【正文】
Technology Features Research of Japanese Railway Signal System This paper begins with the developing history and technical classification of railway transportation, introduces the railway control system used in Japan, analyzes its technology features respectively from the aspects of electronic, puter and munication technology, and at last proposes the technical developing direction of future train control system. 1. Introduction In the early days of railways, there was no signaling system. A station attendant showed the signal of go or stop by gestures. But people would make some mistakes which caused accidents. Signaling system prevents the accidents efficiently. Early signal system in Japan was Automatic Traffic Stop (ATS) devices. This device could automatically stop the train when it received the stop signal. Even if the driver ignored the alarm of the trainborne stop device, the device on the track could stop the train automatically. ATSP (Automatic Train Stop Protection) was developed to raise efficiency. Using the responder to send a receive data signal, ATSP system transmits information of the distance about the next stop to the train via the track, and then the system generates a train speedchecking pattern with these information. ATC (Automatic Train Control) system is developed to resolve problems of ATSP. In ATC system, safety operation procedure will be activated to guarantee the safe performance of the train when the train operator made mistakes. To meet the needs of the modern massive highefficient transportation, new traffic control systems are emerging such as ATACS (Advanced Train Administration Communication System), CBTC (Communication Based Train Control), etc. With the integration of railway signal and munication technology, track structure of new pattern and additional trainborne functions. This paper proposes the features of the current railway control system in Japan with the development history of the railway signal system as background, and then shows its key technology and developments in future. 2. Railway Signal Systems The first railway transportation system began to operate in 1830 between Liverpool and Manchester. Signal system was introduced to improve safety and to cope with the increase of traffic volume. In 1841, the signal technology was used at the two ends of the North Midland tunnel at the first time. The track circuit for the train detecting was invented in 1872. The following will analyze typical railway signal system developed by Japan National Railways (JNR) and East Japan Railway. For these systems, the level is determined by fixed block or moving block system. Train position locating is taken by the track circuit or onboard train locating device. The information is transmitted through the track circuit or radio. (ATSS) system (Kera, 2020 is automatic train stop device which was introduced into JNR to prevent train collision. In a block section where a train is present, a track circuit detects the