Use the PDF's notation for the source-frame pulse frequency, and set , . Successive emissions occur at the same train-frame position and are separated by proper time . The Lorentz transformation gives a station-frame emission interval and displacement . For a receding beacon, the second pulse travels an extra distance , so
This derivation includes both time dilation and the change in light-travel time. Expanding for gives , recovering the stated nonrelativistic approximation.
Let be the common wavelength of the identical lights at rest. The approaching and receding relativistic Doppler effect factors give
Their ratio and product therefore determine the speed and rest wavelength separately:
No assumption about the rest color was needed.
The last observation requires a transverse-geometry convention. The general observer-frame ray formula is
where is the angle between source velocity and photon propagation in the platform frame at emission. Under the usual transverse-ray interpretation, , so for and ,
This is the standard transverse redshift from time dilation.
There is a genuine distinction between emission and reception at the instant of passing. A side-mounted source emitting perpendicularly in its own frame instead has by aberration of light, giving . The same blue result occurs if “at the exact moment” means reception when the source's current position is at closest approach, with a small finite transverse offset. For offset , reception and emission satisfy . Setting gives and ; setting instead gives the transverse ray received at . These limits remain different as .
Figure 1.
Emission at closest approach and reception at closest approach give different Doppler factors
. Details.
Thus 500 nm requires the transverse ray in the platform frame; 320 nm applies to reception at closest approach or transverse emission in the train frame. The wording does not distinguish these event/frame choices, so merely neglecting the source-observer separation is insufficient to select between them. The reusable derivation is transverse Doppler shift and observation time.