An Evaluation of Train Control Information Systems for Sustainable Railway Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Model
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Eur. Transp. Res. Rev. (2017) 9: 35 DOI 10.1007/s12544-017-0253-9 ORIGINAL PAPER An evaluation of train control information systems for sustainable railway using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model Evelin Krmac1 & Boban Djordjević1 Received: 10 January 2017 /Accepted: 19 June 2017 /Published online: 30 June 2017 # The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication Abstract Conclusions The results are important for both, scholars for Purpose In the process of nowadays efficiency evaluation of their future research and for other railway stakeholders and any mode of transportation, sustainability results are the most decision makers, who must select different systems and tech- important factor. In regard to railway sustainability, Train nologies for implementation in their railway systems with em- Control Information Systems (TCIS) are such advanced sys- phasis on increasing performance and sustainability. The tems with important positive impacts. The main purpose of study offers also the opportunities for further research in re- this study was therefore the evaluation of these impacts as well gard to railway sustainability. as the evaluation of Key Performance Themes (KPT) for sus- tainable railways. Keywords Information and communication technology . Methods Firstly a very detailed literature review of papers that ICT . Train control information system . Railway have focused on TCIS and their improvements on railway sustainability . Key performance themes . KPT sustainability, published in the scientific journal in the period from 2005 and 2016, was performed. The number of studies was then used as a main criteria in Analytical Hierarchical Abbreviations Process (AHP) evaluations or rankings of these systems and AHP Analytical Hierarchical Process their impacts. In-CTA In-Cab Train Advisory Results The paper offers results from the first systematic re- ATC Automatic Train Control view of papers which investigate the role of TCIS in terms of ICT Information and Communication Technologies sustainability and, additionally, represents a refined approach ATO Automatic Train Operation to TCIS classification with a new classes descriptions. During ITS Intelligent Transportation System review KPT for sustainable railways were also identified. ATP Automatic Train Protection Further, AHP evaluated the Train Management and IXL Interlocking System Interlocking Systems and their subsystems as the most impor- ATS Automatic Train Supervision tant TCIS, and safety and costs of equipment, installation, KPT Key Performance Themes maintenance and operation as the most important themes. CATO Computer Aided Train Operation MCDM Multi-Criteria Decision Making CR Consistency Ratio PTCS Positive Train Control System * Evelin Krmac CTCS Chinese Train Control System [email protected] RBC Radio Block Centre Boban Djordjević DAS Driver Advisory Systems [email protected] SD Science Direct ERTMS European Railway Traffic Management Systems 1 Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport, University of Ljubljana, TCIS Train Control Information System Pot pomorscakov 4, SI-6320 Portoroz, Slovenia ETCS European Train Control System 35 Page 2 of 17 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:35 TMS Traffic Management System transportation, Franklin et al. [45] categorized rail ITS as the GSM-R Global System for Mobile Communications- union of BTraffic Management Systems, Traveler Information Railway Systems and E-ticketing Systems^, where Traffic Management Systems include Rail Networks, Interlocking Systems in rail- way stations and Traffic Management Systems on trucks (out- 1 Introduction side of railway stations), known also as European Railway Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS). The ERTMS repre- For decades the global community has been concerned with sents a unified Traffic Management System developed as a the impact that transportation has on climate change, energy standard signalling system for European railways in order to use and the environment. Additionally, limited financial re- harmonize TCIS. According to Goverde et al. [51], a Railway sources for transport infrastructure require new and different Safety System (as a kind of TMS) can be further divided into (i) approaches to constructing, planning, operating, and main- Interlocking Systems within the station, (ii) Automatic Train taining modes of transport [23]. Sustainability is therefore Protection (ATP) systems as systems for fall-back to driver very important in the design of transportation solutions and errors, (iii) Signalling Systems for open track, and (iv) track- infrastructure. However, there is still no standard definition free detection devices such as track circuits and axle counters. and no standard way of considering transportation sustainabil- Given that the number of different ICT and ITS (i.e. ad- ity. Consequently, the progress towards transportation sustain- vanced) technologies used in railway systems is too large to ability has to take place on at least three levels of sustainabil- deal with in the same paper, and considering that the TCIS are ity: economic development, environmental protection, and one of the most important of their subsets, having significant social development and well-being [64]. impact on railway transportation sustainability, we decided to In terms of sustainability, it is evident that rail transportation focus only on these systems. For this purpose, we started with has considerable advantages compared to those of other modes a thorough literature review of scientific papers in which TCIS of transport, such as road and air transport. This is true particu- and their components or subsystems were studied. Further, we larly because it has the lowest negative impact on environment made a classification of TCIS and grouped them into four and society [140]. Given this, the role of the railway in transpor- classes. The basis for this classification was that provided by tation systems was emphasized by the EC [37], resulting in [39], where TCIS are defined as a synergy of four compo- various European Union Directives for the improvement of the nents, namely BInterlocking Systems (IXL), Traffic primarily railway infrastructure components, services, safety, Management Systems (TMS), Automatic Train Control and interoperability [27–29]. Moreover, visions and goals of (ATC) systems and Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) many railway systems, groups, and researchers are focused on systems^.Wemadeanalterationinthismethodofclassifica- further development of sustainable railways [33]and[100]. tion, adding one new class, the In-Cab Train Advisory According to Fan et al. [38] and Franklin et al. [45]and Systems, reorganized the content of some classes, and extend- many other researchers, the use or application of advanced ed the description of each class and their subsystems. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), espe- During the review special attention was devoted to those cially in conjunction with electronic technologies, together papers that highlighted improvements provided by the applica- known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), has many tion of TCIS and their components in railway systems. Since different positive impacts on railway transport. Further, the TCIS could have significant impacts on different issues of Chowdhury [24] stated that benefits, such as safety, mobility, railwayperformance,wealsoidentifiedtheissuesaskeyper- efficiency, productivity, energy and the environment, and cus- formance themes (KPT) for sustainable railway and classified tomer satisfaction Bin already deployed ITS applications are them in terms of sustainability. Furthermore, reviewed papers becoming readily apparent^, and highlighted the importance (i.e., their number) were used as a basis for evaluation of the of the constant evolvement of ITS to Bmeet the needs of trans- importance of TCIS and their components (i.e., ranking of port sustainability which is an essential part of any society’s technologies), and for evaluation of the importance of the im- economy, environment, and progression^. ITS as a set of tech- provements of sustainability issues (ranking of the KPTs). The nologies Bshare the characteristics with systems of systems for evaluations - i.e., − rankings were performed using the improving performance^ [39] and represents Ba synergy of Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method. systems for improving performance^ [69]. The contributions of this paper are several. It is the first In terms of railways, Train Control Information Systems systematic review paper which investigates the role of TCIS (TCIS) are a complex of systems [39]. Indeed, they are com- in terms of sustainability and, additionally, represents a refined posed of a large number of various kinds of components (me- approach to TCIS and subsystems classification, as well as chanical, electrical, computer, etc.) with different types of in- being an extended and detailed description of classes. teractions (local, simultaneous, etc.), which are interconnected Secondly, the AHP method for evaluation of TCIS and for and operate in synergy with each other. As for rail evaluation of KPT for sustainable railways, as well as the Eur. Transp. Res. Rev. (2017) 9: 35 Page 3 of 17 35 combination of systematic review and AHP as in this paper, to classification process, and finally (iii) AHP evaluation pro- the best knowledge of the authors, have not yet been used. cess. The outputs of each step were the inputs of the next step. Indeed, according to the systematic review of Multi-Criteria