Intermediate Block Signaling using MSDAC

R Viswanath Reddy, IRSSE, DSTE/Co-ord/BZA

November 19, 2019

Abstract make FAdC R2 system. The same scheme may be

adopted to other MSDACs with slight modification
For Intermediate Block signaling, various schemes are and tailoring to the needs of different makes.
in use in Indian Railways based on different types
of vehicle detection devices and mechanism used to
drive the remote IB Signals. Presently, the typical 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE
IB signaling schemes in existence are i) Conventional SHEME
IB with copper cable ii) IB with Quad and copper
cable iii) IB with EI and OCs iv) IB with UFSBI. In A. Typical layout of the scheme: The Intermediate
all these above schemes, axle counters are used for Block Section between NW-WADI of GTL division is
track vacancy detection and to drive the signals at reffered for easy understanding. The typical layout
IB, to read the status back and for resetting mecha- of the placement of different DPs and Signals is as
nism, various schemes have been used. Multi Section follows:
Digital Axle Counters (MSDACs), with dual detec- A Relay hut of size 12mx5m is provided to
tion in distributed architecture can also be used for cater for RBG room at IB location. The IB home
track detection as well as exchange of signaling infor- Signals are typically planned in such a manner that,
mation and resetting. This is successfully working in the UP and DOWN IB signals are near to Relay
NW-WADI section of GTL division, with near zero hut and as such both signals are driven from the
failures till date from the date of installation and sin- hut including the corresponding distant signals.
gle detection has been provided in 3 IBs of BZA di- The nomenclature of DPs in DOWN direction is
vision, which are working successfully without many DN-DP1A, DN-DP1B, DN-DP2A, DN-DP2B, DN-
hassles. DP3A, DN-DP3B, DN-DP4A, DN-DP4B. Similar
nomenclature has been adopted for UP direction also.

1 INTRODUCTION B. Provision of MSDACs for track vacancy detec-

tion and defining the boundaries of track section and
Intermediate Block Section is one step advancement Supervisory Track Sections:
over absolute block system of working between two
block stations in which, the block section is divided Dual detection has been provided with redundancy
into two sections of approximately equal length where for all other equipment as well as communication
two trains can be accommodated simultaneously in media. The Typical IB section consists of Three
each direction of traffic. The Intermediate block sig- track sections in each direction. i) AS track section,
nalling consists of two major components. A) Pro- which starts from the foot of LSS and ends at 400m
vision of axle counters for track vacancy detection ahead of IB home signal (DN-AC) ii) IB track
in rear as well as advance sections B) Exchange of section, from the foot of the IB home signal to 400m
signalling and reset information between IB and sta- ahead of the signal (7 AC) iii) BPAC section, from
tions. In the present scheme, dual detection with re- foot of the IB home signal to 180m ahead of the
dundancy at each level including communication me- home signal of the ahead station for proving block
dia has been adopted to achieve higher availability. overlap (DN-BPAC). A supervisory track section
Track vacancy detection has been achieved through (DN-SPT) covers all these three track sections,
Multi Section digital axle counters and exchange of which is used for second level of reset as explained in
signalling information has been done through the later sections.
utilization of IO-EXBs which are part of MSDAC.
The typical scheme is explained using M/s Frauscher Why dual detection? :

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 Figure 1: Typical Layout of IBS

There are few instances where it is observed single board as well as relay driver card and relay failures,
detection (whether SSDAC or MSDAC) is prone to all are duplicated including communication media.
failures irrespective of precautions taken. It may be As shown in Fig.4, the redundancy at equipment
due to inherent design flaws, which might have not level is achieved as follows.
have been envisioned during the design of the system
i. At wheel sensor level, dual detection is
or due to external factors during real time working of
provided with two DPs on either rail in
the system.
each direction of traffic.
i. whenever a loaded rake movement is ii. Two separate TLJBs are provided with
there over the coil portion, due to light IP65 protection for termination of each
weight of the guard brake, there exists DP.
a considerable probability of the wheel iii. The 6quad cable from Relay hut to lo-
jumping over the coil causing a mis- cation box is duplicated and provided
count and thereby counting mismatch in two different paths to achieve path
and failure of axle counter. redundancy.
ii. When there is a long haul movement iv. Each Coil/DP is connected to an
or due to any unavoidable reasons, if Advanced Evaluation Board(AEB)
the wheel traces a to and fro movement through a surge protection device, for
over the portion of coil, the system goes processing of data received from coil.
into hang state which requires reboot-
v. Two evaluators (EVs), Main and Re-
ing of the same. This is prevalently ob-
dundant (M&R) are provided in IB lo-
served not only in SSDAC but also in
cation as well as adjacent stations. The
MSDAC.
main DPs of UP and DOWN direc-
iii. Unintended count due to food foil: It tion are connected to EV(M) and re-
has been an experience in few cases, dundant(R) DPs of UP and DOWN di-
where the Aluminum food foil which rection are connected to EV(R). The
runs along the track gets struck and evaluated information is shared to Re-
attaches to the Rx Coil, which causes lay Driver card and COM-AdC. The
unintended outcount or in count lead- COM-AdCs at IB as well as adjacent
ing to failure of Axle counter. locations are on a common network
through ethernet ports and in turn
In all above cases, if dual detection is through dedicated OFC, via an unman-
provided with staggering of coils, such aged ethernet switch as shown in Fig.4.
failures shall be avoided through Auto- The COM-AdCs of both M & R EVs
matic reset feature. are hot linked and any failure of one of
Why redundancy of other components of the board does not hamper the track
MSDAC? : detection.
In order to avoid other equipment failures such vi. There are two ethernet switches avail-
as Power supply card, communication card, mother able for shared communication among

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 Figure 2: Boundaries of Track Section

the MSDACs at all the three locations. net switch works on a pair of quad ca-
One ethernet switch works on dedi- ble. Alternatively, the second one can
cated fibres(Tx &Rx). Another ether- also be provided over redundant fibre.

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 Figure 3: Dual Detection

vii. The Vital Relays (ACPRs) of each 1. L -I : Automatic reset with redundant
track section are picked up at the En- track section :
try end of track section (either in IB Once the train has cleared both the track sec-
location or station). The status of vi- tions, and any one of the track sections is in
tal relays exchanged between two lo- failure state, the track section, which is in clear
cation through IO-EXBs depending on condition will reset the one in failed condition.
the need. The track section, which is under reset is kept
in preparatory mode and the clear track section
C. Exchange of signaling information between two
information is used to take off the signal.
locations
2. L -II : Automatic reset with Supervisory
The IB signal relay status has to be repeated from track section:
rear station to IB location. Similarly the status of
When a supervisory track section is clear, all the
IB signal as well as other vital and non vital indica-
track sections falling completely within the ju-
tions have to be exchanged between IB location and
risdiction of that supervisory track section can
Stations. In order to achieve this, the IO-EXBs are
be assumed to be clear. If any track section
used in either location, with each pair exchanging 3
fails and it’s corresponding supervisory track sec-
vital I/Os between them. The vital mode is typi-
tion is clear, it will automatically reset the failed
cally termed as quad mode in which 3 I/Os of vital
track section.
information can be exchanged, where as the non vi-
tal mode is termed as single mode, where 12 I/Os In case of automatic resetting with supervisory
can be exchanged between two locations with a pair track section, the reset track sections will be kept
of IO-EXBs. As these are under the approved list under preparatory mode, and the corresponding
of components of FAdC R2 by RDSO, they can be signal will continue to be in ‘ON’ aspect, until a
safely used for this purpose. The typical Information train with low speed enters and exits the track
required to be exchanged between two locations is as section with equal count at the boundaries of
follows track section.
D. Reset feautures of MSDAC As shown in Fig.2, DN-SPT is a supervisory
track section which covers all the track sections
The reset arrangement is proposed at three levels of IB in DOWN direction. If any one of the track
using Track Sections and Supervisory Track Sections, sections fail, within the entire IB, DN-SPT re-
two of which are automatic reset arrangements and sets that track section and keeps in preparatory
one is manual reset. mode.

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 Figure 4: Typical equipment Block diagram

3. L -III : Manual Reset with Line verifica- section with balancing of count will make the
tion : track section clear and bring to its normal mode
of working.
In case of failure of Level -1 and Level -2 reset,
manual resetting has to be carried out, which re-
sets all the failed track sections in the section un-
der consideration. One reset box at train sending 3 Power Supply Arrangement
station along with its corresponding Line verifi-
cation(LV) box at other station is used to manu- The IB location is provided with a Mini IPS, for
ally reset all the track sections between both the which the input supply of 230V AC is from UP AT
stations of a particular direction of movement. and DN AT. The necessary power supplies for MS-
This reset can be done only when Station Mas- DAC are derived from the Mini IPS. M/s Frauscher
ters of both the stations have ascertained that make MSDAC works on a voltage range of 19-72V
all the track sections between the stations are DC. Hence 24V DC supply with suitable current ca-
clear of trains in that particular direction. This pacity from Mini IPS serves the purpose. In stations,
will reset and set all the failed track sections in the necessary power supplies are derived from the Ma-
preparatory mode. The clearance of train in each jor IPS.

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Figure 5: Vital and Non-Vital I/O between IB and station

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 5 Conclusion
Reliability of conventional IB signaling suffers from
two problems. i) The SSDACs are provided without
duplication, which may lead to intermittent failures,
thus making the system less available. ii) Similarly
the Signaling and Power cables provided along the IB
block section are terminated in Quarter/Half location
boxes with atleast 2 RE cuts between Station and IB.
These location boxes are in inaccessable locations for
Figure 6: Termination box for DP carrying out preventive as well as break down main-
tenance. Moreover as the number of location boxes
and terminations increases, the probability of failure
also proportionally increases.
In view of the above, in the present scheme it is
proposed to provide dual MSDAC for detection of
track vacancy over OFC and IO-EXBs are used for
exchange of signaling information between two loca-
tions, duly eliminating signaling cables and RE cuts.

The information / views expressed in this pa-

per is of the authors and are based on their
experience. Comments / observations may
be sent to the author at [email protected]

Figure 7: Ethernet Switch

Shri R Viswanath Reddy

4 Cable requirement is an IRSSE officer of 2010
batch. He had received Post
Signaling Cable : In the stations, Home & Advance Graduate degree from IIT
starter signals are directly fed from the EI/Relay Kanpur, in Electronics and
room with standard signaling cable, with aspect re- Communication Engineering
peating relays at signal locations. IB Signals at IB in the year 2009. He started
location are directly fed using a 12x1.5Sq.mm signal- his career in Indian Railways
ing cable from Relay Hut, without any repeater relay as ADSTE/Kadapa in Gun-
at site, as the distance is not more than 200m. takal division of SCR in the year 2013. He is currently
Quad Cable : MSDAC evaluator to each DP re- working as DSTE/Co-ord/Vijayawada.
quires 1 quad of 4 conductors. A separate 6 quad
cable is used for each DP of dual detection (main
+ Stand-by) from the nearest Half location box pro-
vided for Signal cable termination at signal location.
From IB Hut to Half location box one 6 quad each is
used for UP & DN directions.
The media between Station to IB location is dupli-
cated by providing 6 Quad cable in addition to OFC
cable. The OFC as well as Quad ethernet switches
work in hot stand-by mode with seamless change over
to each other without disturbing the communication
working.