Properties of train traffic flow in a moving block system

The development direction of railways is toward the improvement of capacity and service quality, where the service quality includes safety, schedule, high speed, and comfort. In light of the existing cellular automaton models, in this paper, we develop a model to analyze the mixed running processes of trains with maximal speeds of 500 km/h and 350 km/h respectively in the moving block system. In the proposed model, we establish some sound rules to control the running processes of a train, where the rules include the departure rules in the intermediate stations, the overtaking rules, and the conditions of speed limitation for a train stopping at a station or passing through a station. With the consideration of the mixed ratio and the distance between two adjacent stations, the properties of the train traffic flow (including capacity and average speed) are simulated. The numerical results show that the interactions among different trains will affect the capacity, and a proper increase of the spatial distance between two adjacent stations can enhance the capacity and the average speed under the moving block.