A SPATIAL DISPLAY INCORPORATING A REAL-TIME ALARM AND WARNING SYSTEM FOR CANE TRAIN OPERATIONS

MACKAY SUGAR HAS for many years used a system called pcEMB in the traffic office to aid traffic officers in maintaining train separation. The pcEMB is a mimic of the train track layout and is used to generate a clearance for a train along a section of track. The pcEMB integrates with another system called Vehicle Tracking Collision Advisory System (VTCAS). Both systems were developed by CSR with VTCAS being a series of additional software components that, among a number of other things, generates and issues alarms and warnings to trains that move outside their designated clearances. Following several significant incidents and near misses combined with failed attempts to introduce alarms and warnings into the system while using pcEMB and VTCAS, Mackay Sugar embarked on a program to develop TrackSafe. This paper describes the development of TrackSafe, a geographic map based system that uses GPS location information from trains to display current train locations on a computer screen in the traffic office. The system monitors train clearances and issues warnings or alarms if trains move outside their area of clearance. The paper also details the development of alarms and warnings that are simultaneously displayed on the TrackSafe map within the traffic office and the TrackSafe screens within the train cabs. It also highlights the operational issues encountered during the first full year of rollout and describes the solutions that have been implemented to overcome the majority of issues.