Patent ID: 8170732

Claim:
A method of operating a rail vehicle along a railway which is logically divided into a plurality of segments, the railway identified in part by a two and/or three dimensional map, the railway including at least one control point at which the railway presents at least two possible paths that are exclusive of each other, each path comprising one or more segments, the method comprising: determining an initial route for operating the rail vehicle along a railway, the route comprising a plurality of segments; translating a two or three dimensional map of at least a portion of the railway having path alternatives into a one-dimensional route map suitable for use by an existing Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system; storing information for all possible route segments, the information including the one-dimensional route map for the respective segment; controlling the rail vehicle via an ATO system as it travels along the railway by reference to the one-dimensional route map of the segments prior to the control point; after the rail vehicle has traveled past the at least one control point, verifying which segment has been occupied; interlocking the occupied segment; passing segment information to the rail vehicle; and controlling the rail vehicle via the ATO system as it travels along the railway in reference to the one-dimensional route map of the segments past the control point.