks". Only one train may occupy a block at a time, and the blocks are sized to allow a train to stop within them. That ensures that a train always has time to stop before getting dangerously close to another train on the same line. The block system is referred to in the UK as the method of working, in the US as the method of operation, and in Australia as safeworking.
Trentham Railway Station is an urban railway station in Trentham, a suburb of the city of Upper Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It is on the Hutt Valley Line section of the Wairarapa Line and has two side platforms. The station is served by Metlink's electric multiple unit trains of the "Matangi" FP class.
The Kirtlebridge rail crash took place in 1872 at Kirtlebridge railway station in Dumfriesshire. An express passenger train ran into a goods train that was shunting; 11 people lost their lives immediately, and one further person succumbed later. The cause was a failure to communicate between the station master in charge of the shunting operation, and the signalman. There was not full interlocking of the points, and the block system of signalling was not in use.
Swiss railway signalling describes the railway signalling systems used in Switzerland by the different railway companies. There are two main types of signal, used up to 160 km/h, above which speed cab signalling is required.
Belgian railway signalling is the signalling in effect on the Belgian rail network currently operated by Infrabel.
The application of railway signals on a rail layout is determined by various factors, principally the location of points of potential conflict, as well as the speed and frequency of trains and the movements they require to make.
Route knowledge is one of the core skills together with train handling and a full understanding of railway rules, which the operating crew must possess in order to be able to operate a train safely.
