Train crossover with railworks library

[Gregoire_Castagna]

[ FlexSim 24.0.0 ]

Hi,

I'm testing the route algorithm in Railworks library, with a simple model. I'd like the algorithm to send one train on the direct path and the other one on the crossover path to avoid collision. So far I can only get the two trains to stop when facing each other. Is there a way with the railworks library to handle such situations without having to create the all process flow involved to manage such crossovers?

Thanks a lot for your help,

Gregoire

crossover_intent.fsm

[arunTTT2P]

@Lucas Klein

[lucas_klein · Accepted solution]

Hello Gregoire,

This is a very important topic on railways simulation because when handling with crossovers, intersections, bifurcations and detours, there is an infinity of scenarios in railways operations, this can happen due to priority rules, operational protocols, traffic strategies and so on, so it's a very debated topic while developing RailWorks so we can provide a flexible solution for each case, and we know that this brings a lot of effort for simple-looking operations.

For your model, there is not an automatically way to RailWorks solve crossovers yet, so you need to create the processFlow to manage which train will go through the detour and which one should proceed straight ahead. Follows attached a model where you can find a way to manage the crossover using resources on ProcessFlow, so when two trains are trying to cross the detour is used, but if you have only one train, it will not use the detour
crossover-intent_FX.fsm

If you have an idea that might solve this situation, please feel free to create an idea here in FlexSim Answers with railworks topic or directly email our dev team at dev@flexsimbrasil.com.br

[jourjita2013]

@Lucas Klein could yo help me on something please

[lucas_klein]

Absolutely @jourjinaalex , just please create a new question here on the forum so I can answer directly in your post.

[Gregoire_Castagna]

Thanks Lucas,

We manage several rail transport operations in different countries, and indeed such regulation questions can be tricky. Your proposal is interesting, although we should probably create the same logic on both trains (basically the condition to leave a station is that the next block is free and you can book a position in the following station, otherwise you stay in your current position).

This is basically recreating the network regulator logic, and I know for developping such models before that the simple logic above will lead to deadlocks, you have to look several blocks ahead and include prioritization rules.

Thanks again for your answer,

Grégoire

[jourjita2013]

@Lucas Klein done

[Viviane_B]

Hello, Gregoire.

As a complementary solution to Lucas Klein's, it is also possible to use the Resource activity with a group of Rails available to send trains to detours. The trains will acquire a resource (the rail selected on the Acquire will respect the order of the group items, therefore can be organized by priority) and then with the help of a Decide, choose to use the main track or take the detour. As desmonstrated on this model:

crossover-intent-resource.fsm

Using a group of Rails as a resource can also help in developing logics in which a train needs to wait for a section of the track to be free to leave.