Hello folks! I've been recently watching a few 'videos' about LZB and have often been noticing the same exact errors over and over again from people just not knowing what LZB really is. Some of these mistakes are also not implemented correctly in TSxx. To get the formalities out of the way, LZB stands for Linienzugbeeinflussung, meaning something like Route-Wise Train influence. It's function is, as the name implies, to let the route itself influence the train driving along it and to convey information. The onboard computers then can read and adapt to the given information. If you need a refresher course on LZB, take a look at my German signalling guide. Let's get to the common misconceptions: AFB is a prerequisite for LZB. No... no... no, not at all. As said, LZB lets the route influence the train by conveying information. The train then reads the information. Trains with AFB use that information to dynamically adjust to the speed changes. If there is no AFB, the speed changes are displayed on the speedometer and the driver will manually have to adapt to them. Prime examples for this are 143's (not all of them, a select 20 have equipment capable of reading LZB), the DoSto Cab car if it doesn't have the AFB, the IC cab car, etc. LZB means driver can fall asleep. Mostly, no. If your train does not have AFB, you're the one in charge of making the speed adjustments. AFB or not, you need to stop at stations yourself. If your train does have AFB, then, uhm... you gotta acknowledge SiFa! Jokes aside, you need to watch out for information besides just speed changes. Now, most of this is not modeled with DTG's addons, but, it is on many VR addons. Potential LZB-information, or tasks as they are called in the books, are LZB Nothaltauftrag, LZB Linksfahrtauftrag, LZB Vorsichtsauftrag, LZB Stromabnehmer senken, LZB Hauptschalter aus, LZB Übertragungsausfall, LZB Störbetrieb, LZB Endeverfahren, etc. If you are interested to read about LZB, again check out my documentation or contact me and I'll be happy to share some information with you. An LZB-enabled Train can use LZB wherever it is. NO! Just, NO! LZB is trackside equipment! If there is no LZB on the trackside, the train can't read it! I wonder how the DoSto can have LZB on Hamburg-Lübeck, since there is no LZB on that route. PZB/LZB acknowledge to confirm LZB End. This is a less known one, but no, you acknowledge most of LZB with PZB/LZB Frei (release) not PZB/LZB Wachsam (acknowledge), including LZB end. LZB only comes into force with Speeds above 160kph (or simmilarly wrong speed statements). LZB comes into force wherever it is installed. If you don't have LZB, you're not allowed to drive faster then 160kph, however, LZB may well be installed and active at speeds below. The reasoning is very simple, any faster then 160kph and max brake applications will not let you stop in time for a red lamp. I must obey signals even if under LZB. Surprise! No, you don't need to pay attention to signals. Relief, right? If you are LZB-guided, all signals are irrelevant to you. Yes, you may pass a red signal if LZB wants you to. You may speed, if LZB tells you to. It is good practice to still do signal checks, but they are not necessary. Did I state anything new to you? There's much more to learn in my Signalling guide! Hope you liked it Cheers, Prof
Great write up, it took me a little while to master the PZB system let alone the LZB system.... i don't absorb information that easily (like.. i need to read a book 3 times to get the entire story) I used to actually be afraid to switch PZB on in my vR expert line trains as it was so hard to understand... their PZB helper bug was a great ... erm... help... showing on the speedo the speed to get down to and how fast to get down to it after a 1000hz magnet, and to look ahead for the stop signal before running over the 500hz magnet at over 65kmh... i still excede the brake curve occasionally tho. I always struggled to make the braking applications fast enough and get the train slowed down.. especially driving a BR 111 or 110 style loco with the ~ 30 seconds to notch down from 27 (remembering notch 28 not being allowed to be used) i figured even a 3 carriage BR 110 with a wittenberger steuerwagen (the unit my driving desk came out of... my avitar is it still in the driving trailer whilst it was being scrapped) took over a kilometer to stop. Then i discovered the game was running at sub 15FPS... my fault for running it on my laptop at full resolution, i dropped the res back from 3200 x 1800 to 2048 x 1536, and now get 30+ fps in places.... and bloody hell, the brakes now work almost twice as fast and aggressivly.. i can actually stop a train at the H marker on the platform using only 4.7 to 4.5 bar brake pipe pressure reduction about 500 meters out of the platform. Now i need to re-master driving the trains all over again.
