Right- and Left-Hand Traffic on the World Railways: History and Future

Abstract

Starting with historical references on traffic direction choice and how railway transport has become the reason for the predomination of righthand traffic on transport other kinds, the authors dwelled on the examples of traffic directions on automotive and partially air and sea transport and then went to forecasting the future in the definition of motion directions on railway transport, technical limitations of the systems with floor traffic lights and approached to the analysis of signalless systems of traffic control with fixed block-plots and then with mobile ones. It was shown that modern solutions for high-speed lines should exclude fixed signals. The main domestic and foreign examples for the design and exploitation of such systems at the world railways and subways as well as advantages and disadvantages in terms of traffic capacity and safety were demonstrated. The comparison of domestic and foreign systems of interval regulation of train traffic was made in the article final part. The fundamental similarity of Russia signalless automatic blocking system “ALSO” with all-European system ETCS L2, preserving block-plot fixed lengths but excluding the use of checkpoint traffic lights, was demonstrated. In addition, the common principles for “ABTC-M” system, used on Russia railways, and ETCS L3 system with mobile block-plots, which rules out the use of traffic lights as well as the devices for track section vacancy control, are indicated. Both systems exclude fixed signals and fixed block sections. Then the example of the systems at railways and subways with mobile block-plots was demonstrated – the systems work on the difference in braking distances of trains, running in the same direction. These systems ensure the shortest headway thanks to data on speed and braking curve of a leading train. But such systems have a lot of limitations in terms of railway operation and safety.