Safe Railways (Review of the monograph «Functional Safety of Railway Control Systems»)

Shubinsky, I. B., Rozenberg, E. N. Functional Safety of Railway Control Systems. Monograph. Moscow, Vologda, Infra-Inzheneria publ., 2023, 360 p. ISBN 978-5-9729-1553-8. Ensuring safety is one of the main conditions for existence of humanity. Therefore, the concept of «safety» is the focus of attention in various fields of activity, ranging from agriculture, medicine through space. At the same time, the interpretation of the concept of «safety» is still ambiguous. The theory and practice of «functional safety» are currently most developed in the nuclear industry and railway transport. In railway transport, a series of European (CEN), international (IEC), interstate (GOST), national (GOST R) standards have been developed in the field of functional safety. They focus mainly on hardware and software control systems. The monograph by Igor Shubinsky and Efim Rozenberg «Functional Safety of Railway Control Systems» presents a wide range of issues of functional safety – from scientific foundations (concepts, postulates, principles) to methods and techniques for ensuring the safety of hardware and software of railway control systems, including advanced methods of ensuring safety using virtual channels and digital twins. The monograph is of interest to researchers, railway industry specialists engaged in management processes, academic staff, graduate students and students of railway transport universities. It may be useful to scientists and specialists in other fields of industry and transport related to problems of functional safety and reliability of control systems and objects.