Embedding Group Operation Control Strategy into Heavy Haul Railway Transportation

In order to improve transportation efficiency, heavy haul railways often adopt a large marshalling scheme. This involves coupling multiple locomotives to pull hundreds of carriages, resulting in a marshalling length of several thousand meters. While large marshalling improves the efficiency of heavy haul train freight transportation, it also poses challenges. For instance, it reduces the flexibility in goods transportation due to slow marshalling changes. Additionally, the longer braking distance associated with large formations requires more safety protection distance, occupying more line resources and ultimately decreasing transportation efficiency. This article examines the application of a group operation control strategy based on virtual coupling technology aimed at improving the efficiency of heavy haul railway transportation and enabling flexible organization of heavy haul trains. Compared to fixed block and moving block strategies, the train platoon under the group operation control strategy occupies smaller track segments and demonstrates higher stability. The proposed group operation strategy has the potential to achieve better conflict control in railway traffic and improve train control system efficiency. Furthermore, as physical coupling is no longer required, the marshalling process of heavy haul trains becomes more efficient, which ultimately results in improved flexibility and greater capacity.