Common Railroad Terms
AEI Site Components and Manufacturers
Documentation
Diagram for placement of an AEI tag on a six axle vehicle
Diagram for placement of an AEI tag on a four axle vehicle
Diagram of tag placement on a hopper car
North American Shortlines
News and Articles
Common Railroad Terms
A.A.R.
Association of American Railroads, an industrial trade
association.
AEI
Automatic Equipment Identification
AEI User Group
The AEI User Group was formed by the Class I Railroads
and vendor community to facilitate development,
standardization, and exploitation of AEI technology.
Formation was made necessary when the AAR AEI Technical
Sub-Committee was dissolved in 1993. The group continues
to serve in a technical advisory role to the recently
formed AAR AEI Taskforce.
American Railway Engineering Association
A
railroad industry professional engineering association
based in Washington, DC.
Antenna
An RF
transmitter/receiver used to execute data exchange
between the wayside AEI site and the passing AEI tags.
Typically these applications are log-periodic, low
profile, or parapannel.
AREMA
American Railway and Maintenance of Way Association.
Axle Counting
Counting axles by sensing wheels, with computer
control. Applied within AEI systems to employ car
break-out logic and create placeholders for untagged
equipment.
Ballast
Fill material placed under rails and ties for support
and to allow drainage.
Bearing
Box
A grease box providing lubrication for a rail car or
locomotive axle.
Bearing
Detection
Temperature measuring device designed to detect
overheated axle bearings.
Boring
To maintain a stable roadbed during and after AEI site
installation the method of boring is employed. This
method shoves a conduit below grade from one side of the
track to the other. The boring method may sometimes be
replaced by open trench cutting in other than mainline
installations.
Bungalow, Building, or Hut
A small building usually situated near the rail that is
used to house AEI, electrical, and signaling equipment.
Car
Break-Out
By using wheel detectors, combined with timing
direction, speed, and distance, logic can be employed to
determine the length of equipment and number of axles.
This information is used to generically identify several
types of equipment including locomotives, rail cars,
multi-platform cars, passenger, and non-typical.
Check
Tag
Parapannel antennas can be equipped with an internally
mounted AEI transponder. This transponder allows for the
remote testing of the antennas and RF units without the
presence of a train. These devices must be ordered when
obtaining an antenna and not a retrofit.
Class I
Railroad
A freight railway company that meets certain minimum
size criteria.
Classification Yard
Hump yard or marshaling yard.
Communication Protocol
When an AEI site off loads data to the host the
communication is accomplished over phone lines through a
modem or modem bank. To insure the completeness and
accuracy of the data a communication scheme must exist
between the site and the host. Each user of the data
provides their own Communication Protocol or scheme.
Coupling
The connection of two rail cars, or locomotives.
Curve
A gradual change of direction.
Diamond
A track arrangement where two tracks cross at the same
level (grade).
End of
Car "A" or "B"
The hand break is used to determine the end of a car.
The "B" end is the end closest to the hand break and the
"A" is the opposite end.
EOT, End
of Train Device
Rear of train marker or light having communication with
the controlling locomotive. These devices require a
special AEI tag.
Flange
Lubricator
A wayside device for the lubrication of flanges to
assist movement around curves and reduce wear on
equipment.
Grade Crossing
A highway crossing that is at the same level (grade)
as the rail.
Grounding
Requirements, schematics, methods, and philosophies
addressing proper grounding of railroad communication
equipment vary from railroad to railroad. What is
consistent is the measurement of resistance to ground.
This measurement is typically set at 6 ohms. Soil, rock,
moisture, distance, weather history, and location all
play a part in the selection of proper grounding
protection. Being a computer based system the majority
of damage to an AEI site can be contributed to grounding
failures.
Hot Box
Term
for an overheated wheel bearing (the grease "box"
overheating).
Hot Box
Detector
Hot
bearing detector, usually infrared, and placed at
intervals on mainline track. System is activated
(gated) by a track-mounted wheel sensor.
Hot Box
Detector, integrated
A
complete hot bearing detector integrated with AEI for
positive identification of defective equipment. The
system also allows for trend analysis by recording all
temperatures of passing equipment and positively
associating this information with car initial and number
for historical evaluation.
Hump
In a
hump yard, the highest point in the yard where cars are
released to coast forward to the correct track.
Interface
An
electronic device that converts one type of signal to
another.
J-Box
A simple junction box to make track side to track
equipment connections. In an AEI application, the J-Box
is typically mounted to the antenna mast and above track
level.
Loss of
Shunt
Failure
of a shunt train detection/presence system due to poor
electrical contact between the wheel and the rail.
Presence Detection
Provided by either shunting the rail or with loop and
used to control signals and other wayside equipment.
RF
Technology
Radio
Frequency used to employ BackScatter technology for the
purpose of reading and decoding AEI tags.
Sessions
Interoperable AEI sites are typically shared by several
railroads. To facilitate this interoperability the site
must have a parameter setup for each road with site
information and communication protocol unique to each of
the sharing roads. This is made possible by setting up a
railroad specific session.
Shunt
A track
signaling system that uses the rail car wheels and axle
to complete an electrical circuit between one rail and
the other. The completion of this circuit is used as a
signal that the train is present. The signal may be
used to activate crossing arms, other train signals,
and/or AEI systems.
Side of
Car
The side of the car, left or right is determined by
standing at the "B" or break end and looking at the "A"
end. From this position the "R" right side is to the
right and the "L" left side to the left.
Sleeper
An
unknown rail car or locomotive not identified in the
consist.
Stray or
Stray Tag
When an AEI site placement in a restricted track or
multiple track environment is required, the potential of
the site reading tags, incidental to the target track,
is increased. These additional non targeted tags are
considered Stray or Stray Tags.
Tag
Reader or AEI site
Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) to identify a
specific rail car or locomotive with the use of RF
technology.
Tie
Rail
tie made of wood, steel or concrete.
Track
Signal
A
signaling system that uses the rail for transmitting
signals. These signals may be used to warn of an
approaching train and lower crossing arms for instance,
or also to warn the engineer of a train on the track
ahead.
Wheel
Detection
Sensing
of rail wheel with metal sensor, or track circuit.
Yard
A
facility with multiple tracks where rail cars are
assembled into trains based on destination.
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AEI Site Components and Manufacturers
Tiefenbach
Axle
counting system and wheel detector. For details and
information contact Tiefenbach at
http://www.tiefenbach.com/Railway/tazcntsys.htm.
Z Epic
Manufactured by Zukinut Enterprises LLC. THe ZEPIC III
comes in a range of frequencies and features self
tuning. For more information on this presence detection
device, contact Zukinut at
http://www.zukinut.com/zepic1006.html.
National Railway Supplies, Battery Chargers
Almost all AEI systems are 24V and use a step down
battery charger to maintain power. The most common
device is available from National Railway Supplies at
http://www.natrail.com/
PTMW,
AEI Building Manufacturer
Wayside
buildings are available in many shapes, sizes, and
materials. PTMW has been in this aspect of the business
for many years and has manufactured buildings in steel
and aluminum for all Class I roads. For additional
information on the complete line of PTMW buildings
contact PTMW at http://www.ptmw.com/.
L&W,
AEI Building Manufacturer
For
over thirty years, L&W has fabricated buildings and
equipment for the rail industry. L&W's line of AEI
wired and ready to go buildings are deployed within the
Class I railroads and Short Lines. L&W can be contacted
at http://www.lwind.com/contact.htm.
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Documentation
S-918,
S-918A
AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices
Railway Electronics
Standard for Automatic Equipment
Idnetification
Available through the AAR and TTCI in print, CD or
electronically. Contact TTCI Pueblo, CO at techstds@ttci.aar.com
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