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Railway signalling (BE), or railroad signaling (AE), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails , making them uniquely susceptible to collision . This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormous weight and inertia of a train, which makes it difficult to quickly stop when encountering an obstacle.
Signalling in the UK uses route signalling. Most railway systems around the world, however, use speed signalling. Under route signalling, the driver is informed which route has been set by an illuminated Junction Indicator mounted on the signal post. The signal will display a restrictive aspect to make the driver reduce the train's speed.
Railway signal in Ploiești West railway station, Romania. This type of signal is based on the German Ks signals. The signal head is the portion of a colour light signal which displays the aspects. To display a larger number of indications, a single signal might have multiple signal heads.
There are two main types of signaling aspect systems found in North America, speed signaling and weak route signaling. [citation needed] Speed signaling transmits information regarding how fast the train is permitted to be going in the upcoming segment of track; weak route signaling transmits information related to the route a train will be taking through a junction, and it is incumbent upon ...
Entire rail systems or political areas may adopt a common naming convention. In Central Europe, for example, signalling control points were all issued regionally unique location codes based roughly on the point's location and function, [3] while the American state of Texas sequentially numbered all interlockings for regulatory purposes. [4]
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a train driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the names of the section to which it belongs.
Standards for North American railroad signaling in the United States are issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which is a trade association of the railroads of Canada, the US, and Mexico. Their system is loosely based on practices developed in the United Kingdom during the early years of railway development. However, North ...
The first reached by a train is known as the home signal. The last stop signal, known as the starting or section signal, is usually located past the points etc. and controls entry to the block section ahead. The distance between the home and starting signals is usually quite short (typically a few hundred yards), and allows a train to wait for ...