Abstract: A control system for a rail vehicle with a plurality of cars has at least one central control device for controlling vehicle-wide functions based on global information, and a set of decentralized car control devices, each containing a local sub-information of the global information during operation. The control system has a redundancy which is sufficient relative to availability requirements and which is achieved cost-effectively and with minimal effort. A data connection apparatus having connection segments, which connect car control devices of adjacent cars in pairs to produce data transfer in at least one transfer direction. The paired car control devices and the connection segments form, in the transfer direction, a data chain that is cumulative in respect of the sub-information and there is at least one identifying unit which detects and evaluates data of the data chain to form the global information.

Abstract: Electric power is distributed over a plurality of load units of a rail vehicle. In order to reduce the adaptation complexity upon changing the configuration of the rail vehicle, the rail vehicle is divided into a group of sections. A group of distribution priorities is defined, and a distribution priority is allocated to each load unit, each of which is identified by a section variable and a priority variable. Power to be granted is ascertained in a granting process depending on power requirement, available power, and allocated distribution priority. Granting processes for a given priority variable value and for the section variable values assigned to at least one sub-group of the group of sections are carried out in a section cycle. A priority cycle is carried out in which a section cycle is carried out for the priority variable values assigned to a sub-group of the group of distribution priorities.