Collision protection and safety system for rail vehicles

1. A method for providing rail worker safety, the method comprising:

defining at least one geographical boundary within a work zone;

receiving, at a dispatcher processor of a control center, a location of a rail vehicle;

determining whether a first distance between the location of the rail vehicle and the at least one geographical boundary is less than a threshold;

transmitting a first warning signal to the rail vehicle based on a determination that the first distance is less than the threshold, the first warning signal configured to initiate a first alarm of a first alarm system; and

receiving an indication from a sensor indicating whether the rail vehicle is configured in a railway mode or an on-road mode;

wherein, based on receiving the indication that the rail vehicle is configured in the on-road mode, the first alarm system is configured to not activate an audible or visual alert.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

defining a geographical location as the work zone, where the at least one geographical boundary includes a first geographical boundary and a second geographical boundary;

determining whether the rail vehicle is within the first geographical boundary of the work zone; and

transmitting a second warning signal to the rail vehicle based on a determination that the location of the rail vehicle is outside the first geographical boundary, the second warning signal configured to activate a second alarm of the first alarm system.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

re-defining the work zone intermittently or continuously along a rail track; and

re-defining the at least one geographical boundary within the re-defined work zone.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

determining whether a rail worker unit is within the second geographical boundary; and

transmitting a third warning signal to the rail worker unit based on a determination that the location of the rail worker unit is outside the second geographical boundary, the third warning signal configured to activate a third alarm of the first alarm system; and

wherein the first geographical boundary is different from the second geographical boundary.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a second distance between the rail vehicle and a second rail vehicle or a rail worker unit; and

initiating activation of a collision alarm of the first alarm system when the second distance is less than or equal to a collision threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, a telematics unit of the rail vehicle is configured to collect vehicle information of the rail vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the dispatcher processor, vehicle information from a telematics unit that is configured to collect the vehicle information of the rail vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, by the dispatcher processor, an alarm signal to a wayside unit, the wayside unit comprising a mobile device; and

wherein, the first warning signal is transmitted to the rail vehicle via the wayside unit; and

wherein the first alarm system includes an audible alarm unit and a visual alarm unit.

9. A railway safety system, comprising:

a vehicle unit operable to be coupled to a rail vehicle, the vehicle unit including:

a location determination unit operable to determine a location of the rail vehicle,

a communications unit configured to:

define at least one geographical boundary within a work zone;

transmit the location of the rail vehicle to a dispatcher processor; and

receive an alarm signal from the dispatcher processor indicating that a distance between the rail vehicle and the at least one geographical boundary is less than a first threshold;

a sensor configured to determine whether the rail vehicle is operating in a railway mode or an on-road mode; and

an alarm unit operable to generate at least one of an audio or visual alarm in response to the alarm signal;

wherein based on the rail vehicle operating in the on-road mode, the communications unit is configured to deactivate the audio or visual alarm of the alarm unit.

10. The railway safety system of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle unit includes a collision detection unit operable to detect:

a distance between the rail vehicle and a personal protection unit of a rail worker; or

a distance between the rail vehicle and a second rail vehicle.

11. The railway safety system of claim 9 , wherein:

the alarm unit is operable to generate the audio or visual alarm based on:

a distance between the rail vehicle and a personal protection unit being less than a first threshold; or

a distance between the rail vehicle and a second rail vehicle being less than a second threshold.

12. The railway safety system of claim 9 , further comprising:

a sensor configured to determine whether the rail vehicle is configured in a railway mode or an on-road mode; and

wherein the communications unit is configured to:

based on the rail vehicle operating in the on-road mode, prohibit activation of the alarm unit.

13. A method for rail worker safety, the method comprising

transmitting location data of a rail vehicle to a dispatcher processor;

receiving a first signal indicating the rail vehicle is within a work zone;

receiving a signal indicating that the rail vehicle has exceeded a first authorized limit of the work zone from the dispatcher processor;

transmitting, in response to the signal, an alarm signal to an operator device of an operator of the rail vehicle;

storing information that includes a time that the alarm signal was transmitted to the operator device;

detecting whether the rail vehicle is in a railway mode or an on-road mode;

transmitting an indication of whether the rail vehicle is in the railway mode or the on-road mode to the dispatch processor; and

deactivating an alarm unit of the rail vehicle based on the rail vehicle operating in the on-road mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving a collision alarm signal corresponding to the rail vehicle responsive to a distance between the rail vehicle and a second rail vehicle being less than or equal to a threshold; and

storing collision information in a telematics unit of the rail vehicle, the collision information including a time that the collision alarm was transmitted.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving a collision alarm signal at the rail vehicle responsive to a distance between the rail vehicle and a personal protection unit of a rail worker being less than or equal to a threshold; and

storing collision information in a telematics unit of the rail vehicle, the collision information including time that the collision alarm signal was transmitted.

16. A method for providing rail worker safety, the method comprising:

receiving, at a dispatcher processor of a control center, a location of a rail vehicle;

receiving an indication from a sensor indicating whether the rail vehicle is configured in a railway mode or an on-road mode;

determining whether a first distance between the location of the rail vehicle and at least one geographical boundary of a work zone is less than a threshold; and

transmitting a first warning signal to the rail vehicle based on a determination that the first distance is less than the threshold, the first warning signal configured to initiate a first alarm of a first alarm system;

where the first alarm system is configured to prohibit activation of the first alarm during operation of the rail vehicle in the on-road mode.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of a boundary of the work zone and the at least one geographical boundary is a fixed geographical area.

18. The method of claim 2 , further comprising transmitting a third warning signal to the rail vehicle based on a determination that the rail vehicle is outside of the work zone, the third warning signal configured to initiate a third alarm of the first alarm system.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the work zone is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle.

20. The method of claim 2 , wherein the work zone is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first geographical boundary or the second geographical boundary is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first geographical boundary and the second geographical boundary is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle.