Train Speed Optimization - Advantages Using Train Speed Optimization

Advantages Using Train Speed Optimization

If the train slows down much earlier, it reaches, given the right timing, the distant signal just when the home signal switches to green. This way, the train does not need to stop. Thus, wear on the brakes is reduced and the train uses less energy. But the main reason, especially for trains that accelerate slowly, is that the train passes the home signal at high speed, compared to the conventional case where the train often has to accelerate from standstill. This effectively increases track capacity, because the time it takes for the train to run from the distant signal (that has just turned green) to the home signal is often much less than the time it takes for a train to accelerate from the home signal.