A rapid railway simulation model development system incorporating automatic model generation

The authors discuss the development of a railway simulation system incorporating automatic model specification and automatic model generation techniques. The modeling environment features a GEM-like graphical user interface consisting of a layout editor and an icon editor. The model builder draws only the geometrical layout of a railway network section (e.g., a railway terminal) including the position of the signals, thus constructing a partial railway model. This graphical model consists of arcs representing tracks and nodes that represent junctions. The system assists in completing the specification of the model by automatically inferring the layout of the remaining control installations and the possible train routes through the network. Thus, by the end of this process the modeler has come up with a complete railway network data model stored in a database. The final stage of the project involves the development of a simulation code generator that will transform the stored data model to simulation code