Communications-based train control

This can make railway traffic management safer and more efficient. Rapid transit systems (and other railway systems) are able to reduce headways while maintaining or even improving safety. A CBTC system is a "continuous, automatic train control system utilizing high-resolution train location determination, independent from track circuits; continuous, high-capacity, bidirectional train-to-wayside data communications; and trainborne and wayside processors capable of implementing automatic train protection (ATP) functions, as well as optional automatic train operation (ATO) and automatic train supervision (ATS) functions," as defined in the IEEE 1474 standard. CBTC is a signalling standard defined by the IEEE 1474 standard. The original version was introduced in 1999 and updated in 2004. The aim was to create consistency and standardisation between digital railway signalling systems that allow for an increase in train capacity through what the standard defines as high-resolution train location determination. The standard therefore does not require the use of moving block railway signalling, but in practice this is the most common arrangement. Traditional signalling systems detect trains in discrete sections of the track called "blocks", each protected by signals that prevent a train entering an occupied block.