Patent ID: 7027899

Claim:
Apparatus for electronically coupling rail vehicles in stop areas of stopping points in short-distance rail transport systems, wherein a control unit and a transceiver unit are provided which are interconnected, and that the control unit is designed to determine the speed of a rail vehicle ahead and, if the speed is zero or below a predetermined minimum speed, to control the transceiver unit in such a way as to transmit a message which contains propulsion and braking control information or ready signals for activating an electronic drawbar for a following rail vehicles, wherein the transceiver unit is designed to transmit a message received from the rail vehicle ahead, containing the propulsion and braking control information, to the control unit, and that the control unit is so designed that after reception of the message from the rail vehicle ahead and after approach to the rail vehicle ahead up to a predetermined distance, the control unit controls the following rail vehicle in such a way that the following rail vehicle is operated by the propulsion and braking control information received from the rail vehicle ahead.