Safe Mobility: Electronic Planning for Railway Infrastructures

Abstract:
To improve the highly complex railway infrastructure planning processwith respect to both speed and result quality, we developed a methodology where the knowledge of railway experts is collected in a 2-step process: (1) A semantic model ('ontology') for the static elements of railway infrastructures (tracks, switches, signals, ...) and their interrelations is established, and (2) the infrastructure planning rules as prescribed by the responsible railway administration are formalized in a formal rule language, the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL). This combination of conceptualization and formalization of planning rules enables the semi-automated, iterative infrastructure verification, by which safety problems can be spotted early in the planning process.