Analytical review of railway automation systems

The article examines railway automatic systems from the point of view of their elemental base. An analysis of literary sources was carried out, from which the advantages of using microprocessor systems were highlighted. Their shortcomings, which were not reflected in the literature, are considered separately. A solution to the topical issue of system selection through a hierarchical structure based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed for selecting the type of system to be implemented, which can be used not only for element-based comparison. A generalized analysis of the expediency of systems implementation was conducted. The comparison is made according to such global criteria as «safety», «reliability and availability», «technical indicators» and «economic indicators». A detailed analysis showed that considering the factor of intensive train traffic, it is reasonable to implement a relay system with a microprocessor based centralized traffic control system and a microprocessor system, while the conventional relay system has a slightly lower performance. The feasibility of implementing relayprocessor systems has not been confirmed. On the basis of the conducted analysis, the necessary steps in the development of railway automation systems have been determined, among which the most important today are: the creation of a single standard solution for microprocessor systems, the owner of which will be JSC «Ukrzaliznytsia», and the development of a complete subsystem of technical diagnostics of railway automatic devices. The implementation of this subsystem will contribute to significant changes not only in the field of signaling and communication, but also in railway transport as a whole. The development of methods for diagnosing rail circles is defined as a priority direction. Some suggestions for improving the systems are also presented.