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Aaron-Tripel (talk | contribs) removed Category:Railway signalling; added Category:Train protection systems using HotCat |
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The most common use case for the ATS system was to alert the [[railroad engineer]] of an impending hazard and if the alert was not acknowledged, stop the train by means of a full service application of the [[Railway brake|brakes]]. When attached to signals the shoe would be energized when the signal was displaying a "Clear" indication. Any other signal indication would de-energize the shoe and trigger an alarm in the cab. If the engineer did not cancel the alarm within 5–8 seconds a penalty brake application would be initiated and could not be reset until the train came to a complete stop.<ref name="look at">http://www.railpac.org/2008/10/02/a-look-at-automatic-train-stop-ats/</ref> Unlike mechanical train stops or other train stop systems, IIATS was not generally used to automatically stop a train if it [[Signal passed at danger|passed a Stop signal]] and in practice could not be used for this purpose as the shoes were placed only a few feet from the signal they protected and would not present sufficient [[braking distance]] for the train to stop.
On Bi-directionally signaled lines two "shoes" would be needed, one for each direction of travel as locomotives would only have a sensor to detect the shoes on one side of the train. The receivers can also be designed for easy removal to prevent damage when operating in non-equipped territory or to cut costs when
On a few [[light rail]] lines IIATS has been employed in a manner similar to mechanical train stops, stopping the train if it passes an absolute stop signal. It is useful where light rail shares tracks with mainline railroad trains as mechanical trips may be damaged by or interfere with freight operations and because [[light rail vehicle]]s can be brought to a stop much more quickly than a mainline railroad train without requiring complex [[Overlap (railway signalling)|signal overlaps]]
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