In the last thirty years, interurban European railway traveller services have acquired a new protagonism with the construction of new infrastructures and the implementation of high speed services. Thanks to that, progress has been made in the knowledge of the different areas that make up the railway as a means of transport. In parallel, interesting contributions have been made in technical publications, to which the professionals in the sector and new engineers cannot always devote the time they would like. Nevertheless, each day it is more necessary to know the new possibilities offered by more technically feasible and economically interesting engineering. As a guide, some issues which did not require attention only two decades ago, have become really relevant at present: engine signalling, the ERTMS system, the contribution of railway to sustainability or the new organization between managers and operators, just to mention a few areas.

This book is the fruit ot interest of scientific community to handle a work that reflects state-of-the-art knowledge about exploitation of railways. It is addressed to the professionals who develop their activity day after day as well as those who want to be trained in this discipline. It is not a mere reproduction of existing knowledge, but a structured publication following an innovative criterion that, thanks to its originality and the contribution that it contains, can be of interest for the railroad sector.