Updated 980611
In the 1953 rules was introduced a new Entry Signal indication: "Short Entry Route" (Danish: Afkortet togvej). "Short Entry Route" was signaled as an "X" in the Speed Indicator, together with "Proceed" from the Entry Signal. "Short Entry Route" indicated that the entry route was significantly shorter than other entry routes on the station and that the entry route had no safety overlap. The track might be occupied immediately after the end point of the entry route.
One use for "Short Entry Route" was to signal entry into a short stub-end track, a station configuration that had been known to cause accidents with the old route signaling . Another use for "Short Entry Route" was to divide a platform into 2 sections, facilitating the service of 2 trains simultaneously. This facility has later been used when joining the DMU "Lyntog" train sets. The trains were signaled into each half of the platform, and then joined after having come to a full stop.
The end point for the short entry route to a split platform is a Plaform Exit Signal showing "Stop". Immediately behind the end point signal is an opposing signal providing protection for the short entry route. This opposing signal is either a Dwarf signal or a Platform Exit Signal, depending on the local needs. In case that opposing short entry routes can be set to both halves of the same platform track, these routes are mutually excluded.
During the 1980s it became more and more commonplace to establish Entry Routes without a safety overlap. These routes were established where the traffic density made it desirable to be able to have a train enter a platform track while another train route was in use right after its end point. To notify the engineer of the missing overlap, the "Short Entry Route" aspect was used, even though these entry routes were not necessarily shorter than other entry routes on the station. The name of the signal aspect was changed to "Entry Route without Overlap" (Danish: "Togvej uden sikkerhedsafstand") to reflect the more general use.
The practice of establishing these long entry routes without a safety overlap has since largely been abandoned.
With the introduction of the Flexliner trainsets in the early '90s, joining trainsets en route was to be more common. The use of Short Entry Routes meant that the second arriving trainset should be brought to a full stop before being allowed to proceed the few meters to join the first arrived trainset. The train would stop along the platform, with lots of passengers waiting to get on or off the train. It was not uncommon for trains to proceed to couple in one movement, thus strictly violating the rule of stopping at the Platform Exit Signal showing "Stop". The fixed length of the 2 platform halves also reduced flexibility in terms of train lengths.
In 1991 a new approach was introduced to overcome the problems. Instead of having the Short Entry Route end at the middle of the platform, a Platform Exit Signal is placed before the platform.
Right after the train has stopped at the Platform Exit Signal, it is signaled into the platform track on a switch route. The Platform Exit Signal will show "Pass with Caution" as the platform track is occupied.
| [Back] | [Home] |