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Ensuring the safe and precise operation of the Shinkansen is performed almost entirely through computer controls. Centralized management of the necessary data by computers is referred to as the 'ComTrack-Smith System'.

In the 18 years since the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen began operating, this system has proven its reliability with not a single fatality or accident and more than 1 billion passengers carried safely to their destinations.
It is becoming difficult, however, for this system to respond to the increasing diversification of Shinkansen operations, and as a result, JR East formed a project team in November 1990 to investigate a new system. The project team examined potential problems in numerous areas and performed numerous and detailed tests to develop a system that fulfills next-generation needs.
The system created from this process is the COSMOS New Comprehensive Shinkansen System.


Functions and Features of COSMOS

The overall functional structure of COSMOS covers all Shinkansen operational planning and management. COSMOS is a total, integrated system that allows users to share information through a vertical axis from planning to on-site operations and a horizontal axis that extends from planning to implementation and follow-up.
All functions were created from the user's perspective, making possible significant improvements in efficiency.


Centralized Temporary Speed Limits

• Previous Method
  To ensure safe operation of trains, Shinkansen are equipped with temporary speed limit functions that limit the speed continuously depending on the track conditions such as rain, wind, and snow. In the past, this system was operated by station personnel posted at stations.
  
• New Centralized Immediate Speed Control
  The new system allows a supervisor to set temporary speed limits without going though station personnel. If a standard speed is mistakenly allowed in an area where slower speeds are warranted, it could result in a serious accident. This means that just like in signal controls, a fail-safe control method is essential. The supervisor's instructions are output to a three-layer fail-safe controller for comparison and the results are displayed on a central man-machine interface, allowing the supervisor to continuously confirm the speed limits.
• Line Accident Prevention Functions
  By putting a centralized information and monitoring system online, information concerning track conditions such as wind and earthquake data necessary to set speed limits can be monitored automatically over time, and temporary speed limits when certain threshold values are proposed. In addition, if an earthquake occurs, the system automatically proposes limits within the affected area.

Maintenance Work Management

To ensure worker safety while performing track maintenance work, working times are clearly divided into maintenance work periods at night when trains are not operating and train operating periods during the daytime when trains are running. As a result, there is work associated with the switch to the maintenance work period at the station where the last train of the day completes operations. There is also a check to perform to ensure that there are no abnormalities in the facilities when the switch is made back to the train operating period early in the morning.
By automating the work associated with the switches between these two periods, the nighttime workloads of supervisors has been significantly reduced.
During maintenance work periods, maintenance vehicles are operated to carry materials and to perform various inspections, so wireless handheld terminals were created to allow maintenance workers to directly make requests for the necessary routes. The safety and confirmatory controls necessary for this system are performed by a fail-safe controller. As a result, the workload of night-shift supervisors and station personnel is greatly reduced.


Layout of the New Control Room

The layout of the previous control room was in a terraced formation with a large CTC display screen in the center. In the new control room, all data can be displayed on the latest workstations and all supervisors can share data, making a large, central display screen unnecessary. As a result, the atmosphere of the control room is like that of an ordinary office.
The layout has also been changed from a terraced formation to a round arrangement divided by work group. Supervisors can also cooperate in the operation of workstations, significantly increasing the functionality of the entire control room.