Author(s)

J.M. Mera, S. Tapia, C. Vera & J.A. Jaen

Abstract

Studying the operational behaviour of a railway line is a difficult task due to the huge amount of elements involved and the high costs of real infrastructure tests. A good way of obtaining conclusions for decision making on operative variables is using computer simulation. Specifically a traffic simulator may be of great benefit for analysing the signalling system behaviour without actually building it into the line. GifTren is a software tool for the simulation of the operational behaviour of a railway line, developed by CITEF for the Spanish Railway Infrastructures Manager (GIF), and employed in the design of new high-speed lines in Spain. The program takes into account elements such as: train characteristics, mass, traction force, etc.; tracks characteristics, curves, gradients, tunnels, electric power supply, etc.

Keywords