An Improved Safe Braking Model of Virtually Coupled Trains for Closer Tracking

With the rapid growth of transportation passenger flow in recent years, the research direction of Virtual Coupling (V C) in railways has become hot. V C increases capacity by tracking shorter distances. The traditional train emergency braking (EB) model can no longer meet the high operating efficiency requirements of VC. VC urgently needs a more efficient safety EB model. Therefore, to improve efficiency, a measurement of the EB model's rationality is defined considering safety and efficiency. Based on the defined model measurement, an EB model optimization method and a new EB model are proposed. The new model is closer to the actual braking process of the train and ensures safety from the distance level. That is, the braking trajectory of the train calculated by the new model is closer to the actual braking trajectory of the train, and the two braking trajectories satisfy the specific safety constraints. Finally, the safety and efficiency of the new model were verified through simulation experiments. The new model can avoid train collisions during the entire EB process. Experimental results show that compared with the traditional old EB model of VC based on space-time interval [1], the new model's minimum safe distance (MSD) between two VC train units can be reduced by 39%.