AndrewG Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 I've noted the manual recommends clearing the cover signals immediately before setting the route from the Platform Exit signal. Also noted that if you clear the cover signals and then delay clearing the Platform Exit signal that the train will not move until the latter signal is cleared. On this basis is there any reason not to clear the cover signal once a train has come to a stand in the section of Platform you have assigned it? What happens in real life? This might be a rhetorical question as the answer might be as per manual.
TjoeTjoe Posted February 27, 2015 Posted February 27, 2015 First of all, I am not a railway man, so I am on pretty thin ice here. Just compared the German Köln wiki with the English version. In the German version there is no mention of having to set the cover signals to clear only just before departure time, as well as before setting the exit route. As a cover signal will be kept locked to Stop for 90 seconds after the track section in front of it is occupied by the arriving train, there is no risk that you can clear it to early (read: no risk the train is still moving) Furthermore, when the so-called Nachfahren has been applied - that is setting a train route into a track still being occupied by a preceeding train - the cover signal will clear automatically to Clear after 90 seconds when the section behind it is unoccupied, and the arriving train has reached its stop location. So honestly, this suggests that there is no reason to keep cover signals at stop upto the departure time
signalsoftRC Posted February 27, 2015 Posted February 27, 2015 In real life : The mainline panel is operated by two dispatchers. The middle of the platform is the not so fixed border. For bidirectional track they tend to communicate with each other. For the one direction tracks there is no choice anyway. Train comes to a stop before the cover signal. That part is done by that dispatcher that has let the train enter into the platforms. The departing dispatcher, the one that does the exiting of the train, clears the cover signal somewhere between arrival and departure, when the track ahead is clear. He MUST do it, before he clears the main signal. Otherwise the risk is that he driver might oversee the cover signal at stop...
AndrewG Posted February 27, 2015 Author Posted February 27, 2015 Thanks for the additional comments - makes sense regarding the two dispatchers. UK terminology for your comment on overseeing the cover signal at stop is a 'Read through' sometimes known as a SPAD trap (Signal Passed at Danger). I wanted to ascertain whether a Driver would draw forward just with Cover Signal clear but see the answer is No.
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