FEATURED ARTICLES Latest Developments for Safe and Reliable Railways Development of Traff ic Management System for Tohoku Main Line and Senseki Line Using Virtualization Hitachi adopted virtualization for a traff ic management system for the first time when it undertook the integration of the systems for the Tohoku Main Line and Senseki Line. Along with hardware consolidation, the systems were integrated in a way that satisfied the customer’s requirements, including the use of multiple guests on the virtualization platform to enable an earlier commencement of operation on the Senseki Line so as to minimize the risks associated with switching to the new system, and the provision of a training environment in a timely manner with respect to the development schedule. The realtime virtualization platform adopted for the project delivered the realtime control performance, high availability, and ease of maintenance demanded of a traff ic management system. Configuring the system on a virtualization platform also helps minimize life cycle costs by making it possible to reduce the amount of development work needed during future equipment upgrades. Kazuho Nakajima Noriyuki Kikuchi Yoshitaka Ishikawa Sadao Niitsuma Takeshi Takebayashi Takuya Tsujikawa runs from Sendai Station on the Tohoku Main Line to Ishinomaki Station on the Senseki Line. As the 1. Introduction Senseki Line runs on direct current (DC) electric power whereas the Tohoku Main Line runs on alter- Th e Tohoku Main Line (from Kuroiso to Ishikoshi) nating current (AC), the service was provided using and the Senseki Line (from Aoba-dori to Rikuzen- HB-E210 series hybrid diesel rolling stock. As the Yamashita) each had their own control centers and traffi c management systems being independent of East Japan Railway Company had established sepa- each other imposed restrictions that obstructed the rate traffi c management systems for the lines, with no adoption of fully automatic control, including the facility for the sharing of track. inability of the previous systems to share train number An interconnecting line between the Tohoku Main information, trains needed to halt on the connecting Line and Senseki Line was completed in May 2015 line and the control center had to use manual proce- and the new Senseki-Tohoku Line introduced that dures for some actions. 76. Figure 1 — System Scope The Tohoku Main Line and Senseki Line each [Tohoku Main Line] had their own traff ic management system. Train Ban-etsu West Line Senzan Line Riku-East Line services that operated under both systems com- Rifu menced in May 2015 with the opening of the Senseki-Tohoku Line. Natori Sendai Iwakiri Kogota Ishikoshi (Kuroiso) Iwanuma Koriyama Tsukinoki Shiogama Fukushima Nagamachi Matsushima Higashi-Sendai Shin-Shirakawa Asaka-Nagamori Ban-etsu Abukuma Joban Sendai Ishinomaki East Line Express Line Line Airport Line Suigun Access Line Tohoku Freight Line Line Senseki-Tohoku Line [Connecting lines] commenced operation in May 2015 Senseki-Tohoku Line An interconnecting line was added linking the Tohoku Main Line between Shiogama and Matsushima stations and the Senseki Line between Matsushima-Kaigan and Takagimachi Tagajo stations. Using this new line, services commenced Sendai Aoba-dori Takagimachi on the Senseki-Tohoku Line between Sendai (Ishinomaki) Station on the Tohoku Main Line and Ishinomaki Higashi-Shiogama Rikuzen-Yamashita Matsushima-Kaigan Station on the Senseki Line. [Senseki Line] Senseki Freight Line With both systems coming due for replacement, a adoption of the virtualization platform means a new traffi c management system that integrated opera- training environment can be provided that includes tion on the Tohoku Main Line and Senseki Line was PRC and closely approximates actual operation. To installed to achieve time savings from use of pas- minimize the switchover risks associated with the sage control and full automation of the connecting system integration, the project also included a staged line (see Figure 1). As the traffi c management system switchover to the new system, with guests intended needed to provide scope for expansion as well as sus- for future use being utilized to commence operation tainable long-term operation with high reliability, the on the Senseki Line fi rst. new system was implemented using information and control servers running on a realtime virtualization 2. 1 platform with enhanced realtime control performance System Configuration for programmed route control (PRC) so as to reduce As control center operation was to continue as before, life cycle cost, including the cost of future upgrades. the confi guration was made up of a single system with Th is article describes the features of the realtime two control centers. Th e main equipment for PRC virtualization platform and its use for the traffi c man- and centralized traffi c control (CTC) was located agement system. at the Tohoku Main Line control center, with the Senseki Line control center having control desks only. Th ese were connected via a network running between 2. System Overview the centers (see Figure 2). Compared to the standalone systems, system Th e information and control servers used for the integration reduced the number of devices required upgrade are able to host virtual machines (“guests”) for shared equipment such as the monitoring desks, for up to three systems. Th ese are the integrated sys- scheduling system, and train traffi c monitoring server tem for the Tohoku Main Line and Senseki Line, that are not associated with particular sections of track, the training system, and a system to be used for new thereby saving both energy and space. Consolidating sections of track in the future. all of the key equipment in the same place also simpli- Whereas the previous training system lacked PRC fi ed maintenance. and was only used for teaching console operation, Hitachi Review Vol. 67, No. 7 840–841 77. Figure 2 — Block Diagram of Traff ic Management System for Tohoku Main Line Senseki Line Tohoku Main Line control center control center and Senseki Line The CTC, control desks, and PRC are connected to Control desk Scheduling Training Control desk system desk the control system LAN and the control desks and PRC are connected to the information system LAN. Each LAN has a redundant dual-network configuration. Tohoku TTS Inter- Information Senseki Unused Training system LAN control- PRC OS OS center Control network system LAN Virtualization platform Physical server Monitoring Train traffic desk monitoring CTC server (Tohoku Main Line) (Senseki Line) CTC network Traffic status CTC station display unit equipment PRC: programmed route control CTC: centralized traff ic control TTS: train traff ic simulator OS: operating system LAN: local-area network 2. 2 (1) Confi guration of system for early commencement System Configuration and Operation Using of operation on Senseki Line Virtualization Platform A network confi guration in which guest 2 operated Use of a virtualization platform meant that the risks independently was used and the Senseki Line control associated with switching over to the integrated sys- desk and Senseki Line CTC connected. Th is enabled tem could be minimized by confi guring the parts of monitoring test runs to be conducted for the Senseki the system intended for the Senseki Line on unused Line system in parallel with the integrated system. guests and bringing these into service before the rest Also, the training desk was temporarily installed at of the system (see Figure 3). the Senseki Line control center to allow preparatory Figure 3 — Operation of Virtualization Guests The Senseki Line part of the system commenced operation using what will ultimately be unused guest 2 (intended for future use). This was done to minimize the risks during switchover, with it being possible to switch over to the integrated system by switching the network connections. (1) Configuration of system for early (2) Early commencement of (3) Commencement of operation commencement of operation on Senseki Line operation on Senseki Line of integrated system Separation of networks for guests 1 and 2 Tohoku Main Line Senseki Line Tohoku Main Line Senseki Line Tohoku Main Line Senseki Line Network separation Network PRC and connection PRC PRC connected Guest 1 Guest 2 Guest 3 Guest 1 Guest 2 Guest 3 Guest 1 Guest 2 Guest 3 Tohoku Senseki Training Tohoku Senseki Training Tohoku Unused Training Senseki equipment Senseki equipment Senseki equipment Monitoring Monitoring Senseki Monitoring In use Tohoku In use Guest Tohoku test run test run training test run training unused training OS OS OS OS OS OS OS OS OS Virtualization platform Virtualization platform Virtualization platform Physical server Physical server Physical server Network separation Network CTC CTC and connection CTC CTC CTC CTC connected Tohoku Senseki Tohoku Senseki Tohoku Senseki Main Line Line Main Line Line Main Line Line 78. FEATURED ARTICLES Figure 4 — Use of Virtualization Guests Previously unused guests can be used to conduct monitoring test runs for major Monitoring test runs can be Reduce cost of upgrade to future system enhancements. The amount of modification conducted for major enhancements work required for future upgrades is reduced because applications are able to be migrated Current New An image of the guest system can as objects. software software be copied as-is to the new hardware OS OS PRC Online desk Virtualization platform Section Section Training Section A B C A Unused Unused OS OS OS OS PGW Virtualization platform Virtualization