Achieving energy-efficiency and on-time performance with Driver Advisory Systems

The development and use of Driver Advisory Systems (DAS) is a topic of growing importance in research and industry today as railways face continuous pressure and challenge to reduce operating costs, improve energy efficiency, increase capacity and minimize environmental impact. DAS provide advice to driver aiming for optimized traffic flow and energy efficient driving. Based on real-time data communication between trains and train control center in combination with a centralized system for calculation of optimal train movements, CATO (Computer Aided Train Operation) offers a state-of-art connected DAS allowing trains to run as efficiently as possible considering the overall traffic situation on a railway line. In order to develop a successful DAS, the requirements for practical operation have to be carefully evaluated and clearly understood before implementation. CATO has been successfully deployed in Sweden and won the UIC Innovation Award for sustainable development. This paper will describe our experiences of important factors needed to achieve a successful DAS deployment, such as human-machine interaction issues, motivation factors, efficient communication and cooperation between train driver and dispatcher, good maintenance tools and continuous evaluation of the system performance.