Since trains are the most important commodity in the railways industry, various aspects such as market research and company management policy are examined in the traffic planning. And the train operation facilities such as tracks, are designed under the plan.
The process from demand forecasting to actual train operation is basically as follows.
As you see in the figure, duties of the operation section are to design safe, precise, prompt, and comfortable transportation, by preparing a detailed train operation schedule, according to transport demand, based on a safety system accomplished by cars, facilities, personnel, etc.
Facilities required to provide transport service; in other words, the train operation, are generally called "train operation facilities." They extend to every field; track, train station and signal devices, etc.
This paper chiefly presents an overview of signal safety facilities, which are the basis of train operation for railways in Japan.
