Product(s):	Legion
	Version(s):	CONNECT Edition
	Environment:	Platform- Train Interface
	Area:	Train Service
	Subarea:	PTI Integration

Platform- Train Interface(PTI)

The new Platform-Train Interface (PTI) feature in Update 1 is designed to streamline the process of modelling transport services in LEGION. It can be used for boarding and alighting of any transport mode, including trains at platforms, or trams and buses at stops. Instead of the user manually entering combinations of Entrances, Exits, Waiting Zones, Arrival Profiles and other objects, users may now specify a much smaller number of high-level objects, which incorporate the desired behavior, automatically. The feature is designed to simplify workflow and reduce workload and possibilities for error.

Workflow: 

The workflow entails the following steps for users:

1. Define a Carriage by: Selecting the CAD that forms it. or Choosing a saved model from one of the catalogs in your Object Store.
2. Define a Train by creating an ordered list of Carriage objects in the user interface (involves no CAD work).
3. Define a Service to represent arrival and departure of a train system. By creating a Service in the Data Template, the connection between Platform and Train objects is established and the arrival details (loading, frequency or timetable, and train dwell time) are also defined. 
4. Define a Platform, which is the CAD, with special properties and one or more Services. 

The PTI workflow involves high level objects, which means they are ready-made and template-driven, designed to enable users to focus only on defining train operations, saving time and effort regarding the issues of object configuration. 

Carriage : Carriage object comprises: CAD, doors, join points (to other carriages) and a maximum capacity.  

When you click the Train Carriage button on the Objects toolbar, you are asked to select its CAD (The CAD should leave spaces for the doors that will open at the platform, as shown above), then press Enter to continue.

To define the doors, you must draw a line for each door in the CAD that opens. You can then define the doors on a single side, or both sides, depending on whether the same carriage will appear on different platforms

Join points are two connection points (front and back), where carriages are linked together, to form trains. They are automatically snapped to the Longitudinal center line of the carriage. You can specify their distance from the ends of carriages' CAD

Every carriage has a name and a maximum capacity (optional), used to control the number of entities seeking to board. Entities do not enter carriages at capacity. Instead, they wait for the next train. Entities do not try to board other carriages, if their assigned carriage is full. If no maximum capacity is specified, entities board until the carriage is physically full, or the train dwell time is over. 

Train: Trains are collections of carriages, and carriages appear in trains in the order in which they are added to them. For each carriage in a train, a Reverse option is available to allow you to align the opening side of the carriage to the platform regardless of its originally set orientation.

When you click the Train button on the Objects toolbar, it opens a window in which you may define new trains. You may then add or delete carriages and set their orientation, using the Reverse check box. The capacity set during carriage definition is also displayed here. 

Train Service:  A Service represents a particular train system, for example- 

• London-to-Birmingham - Platform 1 - Virgin Trains, or
• London-to-Birmingham - Platform 1, West Midlands Trains 

When the Service button on the Objects toolbar is clicked, a dialog opens, in which you define new services, or edit existing ones. In a service's Parameters tab, you must name their service and associate a train with it. The Timetable tab is designed to define arrival time, number of alighters, number of stayers, and the Effective Door Open Time (EDOT), in seconds. When entering alighters' properties (by double-clicking in the cell in the alighters column), the Service instance properties window opens, so you may specify Entity/Supply Type, Population (number of entities), Passenger distribution and passengers' Final Destinations. Stayers' cells are similar, though without Final Destinations.

    

Platform:  Platform defines a CAD region in the model, in which entities' behavior is modified, based on train arrival and departure events. Since a platform cannot be a Final Destination, entities cannot be directed to Platform objects. To direct entities to navigate to a platform, they must have a Service that is associated with the platform set as their Final Destination.

You must identify the CAD elements that make up a platform edge. The simplest platforms are straight, needing only selection of a single line segment. Polylines may also be used, to represent curved platforms. Since selected CAD defines the edge alone, rather than the whole platform, selected CAD may not be closed, overall (i.e., form a rectangle, square, pentagon, or other polygon). Entered CAD is checked and if it does not form a continuous line, an Error is raised and the user must redefine it.

Once a valid CAD selection has been made, there is a prompt to simplify the platform edge, from which superfluous elements may be removed.