Skip to main content

Uniform Modeling of Railway Operations

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 694))

Abstract

We present a comprehensive model of railway operations written in the abstract behavioral specification (ABS) language. The model is based on specifications taken from the rulebooks of Deutsche Bahn AG. It is statically analyzable and executable, hence allows to use static and dynamic analysis within one and the same formalism. We are able to combine aspects of micro- and macroscopic modeling and provide a way to inspect changes in the rulebooks. We illustrate the static analysis capability by a safety analysis based on invariant reasoning that only relies on assumptions about the underlying railway infrastructure instead of explicitly exploring the state space. A concrete infrastructure layout and train schedule can be used as input to the model to examine dynamic properties such as delays. We illustrate the capability for dynamic analysis by demonstrating the effect that different ways of dealing with faulty signals have on delays.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For abstraction of sequential computations there are synchronous calls as well.

  2. 2.

    Model available at formbar.raillab.de/index.php/en/publications-and-tools/demo.

  3. 3.

    This model transformation is not a behavioral refinement, therefore, it cannot be captured in refinement-based formalisms. ABS offers software product lines as an effective method to manage and track changes, see [12] for a detailed discussion.

References

  1. Albert, E., Arenas, P., Flores-Montoya, A., Genaim, S., Gómez-Zamalloa, M., Martin-Martin, E., Puebla, G., Román-Díez, G.: SACO: static analyzer for concurrent objects. In: Ábrahám, E., Havelund, K. (eds.) TACAS 2014. LNCS, vol. 8413, pp. 562–567. Springer, Heidelberg (2014). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-54862-8_46

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Bjørk, J., de Boer, F.S., Johnsen, E.B., Schlatte, R., Tarifa, S.L.T.: User-defined schedulers for real-time concurrent objects. ISSE 9(1), 29–43 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  3. CENELEC. DIN EN 50128:2011, Railway applications - Communication, Signalling and Processing Signals

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cui, Y., Martin, U.: Multi-scale simulation in railway planning and operation. Promet Traffic Transp. 23(6), 511–517 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. de Fabris, S., Longo, G., Medeossi, G., Pesenti, R.: Automatic generation of railway timetables based on a mesoscopic infrastructure model. J. Rail Transp. Planning Manage. 4(1–2), 2–13 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Deutsche Bahn Netz AG, Frankfurt, Germany. Fahrdienstvorschrift Richtlinie 408. August 2016: http://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/nutzungsbedingungen/regelwerke/betriebl_technisch/eiu_interne_regeln_ril_408.html

  7. Din, C.C., Bubel, R., Hähnle, R.: KeY-ABS: a deductive verification tool for the concurrent modelling language ABS. In: Felty, A.P., Middeldorp, A. (eds.) CADE 2015. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 9195, pp. 517–526. Springer, Cham (2015). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-21401-6_35

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Din, C.C., Owe, O.: Compositional reasoning about active objects with shared futures. Formal Aspects Comput. 27(3), 551–572 (2015)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Fantechi, A., Flammini, F., Gnesi, S.: Formal methods for railway control systems. STTT 16(6), 643–646 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Giachino, E., Laneve, C., Lienhardt, M.: A framework for deadlock detection in core abs. Softw. Syst. Model. 15(4), 1013–1048 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hähnle, R.: The abstract behavioral specification language: a tutorial introduction. In: Giachino, E., Hähnle, R., de Boer, F.S., Bonsangue, M.M. (eds.) Proceeding Formal Methods for Component-Based Systems FMCO, pp. 1–37 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hähnle, R., Muschevici, R.: Towards incremental validation of railway systems. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2016. LNCS, vol. 9953, pp. 433–446. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47169-3_36

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Haxthausen, A.E., Peleska, J., Kinder, S.: A formal approach for the construction and verification of railway control systems. Formal Aspects Comput. 23(2), 191–219 (2011)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. Hewitt, C., Bishop, P., Steiger, R.: A universal modular ACTOR formalism for artificial intelligence. In: Nilsson, N.J. (ed.) Proceedings of the 3rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Standford, CA, USA, 20–23 August 1973, pp. 235–245. William Kaufmann (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  15. International Union of Railways (UIC). Capacity (UIC code 406) (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  16. International Union of Railways (UIC). IRS 30100 - RailTopoModel - Railway Infrastructuretopological Model (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  17. James, P., Lawrence, A., Roggenbach, M., Seisenberger, M.: Towards safety analysis of ERTMS/ETCS level 2 in real-time Maude. In: Artho, C., Ölveczky, P.C. (eds.) FTSCS 2015. CCIS, vol. 596, pp. 103–120. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-29510-7_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Johnsen, E.B., Hähnle, R., Schäfer, J., Schlatte, R., Steffen, M.: ABS: a core language for abstract behavioral specification. In: Aichernig, B.K., Boer, F.S., Bonsangue, M.M. (eds.) FMCO 2010. LNCS, vol. 6957, pp. 142–164. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-25271-6_8

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Limbrée, C., Cappart, Q., Pecheur, C., Tonetta, S.: Verification of railway interlocking - compositional approach with OCRA. In: Lecomte, T., Pinger, R., Romanovsky, A. (eds.) RSSRail 2016. LNCS, vol. 9707, pp. 134–149. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33951-1_10

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Moller, F., Nguyen, H.N., Roggenbach, M., Schneider, S., Treharne, H.: Defining and model checking abstractions of complex railway models using CSP\(\vert \vert \)B. In: Biere, A., Nahir, A., Vos, T. (eds.) HVC 2012. LNCS, vol. 7857, pp. 193–208. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39611-3_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Newcombe, C., Rath, T., Zhang, F., Munteanu, B., Brooker, M., Deardeuff, M.: How Amazon web services uses formal methods. CACM 58(4), 66–73 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Sebastian Schön for his insights into train operations and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This work is supported by FormbaR, ’Formalisierung von betrieblichen und anderen Regelwerken’, part of AG Signalling/DB RailLab in the Innovation Alliance of Deutsche Bahn AG and TU Darmstadt.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduard Kamburjan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Cite this paper

Kamburjan, E., Hähnle, R. (2017). Uniform Modeling of Railway Operations. In: Artho, C., Ölveczky, P. (eds) Formal Techniques for Safety-Critical Systems. FTSCS 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 694. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53946-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53946-1_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53945-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53946-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics