I+D+i

The evolution from the ASFA system to the ASFA Digital system has considerably improved the railway safety in Spain, facilitating the work of the drivers when recognizing the signals and signs installed along the different sections of track.

However, despite the significant advantages that have been achieved with this evolution, the ASFA Digital system is not being used to its maximum potential and there are a high number of complex cases in which the signaling sections present deficiencies either due to excess, defects or inefficient situations based on the rolling stock that travels over them. This can lead to situations in which the vehicles cannot adapt in time to the track conditions, and the conditions indicated by the signaling, generating dangerous situations that can lead to incidents and even railway tragedies such as the one that occurred with the derailing of the Alvia train near Santiago de Compostela in 2013.

In order to solve the current safety limitations that affect the ASFA Digital system, and given the importance of this subject due to the extensive use of this system nationally, the companies INSE RAIL and AIRTREN are supporting each other in Research and Development to launch a cooperative project whose main objective is to design and develop a new high performance application that will make it possible to use the data associated to track geometry and traffic limits, in their most common formats, and the characteristics of the vehicles, which must be controlled, in new simulation algorithms for the calculation and verification of the signaling systems in conventional railways.

The tool that is obtained will facilitate the validation of the ASFA systems in terms of safety, considering both the infrastructure and the characteristics of the rolling stock that travels over it, in terms of size, speed and number (evaluating traffic management situations).

This software allows INSE RAIL and AIRTREN to remain as leading engineering firms in the validation of railway systems and in the study of the safety of conventional railway sections, which still account for the largest number of kilometers in Spain and in the rest of the world.