Theory 24/Railway Engineering
Headway Is a Braking Ratio
The claim
Minimum headway is set by the ratio of braking distance to block length rather than by line speed, so a slower line with long blocks can have lower capacity.
01Mechanism
A train must be able to stop within the block it occupies; block length relative to stopping distance sets how closely trains can follow.
02Predictions
- P1Headway should track the ratio.
- P2Line speed alone should mispredict.
03Refutation
Headway tracking speed would remove the block geometry.