Track Speed

Description

Canada has a strong regulatory system overseeing rail transportation. Railways have to comply with dozens of regulations and hundreds of safety rules on everything from train securement to speed limits and track and equipment inspection and maintenance.

Track/Freight Speed is the maximum allowable operating speed for a freight train to operate safely.

There are 5 classes of tracks each with a prescribed speed limit for freight and passenger train.

Originator

1. Canada Open Data – National Railway Network

2. Transport Canada

Use Cases

1. As a Rail Safety Officer, I want to be able to determine the maximum freight speed in a residential neighborhood so that public concerns regarding noise level is addressed.

Source(s)

Remarks

1. Linear referencing (also called linear reference system or linear referencing system or LRS), is a method of spatial referencing, in which the locations of features are described in terms of measurements along a linear element, from a defined starting point, for example a milespost along a railroad. Each feature is located by either a point (e.g. a signpost) or a line (e.g. a speed limit).

2. EGIS Data Folder: \\ncras382\Application Source Files\EGIS\Smartmap Files\

Process for EGIS integration

CSV File Transformation:

1. Freight Speed dataset is a non-spatial tabular dataset.

2. Preprocessing is labour intensive as it involve cleaning, validating and connecting railway network of similar Railway Company and Subdivision to form a continuous track.

3. In FME, Track/Freight speed is interpolated using Linear Referencing System (LRS) method utilizing transformers such as Snipper, NeighbourFinder, Clipper etc. to interpolate railway track between mileposts of assigned speed limit.

4. Using Feature Merger transformer, the Rail Safety Speed dataset is joined with the NRWN dataset using Region, RailwayName and Subdivision as primary keys (many to one).

5. Each record of the Speed dataset now contain the spatial component of track segment with "From", "To" mileages and Speed.

6. Using the Snipper transformer, each component of the track is trimmed using the "From", "To" parameters.

7. The remaining segment is the portion of the track with the attributed "Speed"

8. Output to KML, SHP or GDB as required

9. Import into EGIS

Disclaimer:

1. The accuracy of the data varies as several factors can affect the result of interpolation. These include the true milepost location and the actual length of a continuous track along a subdivision.

2. The process is not foolproof as:
   -The primary keys might differ between datasets causing some records to fail.
   -The result is approximate.
   -The output is not verified nor validated for accuracy.

3. Data generated is only approximate, and therefore should only be used for reference purposes only.

TC Smart Maps:

1. Not all GIS applications can consume KML file directly due to its unique data structures such as networklinks, folders, models etc.

2. Please contact Lawrence Chong, Digital Services Directorate for TC Smart Maps KML dataset and format translation.

3. TC Smart Maps KML link: \\tc.gc.ca\tcgis\GISData\Google Mashup\Surface Engineering-Rail Data\FreightSpeed\NRN-FreightSpeed.kmz

Customization:

1. Schema transformation: As required

2. Denormalization: Minimum generalization recommended to improve display performance.

3. Value coding: Not required

4. Attribute renaming: As required to improve readability

5. Attribute removal: It is highly recommended as some fields are unnecessary, this will also reduce file size and improve performance

6. Geoenrichment: Feature symbolization using Speed as theme is recommended to improve visualization.
   -Color code by Freight Speed

7. Format translation: As needed.

8. Language translation: French version not available.