| Re: new attribute on the vehicle element [message #1224 is a reply to message #1221] |
Tue, 19 November 2013 18:53  |
Dirk Bräuer
Messages: 311
Registered: August 2008
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Senior Member |
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Dear Jörg,
thank you for posting this topic on UIC vehicle numbers. In general, I
would welcome such a possibility because there is hope that this
simplifies "finding the right vehicle series" when exchanging data between
different software programs.
To explain the problem behind it for the "along-reader": For the timetable
we normally have to refer to engine series. Engine series are not named
nor numbered uniquely throughout most countries. For instance, a German
"series 772" is something much different (and smaller) than a Czech
"series 772". To make it more difficult, not all countries or operators
have series numbers. And in most countries, "sub-series" are necessary to
describe a vehicle series exactly.
To clarify: From the view of timetables, we do not want to address certain
vehicles - always vehicle series. It is a much easier task to address a
certain vehicle (e. g. by its UIC number) than a series...
Well, there is hope that UIC numbers may help in future. But therefore -
and additionally to your suggestion - I think that it will be necessary to
distinguish between the "constant" and the "variable" part of the UIC
number:
The constant part does not change in a series. The variable part changes
from unit to unit of a series.
So it would be easy if the constant and variable part would always be the
same set of digits in all UIC numbers throughout the UIC world. But: This
is not the case. So we need a possibility to "mark" the constant and
variable parts of a UIC number of a certain series such as:
(a) 92 80 0232 xxx-x D-xxx
(b) 94 80 0428 1xx-x D-xxx
where xxx mean the variable parts of a series.
It seams that (a) or (b) is the "series mask" for German vehicles. It
would also fit for some other countries but unfortunately not for all. One
of the more strange examples (in my opinion) is Sweden. Here are some
Swedish examples of UIC numbers:
92 74 0000 221-2 S-IBAB (Swedish class T43)
92 74 0000 001-8 S-MTAB (Swedish class T46)
92 74 000 0376-4 S-GC (Swedish class Td)
91 74 106 1390-0 S-SJ (Swedish class Rc6)
94 74 4620 004-2 S-ABTR (Swedish class X62)
So what is the "series mask" for Swedish engines? It seams that Swedish
UIC numbers are only unique throughout one operator (S-....). So, for a
Swedish mask, S-xxx would not be variable.
So for RailML, we should be aware that
- we cannot skip the "letter part" ("S-IBAB" a.s.o.) despite one could
think that "74" and "S-" are redundant! In Sweden (and other countries),
there are several engines "74 0000 001-8". They differ only in the letters
behind "S-".
And we should ask ourselves
- Can we provide a kind of "series mask" to describe which UIC vehicle
numbers are members of a vehicle series?
- Which parts of UIC numbers are necessary for uniqueness? Which are
constant or variable in this meaning?
Best regards,
Dirk.
P.S.: Before somebody asks, here some German number examples of different
operators:
92 80 0232 204-0 D-LEG
95 80 0303 001-1 D-DEV
94 80 0427 005-4 D-DB
94 80 0428 120-0 D-ERB
90 80 1001 003-5 D-ALS
93 80 5411 062-3 D-DB
91 80 6143 967-8 D-DB
By the way, it is even not clear whether to write the letters (D-DB,
S-MTAB) in front or behind the actual UIC no. Here, I have always written
it behind but in practice you'll find both solutions. So much for European
standardisation!
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