Abstract: An apparatus for determining the presence of a third rail disposed between parallel railroad tracks as a train progresses along said parallel railroad tracks and further for determining the relative direction of motion of said third rail with respect to said first two rails and further for determining the rate at which the third rail moves with respect to the first rails is disclosed, which is a low power radar sensor disposed underneath the rail vehicle and directed toward the rail on the opposing side of the vehicle. In a preferred embodiment, two rail detectors are shown which are disposed on opposite sides of the rail vehicle. The radar detectors are coupled with an onboard computing device and with other components of an advanced train control system which can be used for precisely locating the train on closely spaced parallel tracks and further for updating and augmenting position information used by the advanced train control system.

Abstract: A train throttle and brake control apparatus is provided for use in a train having a master locomotive and one or more slave locomotives remotely located in the train. In a first embodiment, the apparatus includes a train force calculator which approximates train coupler forces based on computations as a function of the track topography. In a second embodiment, a coupler sensor is provided which senses the forces transmitted by the couplers on the slave locomotives. In either embodiment, a position determining device is included which provides a position signal based on the position of the train. A storage device stores a track database containing track topography information. A controller uses the coupler force computations or measurements, the position information, the track topography information, train consist information, and locomotive control settings to generate slave control signals which are provided to the slave locomotives through a communication device.