Underground openings production line 2012. Design, production and initial state of the underground openings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-08-01

The Underground Openings Line Production Line report describes the design requirements, the design principles, the methods of construction and the target properties for the underground rooms required for the final repository. It is one of five Production Line reports, namely the: Underground Openings Line report, Canister report, Buffer report, Backfill report, Closure report. Together, these reports cover the lifespan of the underground phases of the final repository from the start of construction of the underground rooms to their closure. Posiva has developed reference methods for constructing the underground rooms. Tunnels will be constructed using the drill and blast technique, shafts will be constructed using raise boring and the deposition holes will be constructed by reverse down reaming. Underground openings will be made safe by reinforcement by using rock bolts, net or shotcrete, depending on which type of opening is being considered, and groundwater inflows will be limited by grouting. Posiva's requirements management system (VAHA) sets out the specifications for the enactment of the disposal concept at Olkiluoto under five Levels - 1 to 5, from the most generic to the most specific. In this report, the focus is on Level 4 and 5 requirements, which provide practical guidance for the construction of the underground openings. The design requirements are presented in Level 4 and the design specification in Level 5 In addition to the long-term safety-related requirements included in VAHA, there are additional requirements regarding the operation of underground openings, e.g. space requirements due to the equipment used and its maintenance, operational and fire safety. The current reference design for the disposal facility is presented based on the design requirements and design specifications. During the lifespan of the repository the reference design will be revised and updated according to the design principles as new information is available. Reference

On the determination of the thermal comfort conditions of a metropolitan city underground railway.

Science.gov (United States)

Katavoutas, George; Assimakopoulos, Margarita N; Asimakopoulos, Dimosthenis N

2016-10-01

Although the indoor thermal comfort concept has received increasing research attention, the vast majority of published work has been focused on the building environment, such as offices, residential and non-residential buildings. The present study aims to investigate the thermal comfort conditions in the unique and complex underground railway environment. Field measurements of air temperature, air humidity, air velocity, globe temperature and the number of passengers were conducted in the modern underground railway of Athens, Greece. Environmental monitoring was performed in the interior of two types of trains (air-conditioned and forced air ventilation cabins) and on selected platforms during the summer period. The thermal comfort was estimated using the PMV (predicted mean vote) and the PPD (predicted percentage dissatisfied) scales. The results reveal that the recommended thermal comfort requirements, although at relatively low percentages are met only in air-conditioned cabins. It is found that only 33% of the PPD values in air-conditioned cabins can be classified in the less restrictive comfort class C, as proposed by ISO-7730. The thermal environment is "slightly warm" in air-conditioned cabins and "warm" in forced air ventilation cabins. In addition, differences of the thermal comfort conditions on the platforms are shown to be associated with the depth and the design characteristics of the stations. The average PMV at the station with small depth is 0.9 scale points higher than that of the station with great depth. The number of passengers who are waiting at the platforms during daytime reveals a U-shaped pattern for a deep level station and an inverted course of PMV for a small depth station. Further, preliminary observations are made on the distribution of air velocity on the platforms and on the impact of air velocity on the thermal comfort conditions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PERSPECTIVES OF UKRAINIAN RAILWAY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON NARROW-GAUGE LINES OF ZAKARPATTIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. G. Kuznetsov

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose.The purpose of the paper is: (1 the definition of perspectives development of Ukrainian railway tourism on the narrow gauge lines of Zakarpattia; 2 technical condition analysis of Borzhava narrow gauge railway for the project to restore the effective functioning of mountain railways track, width 750 mm in the Carpathian region, with the possibility of their accession to the distributed travel network; 3 the study of the modern state and tendencies of development of tourist industry of Ukraine and the passenger economy of national railways; 4 clarification of the role and place of the railway tourism in the transportation system. Methodology. The expert group has carried out field inspections and field investigations of facilities track facilities and passenger infrastructure, rolling stock and ancillary industries involved in the functioning narrow-gauge railway. It was estimated the overall technical condition of the railway track and engineering structures section of narrow-gauge Railways in the Carpathian region. Findings. In the framework of on-site examinations of the expert group found that the objects of tracks, passenger and freight infrastructure, rolling stock and ancillary industries involved in the operation of narrow-gauge Railways are in poor condition and require significant updates and major repairs. But the routes of passenger trains remain fit for participation in the project of development of railway tourism of Ukraine Originality. For the first time the state of the narrow-gauge railway for further implementation of the project on the development of rail tourism in Ukraine was realized. The analysis of foreign experience of organization of railway tourism has been carried out. The modern state and tendencies of development of tourist industry of Ukraine was studied, the factors of competitiveness of rail transport for providing tourist transport in Ukraine were identified and systematized.Practical value. The recovery

The effect of inclined soil layers on surface vibration from underground railways using a semi-analytical approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, S; Hunt, H

2009-01-01

Ground vibration due to underground railways is a significant source of disturbance for people living or working near the subways. The numerical models used to predict vibration levels have inherent uncertainty which must be understood to give confidence in the predictions. A semi-analytical approach is developed herein to investigate the effect of soil layering on the surface vibration of a halfspace where both soil properties and layer inclination angles are varied. The study suggests that both material properties and inclination angle of the layers have significant effect (± 10dB) on the surface vibration response.

VT VEC Primary Overhead and Underground Distribution Lines

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc. (VEC) Primary Overhead and Underground Distribution Lines. VEC’s Distribution lines were drawn from pole to...

Life cycle assessment of railways and rail transports - Application in environmental product declarations (EPDs) for the Bothnia Line

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stripple, Haakan; Uppenberg, Stefan

2010-09-15

Environmental aspects are today highly important issues in the transport sector especially from a society perspective. Most likely, our society is facing considerable changes in the transport sector due to changes in the energy/environmental situation in the future. Strategic decisions concerning the development of the transport sector must be based on solid facts concerning both the transport infrastructure and the transport traffic on the infrastructure. The transport infrastructure is often complex and difficult to analyse but of great interest in a society perspective. In this project, we have performed a comprehensive view of a modern railway infrastructure system including the traffic on the infrastructure. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been used for the study and several LCA models of the railway system have been designed. Due to the complexity of the models, several general railway component models have been developed. The component models can then be integrated to form a large model of an entire railway system. The component models (sub-models) are: 'Railway track foundation model', 'Railway track model', 'Railway electric power and control system model', 'Railway tunnel model', 'Railway bridge model', 'Railway passenger station and freight terminal model', 'Passenger and freight train model including train operation'. The LCA models have then been used to analyse the environmental performance of the Bothnia Line and to develop Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the Bothnia Line

Capacity at Railway Stations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landex, Alex

2011-01-01

zone(s) the possible conflicts with other trains (also in the opposite direction) are taken into account leading to more trustworthy results. Although the UIC 406 methodology proposes that the railway network should be divided into line sections when trains turn around and when the train order...... is changed, this paper recommends that the railway lines are not always be divided. In case trains turn around on open (single track) line, the capacity consumption may be too low if a railway line is divided. The same can be the case if only few trains are overtaken at an overtaking station. For dead end...

Numerical modelling of ground vibration caused by elevated high-speed railway lines considering structure-soil-structure interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bucinskas, Paulius; Andersen, Lars Vabbersgaard; Persson, Kent

2016-01-01

Construction of high speed railway lines has been an increasing trend in recent years. Countries like Denmark and Sweden plan to expand and upgrade their railways to accommodate high-speed traffic. To benefit from the full potential of the reduced commuting times, these lines must pass through...... densely populated urban areas with the collateral effect of increased noise and vibrations levels. This paper aims to quantify the vibrations levels in the area surrounding an elevated railway line built as a multi-span bridge structure. The proposed model employs finite-element analysis to model......-space. The paper analyses the effects of structure-soil-structure interaction on the dynamic behaviour of the surrounding soil surface. The effects of different soil stratification and material properties as well as different train speeds are assessed. Finally, the drawbacks of simplifying the numerical model...

Integrating robust timetabling in line plan optimization for railway systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burggraeve, Sofie; Bull, Simon Henry; Vansteenwegen, Pieter

2017-01-01

We propose a heuristic algorithm to build a railway line plan from scratch that minimizes passenger travel time and operator cost and for which a feasible and robust timetable exists. A line planning module and a timetabling module work iteratively and interactively. The line planning module......, but is constrained by limited shunt capacity. While the operator and passenger cost remain close to those of the initially and (for these costs) optimally built line plan, the timetable corresponding to the finally developed robust line plan significantly improves the minimum buffer time, and thus the robustness...... creates an initial line plan. The timetabling module evaluates the line plan and identifies a critical line based on minimum buffer times between train pairs. The line planning module proposes a new line plan in which the time length of the critical line is modified in order to provide more flexibility...

A Polynomial Estimate of Railway Line Delay

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cerreto, Fabrizio; Harrod, Steven; Nielsen, Otto Anker

2017-01-01

Railway service may be measured by the aggregate delay over a time horizon or due to an event. Timetables for railway service may dampen aggregate delay by addition of additional process time, either supplement time or buffer time. The evaluation of these variables has previously been performed...

29 CFR 1926.956 - Underground lines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 8 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Underground lines. 1926.956 Section 1926.956 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR... work is to be performed in a manhole or unvented vault: (i) No entry shall be permitted unless forced...

Wideband analysis of railway catenary line radiation and new applications of its unintentional emitted signals

Science.gov (United States)

Heddebaut, Marc; Deniau, Virginie; Rioult, Jean

2018-06-01

Generally, in railway networks, dissipated energy—and its consequences in terms of noise, ballast attrition, electromagnetic interference, etc—is considered a nuisance generated by this means of transport. Therefore, most studies are carried out with the aim of reducing it. This paper takes the opposite view and considers the particular case of the irreducible electromagnetic interference generated along an electrified line, in order to propose new applications beneficial to railway operations. At a selected representative location, wideband (ranging from 10 kHz to 1 GHz) electromagnetic field measurements are performed successively during, and not during, high speed train passages. We deduce two potential applications of these unintentional signals. At low frequency, the first proposal considers energy harvesting using the received electromagnetic interference as the source. This received energy can be converted and used to DC feed low consumption sensors to be installed along the railway infrastructure. These sensors participate in monitoring infrastructure health and in making it more resilient to internal and external stresses. At higher frequencies, for the second proposal, radiation from the catenary line and train pantograph is specifically examined at a carefully selected sub-band. The results are also studied following a time–frequency analysis, to introduce a new nondestructive inspection method of the sliding contact between the catenary line and the train pantograph. Ultimately, this technique could offer a new means of monitoring the health of both the catenary line and the pantograph.

77 FR 65446 - Decatur Junction Railway Co.-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Line of Illinois Central...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-26

... intends to purchase, operate, maintain, and perform all rail common carrier service on the Line. DJR also... Junction Railway Co. (DJR), a Class III rail carrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR... of rail line between milepost 745.54 near Elwin and milepost 749.94 near Decatur, in Macon County...

Analytical Model of Underground Train Induced Vibrations on Nearby Building Structures in Cameroon: Assessment and Prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lezin Seba MINSILI

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research paper was to assess and predict the effect of vibrations induced by an underground railway on nearby-existing buildings prior to the construction of projected new railway lines of the National Railway Master Plan of Cameroon and after upgrading of the railway conceded to CAMRAIL linking the two most densely populated cities of Cameroon: Douala and Yaoundé. With the source-transmitter-receiver mathematical model as the train-soil-structure interaction model, taking into account sub-model parameters such as type of the train-railway system, typical geotechnical conditions of the ground and the sensitivity of the nearby buildings, the analysis is carried out over the entire system using the dynamic finite element method in the time domain. This subdivision of the model is a powerful tool that allows to consider different alternatives of sub-models with different characteristics, and thus to determine any critical excessive vibration impact. Based on semi-empirical analytical results obtained from presented models, the present work assesses and predicts characteristics of traffic-induced vibrations as a function of time duration, intensity and vehicle speed, as well as their influence on buildings at different levels.

Model for Railway Infrastructure Management Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gordan Stojić

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The provision of appropriate quality rail services has an important role in terms of railway infrastructure: quality of infrastructure maintenance, regulation of railway traffic, line capacity, speed, safety, train station organization, the allowable lines load and other infrastructure parameters.The analysis of experiences in transforming the railway systems points to the conclusion that there is no unique solution in terms of choice for institutional rail infrastructure management modes, although more than nineteen years have passed from the beginning of the implementation of the Directive 91/440/EEC. Depending on the approach to the process of restructuring the national railway company, adopted regulations and caution in its implementation, the existence or absence of a clearly defined transport strategy, the willingness to liberalize the transport market, there are several different ways for institutional management of railway infrastructure.A hybrid model for selection of modes of institutional rail infrastructure management was developed based on the theory of artificial intelligence, theory of fuzzy sets and theory of multicriteria optimization.KEY WORDSmanagement, railway infrastructure, organizational structure, hybrid model

Electromagnetic interference produced by power or electrified railway lines on metallic pipe networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucca, G.

1999-01-01

The paper presents an algorithm for the calculation, in the frequency domain, of the induced voltages and currents on a generic metallic pipe network exposed to the electromagnetic interference from a power line or an electrified railway line. By assuming as known the voltages and the currents on the inducing line, the algorithm may be subdivided into the following main steps: a) determination of the ideal electromotive force and current generators to be applied to the induced structure in order to represent the electromagnetic influence from the inducing line; b) modelling of the pipe network by means of a suitable equivalent electric network; c) calculation of voltages and currents on the induced network [it

Dynamic Response of Underground Circular Lining Tunnels Subjected to Incident P Waves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua Xu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Dynamic stress concentration in tunnels and underground structures during earthquakes often leads to serious structural damage. A series solution of wave equation for dynamic response of underground circular lining tunnels subjected to incident plane P waves is presented by Fourier-Bessel series expansion method in this paper. The deformation and stress fields of the whole medium of surrounding rock and tunnel were obtained by solving the equations of seismic wave propagation in an elastic half space. Based on the assumption of a large circular arc, a series of solutions for dynamic stress were deduced by using a wave function expansion approach for a circular lining tunnel in an elastic half space rock medium subjected to incident plane P waves. Then, the dynamic response of the circular lining tunnel was obtained by solving a series of algebraic equations after imposing its boundary conditions for displacement and stress of the circular lining tunnel. The effects of different factors on circular lining rock tunnels, including incident frequency, incident angle, buried depth, rock conditions, and lining stiffness, were derived and several application examples are presented. The results may provide a good reference for studies on the dynamic response and aseismic design of tunnels and underground structures.

The Use of Energy Storage Systems for Supporting the Voltage Needs of Urban and Suburban Railway Contact Lines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrico Pagano

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to contribute to the use of electric double layer capacitor (EDLC sets for boosting voltages of contact lines in urban and suburban railway traction systems. Different electrical configurations of contact lines are considered and investigated. For each of them, proper mathematical models are suggested to evaluate the electrical performances of the contact lines. They give rise, also, to sample design procedures for the sizing of the most appropriate energy storage systems, to be distributed along the lines, for boosting line voltages and avoiding undesired voltage drops. A numerical example based on the “Cumana” suburban Naples railway network is presented to give an idea of the weights and sizes of electric double layer capacitors needed to boost the voltage of a sample contact line. In particular, three different EDLC systems, for a overall installed energy of 9.6 kWh, have been placed nearby the stations presenting the highest voltage drops during the most representative situation of trains’ service. The new voltage drop is equal to 32% of that obtained in absence of EDLCs.

The Use of Energy Storage Systems for Supporting the Voltage Needs of Urban and Suburban Railway Contact Lines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iannuzzi, Diago [University of Federico II, Naples (Italy). Electrical Engineering Department; Pagano, Enrico [University of Federico II, Naples (Italy). Electrical Engineering Department; Tricoli, Pietro [University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering

2013-04-15

The paper aims to contribute to the use of electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) sets for boosting voltages of contact lines in urban and suburban railway traction systems. Different electrical configurations of contact lines are considered and investigated. For each of them, proper mathematical models are suggested to evaluate the electrical performances of the contact lines. They give rise, also, to sample design procedures for the sizing of the most appropriate energy storage systems, to be distributed along the lines, for boosting line voltages and avoiding undesired voltage drops. A numerical example based on the “Cumana” suburban Naples railway network is presented to give an idea of the weights and sizes of electric double layer capacitors needed to boost the voltage of a sample contact line. In particular, three different EDLC systems, for a overall installed energy of 9.6 kWh, have been placed nearby the stations presenting the highest voltage drops during the most representative situation of trains’ service. The new voltage drop is equal to 32% of that obtained in absence of EDLCs.

Seismic Response Analysis of Concrete Lining Structure in Large Underground Powerhouse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaowei Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the dynamic damage constitutive model of concrete material and seismic rock-lining structure interaction analysis method, the seismic response of lining structure in large underground powerhouse is studied in this paper. In order to describe strain rate dependence and fatigue damage of concrete material under cyclic loading, a dynamic constitutive model for concrete lining considering tension and shear anisotropic damage is presented, and the evolution equations of damage variables are derived. The proposed model is of simple form and can be programmed into finite element procedure easily. In order to describe seismic interaction characteristics of the surrounding rock and lining, an explicit dynamic contact analysis method considering bond and damage characteristics of contact face between the surrounding rock and lining is proposed, and this method can integrate directly without iteration. The proposed method is applied to seismic stability calculation of Yingxiuwan Underground Powerhouse, results reveal that the amplitude and duration of input seismic wave determine the damage degree of lining structure, the damage zone of lining structure is mainly distributed in its arch, and the contact face damage has great influence on the stability of the lining structure.

Interchange on the Civitavecchia Railway Line- Capranica Scalo - Capranica resort Orte Scalo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Pulvirenti

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The project is an interchange in the territory of Tuscia, in the small town of Capranica Scalo (VT, Italy. It is where two railway lines intersect, the Roma-Viterbo FR3 line and Civitavecchia-Orte line. The latter has been inserted within the TEN -T recognised as an important link for the European freight transport. It is currently subject to a restoration project. Based on the results from the analysis it has been designed a central space, the interchange, for an area larger than the single city centre. It will not only improve the integration between different modes of transport and enhance the traveling and waiting times, but it is proposed as a condenser of entertainment activities, representing also a showroom for the promotion of the territory and enhancement of its resources.

Evaluation of railway transportation efficiency based on super-cross efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Kuang, Xiuyuan

2018-01-01

The efficiency of railway transportation is an important index. It can measure the development of railway transportation enterprises, and the efficiency of railway transportation has become a hot issue in the study of railway development. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been widely applied to railway efficiency analysis. In this paper, BBC model and super-cross efficiency model are constructed by using DEA theory, taking the 18 Railway Bureau as the research object, with the mileage, the number of employees, locomotive number, average daily loading number as input indicators, the passenger turnover, freight turnover and transport income as output indicators, then calculated and evaluated comprehensive efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. We get that the super-cross efficiency is more in line with the actual situation. Getting the super-cross efficiency is more in line with the actual situation.

Suppression of AC railway power-line interference in ECG signals recorded by public access defibrillators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dotsinsky Ivan

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Public access defibrillators (PADs are now available for more efficient and rapid treatment of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. PADs are used normally by untrained people on the streets and in sports centers, airports, and other public areas. Therefore, automated detection of ventricular fibrillation, or its exclusion, is of high importance. A special case exists at railway stations, where electric power-line frequency interference is significant. Many countries, especially in Europe, use 16.7 Hz AC power, which introduces high level frequency-varying interference that may compromise fibrillation detection. Method Moving signal averaging is often used for 50/60 Hz interference suppression if its effect on the ECG spectrum has little importance (no morphological analysis is performed. This approach may be also applied to the railway situation, if the interference frequency is continuously detected so as to synchronize the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC for introducing variable inter-sample intervals. A better solution consists of rated ADC, software frequency measuring, internal irregular re-sampling according to the interference frequency, and a moving average over a constant sample number, followed by regular back re-sampling. Results The proposed method leads to a total railway interference cancellation, together with suppression of inherent noise, while the peak amplitudes of some sharp complexes are reduced. This reduction has negligible effect on accurate fibrillation detection. Conclusion The method is developed in the MATLAB environment and represents a useful tool for real time railway interference suppression.

Suppression of AC railway power-line interference in ECG signals recorded by public access defibrillators.

Science.gov (United States)

Dotsinsky, Ivan

2005-11-26

Public access defibrillators (PADs) are now available for more efficient and rapid treatment of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. PADs are used normally by untrained people on the streets and in sports centers, airports, and other public areas. Therefore, automated detection of ventricular fibrillation, or its exclusion, is of high importance. A special case exists at railway stations, where electric power-line frequency interference is significant. Many countries, especially in Europe, use 16.7 Hz AC power, which introduces high level frequency-varying interference that may compromise fibrillation detection. Moving signal averaging is often used for 50/60 Hz interference suppression if its effect on the ECG spectrum has little importance (no morphological analysis is performed). This approach may be also applied to the railway situation, if the interference frequency is continuously detected so as to synchronize the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) for introducing variable inter-sample intervals. A better solution consists of rated ADC, software frequency measuring, internal irregular re-sampling according to the interference frequency, and a moving average over a constant sample number, followed by regular back re-sampling. The proposed method leads to a total railway interference cancellation, together with suppression of inherent noise, while the peak amplitudes of some sharp complexes are reduced. This reduction has negligible effect on accurate fibrillation detection. The method is developed in the MATLAB environment and represents a useful tool for real time railway interference suppression.

Selection and testing of ballast stones for underground railway tracks

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ballast is broken pieces of hard rocks such as sandstones, schist, etc. approximately 25- 60 mm size, over which the railway tracks are laid. The function of the ballast is to transfer the applied load over a large surface, provide adequate elasticity, prevent creep and hold the sleepers in position. Also under wet conditions, ...

Study of Parameters that Determine Railway Line Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josip Kukec

2005-07-01

Full Text Available In this work the study focuses on:- determining the elements required to determine the locationfor the installation of the main signals,- calculated block lengths, and- calculations of optimal head ways, that have not been studiedin detail although they deserve special attention due totheir impact.Generally speaking, the signals are installed in compliancewith the local circumstances, i. e. according to the technicaland technological characteristics and conditions determinedby the traffic places of work they protect.The distribution and length of the blocks depend on: therailway line and its exploitation characteristics, structure andtype of trains that run on the railway line, traffic organisationand signalisation system, as well as technical and exploitationcharacte1istics of the traction vehicles and the rolling stock.What has to be considered is that the minimum section lengthcannot be shorter than the length of the braking distance, i. e.the length of the longest train which runs on the respective railwayline.The study of these parameters is supplemented by the calculationof the reduction in throughput capacity depending on thelack of uniformity in the operation of trains, which, in order tomaintain the design quality of the transportation se1vice, and inthe activities of establishing and implementing the business policyshouldn't be left out nor bypassed.

Disruption Management in Passenger Railway Transportation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jespersen-Groth, Julie; Potthoff, Daniel; Clausen, Jens

This paper deals with disruption management in passenger railway transportation. In the disruption management process, many actors belonging to different organizations play a role. In this paper we therefore describe the process itself and the roles of the different actors. Furthermore, we discuss...... the three main subproblems in railway disruption management: timetable adjustment, and rolling stock and crew re-scheduling. Next to a general description of these problems, we give an overview of the existing literature and we present some details of the specific situations at DSB S-tog and NS....... These are the railway operators in the suburban area of Copenhagen, Denmark, and on the main railway lines in the Netherlands, respectively. Since not much research has been carried out yet on Operations Research models for disruption management in the railway context, models and techniques that have been developed...

Routing trains through railway junctions: A new set-packing approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper; Ryan, David

2011-01-01

The problem of routing trains through railway junctions is an integral part of railway operations. Large junctions are highly interconnected networks of track where multiple railway lines merge, intersect, and split. The number of possible routings makes this a very complicated problem. We show h...

High-speed railways in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kyotani, Y.

1974-01-01

This paper reviews the development of conventional railways in Japan, leading up to the Shinkansen line, which at present runs at speeds up to 210km/h, and will in the future be speeded up to 260km/h. It then goes on to review the development of a superconductive, magnetically levitated train, which will constitute the next generation of railways, running at speeds of up to 500km/h. (author)

Verifying the buildingEXODUS through an emergency response procedure (ERP) exercise at an underground intervention shaft

Science.gov (United States)

Tajedi, Noor Aqilah A.; Sukor, Nur Sabahiah A.; Ismail, Mohd Ashraf M.; Shamsudin, Shahrul A.

2017-10-01

An Emergency Response Plan (ERP) is an essential safety procedure that needs to be taken into account for railway operations, especially for underground railway networks. Several parameters need to be taken into consideration in planning an ERP such as the design of tunnels and intervention shafts, and operation procedures for underground transportation systems. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to observe and analyse the Emergency Response Procedure (ERP) exercise for the underground train network at the LRT Kelana Jaya Line. The exercise was conducted at one of the underground intervention shaft exits, where the height of the staircase from the bottom floor to the upper floor was 24.59 metres. Four cameras were located at selected levels of the shaft, and 71 participants were assigned for the evacuation exercise. The participants were tagged with a number at the front and back of their safety vests. Ten respondents were randomly selected to give details of their height and weight and, at the same time, they had to self-record the time taken for them to evacuate from the bottom to the top of the shaft. The video footages that were taken during the ERP were analysed, and the data were used for the verification process on the buildingEXODUS simulation software. It was found that the results of the ERP experiment were significantly similar to the simulation results, thereby successfully verifying the simulation. This verification process was important to ensure that the results of the simulation were in accordance with the real situation. Therefore, a further evacuation analysis made use of the results from this verification.

Analytical Modeling for Underground Risk Assessment in Smart Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Israr Ullah

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In the developed world, underground facilities are increasing day-by-day, as it is considered as an improved utilization of available space in smart cities. Typical facilities include underground railway lines, electricity lines, parking lots, water supply systems, sewerage network, etc. Besides its utility, these facilities also pose serious threats to citizens and property. To preempt accidental loss of precious human lives and properties, a real time monitoring system is highly desirable for conducting risk assessment on continuous basis and timely report any abnormality before its too late. In this paper, we present an analytical formulation to model system behavior for risk analysis and assessment based on various risk contributing factors. Based on proposed analytical model, we have evaluated three approximation techniques for computing final risk index: (a simple linear approximation based on multiple linear regression analysis; (b hierarchical fuzzy logic based technique in which related risk factors are combined in a tree like structure; and (c hybrid approximation approach which is a combination of (a and (b. Experimental results shows that simple linear approximation fails to accurately estimate final risk index as compared to hierarchical fuzzy logic based system which shows that the latter provides an efficient method for monitoring and forecasting critical issues in the underground facilities and may assist in maintenance efficiency as well. Estimation results based on hybrid approach fails to accurately estimate final risk index. However, hybrid scheme reveals some interesting and detailed information by performing automatic clustering based on location risk index.

Current and future flood risk to railway infrastructure in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Bubeck, Philip; Kellermann, Patric; Alfieri, Lorenzo; Feyen, Luc; Dillenardt, Lisa; Thieken, Annegret H.

2017-04-01

Railway infrastructure plays an important role in the transportation of freight and passengers across the European Union. According to Eurostat, more than four billion passenger-kilometres were travelled on national and international railway lines of the EU28 in 2014. To further strengthen transport infrastructure in Europe, the European Commission will invest another € 24.05 billion in the transnational transport network until 2020 as part of its new transport infrastructure policy (TEN-T), including railway infrastructure. Floods pose a significant risk to infrastructure elements. Damage data of recent flood events in Europe show that infrastructure losses can make up a considerable share of overall losses. For example, damage to state and municipal infrastructure in the federal state of Saxony (Germany) accounted for nearly 60% of overall losses during the large-scale event in June 2013. Especially in mountainous areas with little usable space available, roads and railway lines often follow floodplains or are located along steep and unsteady slopes. In Austria, for instance, the flood of 2013 caused € 75 million of direct damage to railway infrastructure. Despite the importance of railway infrastructure and its exposure to flooding, assessments of potential damage and risk (i.e. probability * damage) are still in its infancy compared with other sectors, such as the residential or industrial sector. Infrastructure-specific assessments at the regional scale are largely lacking. Regional assessment of potential damage to railway infrastructure has been hampered by a lack of infrastructure-specific damage models and data availability. The few available regional approaches have used damage models that assess damage to various infrastructure elements (e.g. roads, railway, airports and harbours) using one aggregated damage function and cost estimate. Moreover, infrastructure elements are often considerably underrepresented in regional land cover data, such as

An overview of natural hazard impacts to railways and urban transportation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bíl, Michal; Nezval, Vojtěch; Bílová, Martina; Andrášik, Richard; Kubeček, Jan

2017-04-01

We present an overview and two case studies of natural hazard impacts on rail transportation systems in the Czech Republic. Flooding, landsliding, heavy snowfall, windstorms and glaze (black ice) are the most common natural processes which occur in this region. Whereas flooding and landsliding usually cause direct damage to the transportation infrastructure, other hazards predominantly cause indirect losses. Railway and urban tramline networks are almost fully dependent on electricity which is provided by a system of overhead lines (electric lines above the tracks). These lines are extremely susceptible to formation of glaze which blocks conduction of electric current. A December 2014 glaze event caused significant indirect losses in the largest Czech cities and railways due to the above-mentioned process. Details of this event will be provided during the presentation. Windstorms usually cause tree falls which can affect overhead lines and physically block railway tracks. Approximately 30 % of the Czech railway network is closer than 50 m from the nearest forest. This presents significant potential for transport interruption due to falling trees. Complicated legal relations among the owners of the plots of land along railways, the environment (full-grown trees and related habitat), and the railway administrator are behind many traffic interruptions due to falling trees. We have registered 2040 tree falls between 2012 and 2015 on the railway network. A model of the fallen tree hazard was created for the entire Czech railway network. Both above-mentioned case studies provide illustrative examples of the increased fragility of the modern transportation systems which fully rely on electricity. Natural processes with a low destructive power are thereby able to cause network wide service cut-offs.

Opportunity to Save Historical Railway Infrastructure - Adaptation and Functional Conversion of Facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Podwojewska, Magdalena

2017-10-01

After years of neglect and underinvestment, the Polish railways are now witnessing a rapid modernization of both their technical facilities and rolling stock. However, this is true only of the main railway lines connecting major urban complexes. It is worth pointing out that a great number of secondary lines, railway stations and halts still has not been covered by the transformation process. Railway facilities, warehouses and service features are in decay. Rapid technological developments have caused numerous architectural structures of historical interest and service features to fall out of use. There are historical railway facilities dating back to the late 19th or early 20th centuries, whose condition is constantly deteriorating. The only way to save these structures is to change the manner, in which they are being used, and attract new investors and operators. The adaptation of buildings may be carried out in a number of ways by following different strategies. The process depends on the structure’s current condition and significance for the railway network. The facilities which are disused as a result of technological changes in the rolling stock and infrastructure include workshops, steam locomotive bays, turntables and warehouses. Their size and location within a city make them a perfect place for commercial services, exhibitions, heritage sites, concerts and other events attracting great numbers of people. Other strategies may be used for constructions located next to railways lines, whose role has declined. Such constructions include small railway stations, warehouses, reloading and forwarding facilities, railway ramps, railway staff buildings as well as residences for railway employees. Railway stations located at large junctions can handle passenger traffic or freight loading operations. As well as acting as the only window to the world, railway stations in small towns housed all the services available in the place. At the same time, they served as

Application of data clustering to railway delay pattern recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cerreto, Fabrizio; Nielsen, Bo Friis; Nielsen, Otto Anker

2018-01-01

K-means clustering is employed to identify recurrent delay patterns on a high traffic railway line north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The clusters identify behavioral patterns in the very large (“big data”) data sets generated automatically and continuously by the railway signal system. The results re...

Energetic optimization of regenerative braking for high speed railway systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frilli, Amedeo; Meli, Enrico; Nocciolini, Daniele; Pugi, Luca; Rindi, Andrea

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A model of longitudinal dynamics of the High-speed train ETR1000 is presented. • The model includes on board traction and braking subsystems. • Interactions between overhead line and power line are modelled. • The model is validated on real experimental data. • An energy storage strategy for a high-speed line is proposed. - Abstract: The current development trend in the railway field has led to an ever increasing interest for the energetic optimization of railway systems (especially considering the braking phases), with a strong attention to the mutual interactions between the loads represented by railway vehicles and the electrical infrastructure, including all the sub-systems related to distribution and smart energy management such as energy storage systems. In this research work, the authors developed an innovative coupled modelling approach suitable for the analysis of the energetic optimization of railway systems and based on the use of the new object oriented language Matlab-Simscape™, which presents several advantages with respect to conventional modelling tools. The proposed model has been validated considering an Italian Direct Current High-speed line and the High-speed train ETR 1000. Furthermore, the model has been used to perform an efficiency analysis, considering the use of energy storage devices. The results obtained with the developed model show that the use of energy recovery systems in high-speed railway can provide great opportunities of energy savings.

Analysis of an underground structure settlement risk due to tunneling- A case study from Tabriz, Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Javad Vahdatirad

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The tunnel of the Tabriz urban railway line 2 (TURL2, Iran, will pass through an underground commercial center onits way. Too little distance between the tunnel crown and the underground structure foundation will probably cause collapseor excessive settlement during the tunnel construction based on studied geotechnical conditions of the region. In this paper,a method of risk level assessment for various types of structures, such as frame and masonry structures, and various typesof foundation, such as continuous and isolated, is well defined and the risk level is classified. Moreover, the value of theunderground commercial center structure settlement is estimated using both empirical and numerical methods. The settlementrisk level of the commercial center structure is determined based on presented definitions about risk classification ofvarious types of structures. Consequently, tunneling processes in this section need a special monitoring system and consolidationmeasures before the passage of a tunnel boring machine.

Stray current interaction in the system of two extensive underground conductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machczynski, W.

1993-01-01

The important problem, technically, is to evaluate the harmful effects that an electrified railway has on nearby earth-return circuits (cables, pipelines). This paper considers the effects of a DC-electrified railway system on two extensive metal conductors buried in parallel in the vicinity of the tracks. The interaction between currents flowing in both underground conductors is taken into account, whereas the reaction of the conductors' currents on the track current is disregarded. The analysis given is applicable to any DC railway system in which tracks may be represented by a single earth return circuit with current energization. It is assumed in the paper that the system considered is linear and that the earth is homogeneous. The technical application of the method is illustrated by an example of computer simulation

Impact of high-speed railway accessibility on the location choices of office establishments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willigers, J.

2006-01-01

High-speed railways are becoming increasingly common in Europe. In the Netherlands soon the HSL-South will be opened. This high-speed railway line connects the Randstad to Brussels and Paris. A prominent aim of this new railway is to improve international competitiveness of the Netherlands. As a

Auction pricing of network access for North American railways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harrod, Steven

2013-01-01

The question of pricing train paths for "open access" railway networks in North America is discussed. An auction process is suggested as necessary to maintain transparency in the contracting process. Multiple random samples of auction pricing for a single track railway line demonstrate...... that the infrastructure entity will receive approximately 15.6% less than the true value of the contracted train paths. This loss of revenue threatens the objective of reducing government subsidy for the railway network. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

A methodology for evaluating environmental impacts of railway freight transportation policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, Ignacio; Rodriguez, Javier; Buron, Jose Manuel; Garcia, Alberto

2009-01-01

Railway freight transportation presents a degree of complexity which frequently makes impossible to model it with sufficient precision. Currently, energetic and environmental impacts of freight transportation are usually modelled following average data, which do not reflect the characteristics of specific lines. These models allow qualitative approximations which may be used as criteria for designing high-level transportation policies: road-train modal shift, regional energetic planning or environmental policies. This paper proposes a methodology for estimating railway consumption associated to a specific railway line which yields a new degree of precision. It is based on estimating different contributions to railway consumption by a collection of factors, mobility, operation, or infrastructure-related. This procedure also allows applying the methodology for designing transportation policies in detail: evaluating impact of modal shift, consumption and pollutant emissions on a specific line, as well as the effect of building tunnels, reducing slopes, improving traffic control, etc. A comparison of the estimations given by the conventional approach and the proposed methodology is offered, as well as further comments on the results.

The potential cost from passengers and how it impacts railway maintenance and renewal decisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Rui; Landex, Alex; Nielsen, Otto Anker

To plan Maintenance and Renewals (M&R) for the heavy railway lines, scheduling work possession time and deciding the closure of railway line are quite challenging for Infrastructure Manager (IM) at tactical planning level. As usual, the direct costs such as the materials costs, man power price...

[Emergency response management near the tracks of the public railway network: special aspects of missions connected with the German national railway system].

Science.gov (United States)

Krämer, P; Aul, A; Vock, B; Frank, C

2010-11-01

Emergency response management and rescue operations concerning the railway network in Germany need special attention and implementation in several ways. The emergency response concerning the German national railway network managed by Deutsche Bahn AG is subject to various rules and regulations which have to be followed precisely. Only by following these rules and procedures is the safety of all emergency staff at the scene ensured. The German national railway network (Deutsche Bahn AG) provides its own emergency response control center, which specializes in managing its response to emergencies and dispatches an emergency response manager to the scene. This person serves as the primary Deutsche Bahn AG representative at the scene and is the only person who is allowed to earth the railway electrical power lines. This article will discuss different emergency situations concerning railway accidents and the emergency medical response to them based on a near collision with a high speed train during a rescue mission close to the railway track. Injury to personnel could only be avoided by chance and luck. The dangers and risks for rescue staff are specified. Furthermore, the article details practical guidelines for rescue operations around the German national railway track system.

77 FR 74739 - Norfolk Southern Railway Company-Petition for Declaratory Order

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-17

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35701] Norfolk Southern Railway Company--Petition for Declaratory Order Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS) filed a petition for..., APCO began removing trees and erecting electrical transmission towers and lines on its land. Thereafter...

Truck circuits diagnosis for railway lines equipped with an automatic block signalling system

Science.gov (United States)

Spunei, E.; Piroi, I.; Muscai, C.; Răduca, E.; Piroi, F.

2018-01-01

This work presents a diagnosis method for detecting track circuits failures on a railway traffic line equipped with an Automatic Block Signalling installation. The diagnosis method uses the installation’s electrical schemas, based on which a series of diagnosis charts have been created. Further, the diagnosis charts were used to develop a software package, CDCBla, which substantially contributes to reducing the diagnosis time and human error during failure remedies. The proposed method can also be used as a training package for the maintenance staff. Since the diagnosis method here does not need signal or measurement inputs, using it does not necessitate additional IT knowledge and can be deployed on a mobile computing device (tablet, smart phone).

Analyzing the causation of a railway accident based on a complex network

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xin; Li, Ke-Ping; Luo, Zi-Yan; Zhou, Jin

2014-02-01

In this paper, a new model is constructed for the causation analysis of railway accident based on the complex network theory. In the model, the nodes are defined as various manifest or latent accident causal factors. By employing the complex network theory, especially its statistical indicators, the railway accident as well as its key causations can be analyzed from the overall perspective. As a case, the “7.23” China—Yongwen railway accident is illustrated based on this model. The results show that the inspection of signals and the checking of line conditions before trains run played an important role in this railway accident. In conclusion, the constructed model gives a theoretical clue for railway accident prediction and, hence, greatly reduces the occurrence of railway accidents.

A comprehensive model for the prediction of vibrations due to underground railway traffic: formulation and validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Pedro Alvares; Cardoso Silva, Antonio; Calçada, Rui; Lopes, Patricia; Fernandez, Jesus

2016-01-01

n this communication, a numerical approach for the prediction of vibrations induced in buildings due to railway traffic in tunnels is presented. The numerical model is based on the concept of dynamic sub structuring, being composed by three autonomous models to simulate the following main parts of the problem: i) generation of vibrations (train-track interaction); ii) propagation of vibrations (track - tunnel-ground system); iii) reception of vibrations (building coupled to the ground). The methodology proposed allows dealing with the three-dimensional characteristics of the problem with a reasonable computational effort [ 1 , 2 ] . After the brief description of the model, its experimental validation is performed. For that, a case study about vibrations inside of a building close to a shallow railway tunnel in Madrid are simulated and the experimental data [ 3 ] is compared with the predicted results [ 4 ]. Finally, the communication finishes with some insights about the potentialities and challenges of this numerical modelling approach on the prediction of the behavior of ancient structures subjected to vibrations induced by human sources (railway and road traffic, pile driving, etc)

Statistical modelling of railway track geometry degradation using Hierarchical Bayesian models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrade, A.R.; Teixeira, P.F.

2015-01-01

Railway maintenance planners require a predictive model that can assess the railway track geometry degradation. The present paper uses a Hierarchical Bayesian model as a tool to model the main two quality indicators related to railway track geometry degradation: the standard deviation of longitudinal level defects and the standard deviation of horizontal alignment defects. Hierarchical Bayesian Models (HBM) are flexible statistical models that allow specifying different spatially correlated components between consecutive track sections, namely for the deterioration rates and the initial qualities parameters. HBM are developed for both quality indicators, conducting an extensive comparison between candidate models and a sensitivity analysis on prior distributions. HBM is applied to provide an overall assessment of the degradation of railway track geometry, for the main Portuguese railway line Lisbon–Oporto. - Highlights: • Rail track geometry degradation is analysed using Hierarchical Bayesian models. • A Gibbs sampling strategy is put forward to estimate the HBM. • Model comparison and sensitivity analysis find the most suitable model. • We applied the most suitable model to all the segments of the main Portuguese line. • Tackling spatial correlations using CAR structures lead to a better model fit

Long term investigation of thermal behaviour of 110 kV underground transmission lines in the Belgrade area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sredojevic, M.R.; Naumov, R.M.; Popovic, D.P. [Nikola Tesla Electrical Engineering Inst., Belgrade (Yugoslavia); Simic, M.D. [Electrical Utility Co., Belgrade (Yugoslavia)

1997-12-31

The paper describes the procedure for applying a special cable backfill material, developed and manufactured at the Institute ``Nikola Tesla`` for the thermal stabilisation and reduction of hot spot cable operating temperature, on specific hot spots of 110 kV underground transmission lines in the Belgrade area. The results presented in this paper are an important contribution to the proof of the justification and necessity of defining and introducing in practice new procedures for the thermal stabilisation and reduction of operating temperature of existing, as well as of new, underground transmission cable lines to be built. (author)

77 FR 68886 - Aiken Railway Company, LLC-Lease and Operation Exemption-Lines of Norfolk Southern Railway...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-16

... Carolina Railway Service Corporation (WCRS), and Steven C. Hawkins and Cheryl R. Hawkins (collectively, the Hawkins) seek Board approval to continue in control of AIKR upon AIKR's becoming a Class III rail carrier... 5, 2012. WCRS and the Hawkins are reminded that they are not authorized to control AIKR until the...

Discrete event model-based simulation for train movement on a single-line railway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Xiao-Ming; Li Ke-Ping; Yang Li-Xing

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to present a discrete event model-based approach to simulate train movement with the considered energy-saving factor. We conduct extensive case studies to show the dynamic characteristics of the traffic flow and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The simulation results indicate that the proposed discrete event model-based simulation approach is suitable for characterizing the movements of a group of trains on a single railway line with less iterations and CPU time. Additionally, some other qualitative and quantitative characteristics are investigated. In particular, because of the cumulative influence from the previous trains, the following trains should be accelerated or braked frequently to control the headway distance, leading to more energy consumption. (general)

Survey on depth distribution of underground structures for consideration of human intrusion into TRU waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakamoto, Yoshiaki; Senoo, Muneaki; Sugimoto, Junichiro; Ohishi, Kiyotaka; Okishio, Masanori; Shimizu, Haruo.

1996-01-01

Depth distributions of some kinds of underground structure in Japan have been investigated to get an information about suitable depth of underground repository for TRU waste that is arising from reprocessing and MOX fuel fabrication plants. The underground structures investigated in this work were foundation pile of multistoried building, that of elevated expressway, that of JR shinkansen railway, tunnel of subway and wells. The major depth distribution of the underground structures except for the wells was in range from 30 to 50m, and their maximum depth was less than 100m. On the other hand, the 99% of wells was less than 300m in depth. Maximum depth of the other underground structures has been also investigated for a survey of the utilization of underground by artificial structures in Japan. (author)

Mitigation of landslide area around railway tunnel, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Toha, M. Taufik; Setiabudidaya, Dedi; Komar, Syamsul; Bochori, Ghadafi, Moamar A.; Adiwarman, Mirza; Rahim, S. E.

2017-09-01

Adequate and safe railway line infrastructures as well as facilities are required to support the rail transport system in South Sumatra. The slope stability along railway line of Lahat-Lubuk Linggau South Sumatra were studied during landslide that occured on January 23th, 2016. The landslide occurred on the mouth of railway tunnel in Gunung Gajah Village, Lahat District that causing the railway transportation system had to be stopped for a few days. A comprehensive research was conducted to analyze the causes of the landslide and to identify other landslide risky areas along the railway line Lahat-Lubuk Linggau. The research activities included surveying, sampling, laboratory testing, investigating condition of geology, geotechnics, hydrogeology/hydrology, morphology and land use. The factors that cause landslide in the past studies were found to be morphology, structural geology, physical and mechanical characteristics, hydrogeology, hydrology, external forces (train vibration, earthquake). Results back analysis of slope stability when the landslide occurred showed that the value Safety Factor (SF) = 1, angle of friction = 0°, and cohesion = 0.49 kg/cm2 (49 kPa). Based on the observation and analysis of the condition of the morphology and orientation of the structure of the rock layers, there was a location prone to landslide (labile) in the surrounding area of the landslide. Mitigations to potential landslide in adjacent area were building a retaining wall, draining channels, and shortcrete at the rock wall after landslides and maintaining the land use around the slopes.

Comparative study of aerial transmission lines and underground isolated on gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quesada Jimenez, Marco Esteban

2012-01-01

A comparison was made of aerial power lines and underground isolated on gas. Growing electric demand has given way to debate the lines transmission. Multiple discussions have generated about its application, however, the energy must be supplied and this process leads to the search for more efficient methods. The theory has covered the most important design criteria of the airlines and an introduction to the little known transport lines isolated on gas. The process of manufacturing, installation and operation are studied within the scope of the project. Count information is included in the main aspects of calculation relating to power transmission. Besides, the planning of the optimal route nominal calculations, load flow and power losses are focused as well as magnetic field strengths and finally economic analysis. (author) [es

Analyzing the causation of a railway accident based on a complex network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Xin; Li Ke-Ping; Luo Zi-Yan; Zhou Jin

2014-01-01

In this paper, a new model is constructed for the causation analysis of railway accident based on the complex network theory. In the model, the nodes are defined as various manifest or latent accident causal factors. By employing the complex network theory, especially its statistical indicators, the railway accident as well as its key causations can be analyzed from the overall perspective. As a case, the “7.23” China—Yongwen railway accident is illustrated based on this model. The results show that the inspection of signals and the checking of line conditions before trains run played an important role in this railway accident. In conclusion, the constructed model gives a theoretical clue for railway accident prediction and, hence, greatly reduces the occurrence of railway accidents. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Monitoring of transition zones in railways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coelho, B.; Priest, J.; Holscher, P.; Powrie, W.

2009-01-01

Transitions between railway track on embankments or natural ground and fixed structures such as bridges and culverts often require substantial additional maintenance to preserve line, level and ride quality. This extra maintenance not only increases costs but also causes delays. Despite its

RISK VIP: Evaluation of Flood Risk on the French Railway Network Using an Innovative GIS Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheetham Mark

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Flooding can have significant direct and indirect negative effects on a railway network affecting both infrastructure and rail operations. Such impacts include the delaying or cancelling of train services, damage to railway structures or the implementation of costly maintenance and monitoring programs to ensure the safety and performance of the railway system. Identifying sections of railway line at risk from flooding allows appropriate actions to be targeted at specific areas and contributes to an effective asset management plan. Flooding of railway infrastructure can have numerous sources including surface water run-off, insufficient capacity of hydraulic structures or the inundation of embankments located in floodplains. Consequences of flooding include the destabilisation of structures (surface erosion of embankments or the undermining of bridge foundations, differential settlement of structures and damage to the track structure. This paper details an innovative approach developed at the SNCF using a Geographic Information System (GIS model to identify zones of the railway network at risk of different types of flooding. The GIS model RiskVIP has been constructed through the assessment of three distinct components of risk: “Vulnerability” (assessment of the susceptibility of the railway infrastructure to flood conditions, Intensity’ (capacity of a catchment to generate a flood flow, Probability’ (probability of a rainfall event.Through the application of decision trees, the component ‘Intensity’ has been characterised in the model by the physical properties of the catchment intercepted by the railway line (surface area of the catchment, slope and land cover characteristics and “Vulnerability” by the infrastructure itself (type, geometry and the presence of hydraulic structures. In order to evaluate its efficiency at identifying sites at risk of flooding, the model has been tested in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon in France

Advantages of low frequencies in converter-supplied railway traction power systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schuette, Thorsten [Atkins Sverige AB, Vaesteras (Sweden); Behmann, Uwe

2013-05-15

As soon as a railway will be supplied from the public 50 Hz grid by means of static converters and no longer by direct transformers, you are free to choose its frequency. With the standardised railway frequency of 16 (2)/(3) Hz considerable advantages in line infrastructure can be utilised and thus energy and capital expenditures can be saved.

Risk Evaluation of Railway Coal Transportation Network Based on Multi Level Grey Evaluation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Wei; Wang, Xifu

2018-01-01

The railway transport mode is currently the most important way of coal transportation, and now China’s railway coal transportation network has become increasingly perfect, but there is still insufficient capacity, some lines close to saturation and other issues. In this paper, the theory and method of risk assessment, analytic hierarchy process and multi-level gray evaluation model are applied to the risk evaluation of coal railway transportation network in China. Based on the example analysis of Shanxi railway coal transportation network, to improve the internal structure and the competitiveness of the market.

The present condition and projection of construction of railway net of the Danube-Morava corridor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vemić Mirčeta

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The railway net of the Danube-Morava corridor, together with the road net represent the central section of the Pan-European transport corridor X. According to the traffic and economic standards, the railway net represents the second main traffic direction of this corridor as the area-functioning system of the territory of Serbia. Main railway lines have favourable positions as they are located along prominent geographical features, namely river valleys thus enabling considerable flow of goods, passengers and information. The paper presents some characteristics of the present condition of the railway net, its functioning and safety, with certain ideas of its future construction and expected exploitation till 2015. Traffic infrastructure represents the initial factor of overall development of a state and its connection with the surrounding countries. It is considered to be of strategic importance for a country to built railway net. Improvement and additional construction of railway lines is of the greatest priority for the purpose of enlargement of overall mobility and quality of life of population, to make urban areas closer, to improve connections, functions efficiency and level of services of railway system, reduction of negative influence on other economic systems and human environment, better safety etc.

78 FR 2483 - Ohio Terminal Railway Company-Operation Exemption-Hannibal Real Estate, LLC

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-11

... Railway Company--Operation Exemption--Hannibal Real Estate, LLC Ohio Terminal Railway Company (OTRC),\\1\\ a... near Hannibal, in Monroe County, Ohio (the Line), pursuant to an operating agreement with Hannibal Real Estate, LLC (Hannibal). \\1\\ OTRC is a wholly owned, corporate subsidiary of Carload Express, Inc. (CEI...

Subsidence Evaluation of High-Speed Railway in Shenyang Based on Time-Series Insar

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yun; Wei, Lianhuan; Li, Jiayu; Liu, Shanjun; Mao, Yachun; Wu, Lixin

2018-04-01

More and more high-speed railway are under construction in China. The slow settlement along high-speed railway tracks and newly-built stations would lead to inhomogeneous deformation of local area, and the accumulation may be a threat to the safe operation of high-speed rail system. In this paper, surface deformation of the newly-built high-speed railway station as well as the railway lines in Shenyang region will be retrieved by time series InSAR analysis using multi-orbit COSMO-SkyMed images. This paper focuses on the non-uniform subsidence caused by the changing of local environment along the railway. The accuracy of the settlement results can be verified by cross validation of the results obtained from two different orbits during the same period.

77 FR 25229 - Adams-Warnock Railway, Inc.-Lease and Operation Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-27

....31 to lease from Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR), and to operate, a line of railroad referred to as the Brampton Lead, beginning just beyond the northernmost turnout switch at NSR milepost FL 5.5... revoke the exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) may be filed at any time. The filing of a petition to...

Public relations work for major railway projects; Oeffentlichkeitsarbeit fuer grosse Bahnprojekte

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guertner, R. [Tram Zuerich West, Verkehrsbetriebe Zuerich (Switzerland); Braun, D.; Steiner, R. [Basler und Hofmann Ingenieure und Planer AG, Zuerich (Switzerland)

2005-07-01

Major railway construction projects attract a lot of public attention. They involve heavy investment, and cause local residents a good deal of inconvenience. This tends to obscure the fact that new railway lines and new railway tunnels bring significant improvements for the majority of citizens: better connections, more comfortable travel and frequently also less local noise. Furthermore, only a few people in the know are aware of how much technical and human effort lies behind the new structures. All the more reason therefore to make a serious public relations effort - on the part of the clients as well as the contractors involved. (orig.)

FEATURES OF THE RESEARCH WORK ELEMENTS DEFORMABILITY OF RAILWAY TRACK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Bondarenko

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The scientific paper is supposed the determination of basic physical and structural conditions in modeling life cycle of the elements of the railway line for the study of deformation processes as the basis of normative base of the track at the condition of railway safety. Methodology. To achieve the aim principles of the elasticity theory and wave propagation process in the description of the interaction between the track and rolling stock were used. Findings. The basic physical and structural conditions under which it is necessary to carry out the simulation of the life cycle of the elements of the railway line for the study of deformation processes were determined. The basic physical and structural principles of drawing the design schemes of railway track elements for the process assessment of the track deformation work were formulated. The decision correctness and the possibility of the problem solution are proved. Originality. The study of the track reliability questions motivates the development of new models, allow considering it for some developments. There is a need to identify the main physical and structural conditions for assembly design schemes based on assessment and prediction of possible track state changes during its operation. The paper presents the basic principles of physical and structural drafting design schemes of railway line items for which Huygens’ principle is implemented. This principle can be performed only when the four dimensional space: the volume changing over time is considered. Practical value. Analytical models applied in determining the parameters of strength and resistance lines, fully satisfy the task, but can not be used to determine the parameters of track reliability. One of the main impossibility factors of these models is quasidynamic approach. Therefore, as a rule, receive and examine not only dynamic process of a railway track, but also its consequences. Besides, these models are related to

Monitoring dc stray current corrosion at sheet pile structures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peelen, W.H.A.; Neeft, E.A.C.; Leegwater, G.; Kanten-Roos, W. van; Courage, W.M.G.

2012-01-01

Steel is discarded by railway owners as a material for underground structures near railway lines, due to uncertainty over increased corrosion by DC stray currents stemming from the traction power system. This paper presents a large scale field test in which stray currents interference of a sheet

Influence of rock spalling on concrete lining in shaft sinking at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsusaka, Kimikazu; Inagaki, Daisuke; Nago, Makito; Koike, Masashi; Matsubara, Makoto; Sugawara, Kentaro

2013-01-01

A shaft is the shortest way to access the deep underground. In shaft sinking through large-scale faults or under low competence factor, spalling of shaft walls is likely to occur. Although earlier studies indicated that rock spalling is an undesirable phenomenon that threatens safety in excavation work and causes delay in construction schedule, there have been few studies which discussed damage to concrete lining induced by spalling. Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been constructing three shafts (one for ventilation and the others for access) to a depth of 500 m in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. During the construction of the Ventilation Shaft (4.5 m diameter) below a depth of 250 m, rock spalling occurred at several depths and an open crack developed in the concrete lining installed just above the location of the rock spalling. In this study, the geometry of the shaft wall was measured using a three-dimensional laser scanner. Numerical analysis was also conducted to estimate changes in stress distribution and deformation induced by rock spalling in both the concrete lining and the surrounding rock. As a result, it was clarified that rock spalling induced a vertical tensile stress in the concrete lining. Especially, the tensile stress in a concrete lining was likely to exceed the tensile strength of the concrete lining when it developed more than 100 cm into the wall rock. (author)

The State of the Railways in SA

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the railways at many key points in Natal and the ... feking to a point just north of the Orange River on the Cape Main Line ... occupied to a point some three miles north of .... All photographs supplied by the Publicity and Travel Department of the.

Incentive-Compatible Robust Line Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Bessas, Apostolos; Kontogiannis, Spyros; Zaroliagis, Christos

The problem of robust line planning requests for a set of origin-destination paths (lines) along with their frequencies in an underlying railway network infrastructure, which are robust to fluctuations of real-time parameters of the solution. In this work, we investigate a variant of robust line planning stemming from recent regulations in the railway sector that introduce competition and free railway markets, and set up a new application scenario: there is a (potentially large) number of line operators that have their lines fixed and operate as competing entities issuing frequency requests, while the management of the infrastructure itself remains the responsibility of a single entity, the network operator. The line operators are typically unwilling to reveal their true incentives, while the network operator strives to ensure a fair (or socially optimal) usage of the infrastructure, e.g., by maximizing the (unknown to him) aggregate incentives of the line operators.

Development of prototype DC superconducting cable for railway system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomita, Masaru; Fukumoto, Yusuke; Suzuki, Kenji; Miryala, Muralidhar

2010-01-01

High Temperature Superconducting (HTSC) wire has significant potential for railway system applications. HTSC wire is currently a promising candidate for various engineering applications such as transformers and motors for railway system. HTSC direct current (DC) cable is ideal for a feeder of the overhead contact line system between the substation and the electric train. We completed a prototype Bi-2223 tape based direct current cable for trial purposes of several meters length. In the energizing experiment the current of 1720 A successfully constantly flew.

Transformation of power generated in railways dispossession belt by solar energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ю. П. Гончаров

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The arising deficiency of traditional energy sources necessitates the use of renewable energetics. One of the advantages of the sources of renewable energy is the possibility of constructing a system of distributed generation. For conditions of Ukraine distributed generators placed along the existing facilities with a linear arrangement are the most promising. The railways with their land dispossession belt can be used for these purposes. The distributed generation systems in railway transport can also be used in the regions with an unstable electricity supply, improving power quality, feeding autonomous objects of railway infrastructure. Distributed generation equipment can be used to reduce bias and voltage unbalance in power systems of stationary consumers. The projects using solar energy for the needs of railway transport show their high adaptability and efficiency. The article is devoted to the development of the DC power supply system. The railway contains additional longitudinal DC line with an operating voltage of about 1 kV and a system of semiconductor converters for connecting the longitudinal line and the main contact system through matching modules. Sequential positioning of the longitudinal line and the photo module is consistent with their properties as a current source that is proportional to the intensity of solar radiation. Semiconductor converters should be made using the same "a forward" topology, which simplifies the electrical circuit. Amorphous magnetic alloy is the most promising material for the existing isolation transformers in the system. Proper value of the operating frequency of the AC intermediaries is about 1 kHz. Traction power supply system with distributed PV generation, discussed in this article, will make it possible to put into practice the concept of intellectual traction power supply, optimizing the process of electric energy consumption in the traction network

Estimating national exhaust emissions from railway vehicles in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dincer, Faruk; Elbir, Tolga

2007-01-01

The estimated exhaust emissions from railway vehicles in Turkey were presented. The emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), hydrocarbon compounds (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the diesel locomotives and railcars were calculated using the railway traffic data recorded by Turkish State Railways (TSR) for the period of 2000-2005. EPA emission factors were used for different vehicle types and operation modes such as shunting and line-hauling. Total emissions from railway vehicles in Turkey were estimated as 384 t y - 1 for HC, 1016 t y - 1 for CO, 6799 t y - 1 for NO X , 256 t y - 1 for PM, 357 t y - 1 for SO 2 and 383 537 t y - 1 for CO 2 for the year 2005. The distribution of emissions with respect to type of railway vehicles shows that the mainline locomotives contribute ∝ 91% to the total emissions. The increases of 22%, 39% and 49% in the current numbers of mainline locomotives, shunting locomotives and diesel railcars, respectively corresponding to the full capacity of railway network in Turkey will increase the annual emissions to 431 t y - 1 for HC, 1121 t y - 1 for CO, 7399 t y - 1 for NO X , 342 t y - 1 for PM, 552 t y - 1 for SO 2 and 420 256 t y - 1 for CO 2 . Total railway emissions constitute 0.15%, 0.08% and 4.21% of total Turkish traffic emissions for HC, CO and NO X , respectively. (author)

Circulation of Railway Rolling Stock: A Branch-and-Price Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Peeters (Marc); L.G. Kroon (Leo)

2003-01-01

textabstractWe describe an algorithmic approach to determine an efficient railway rolling stock circulation on a single line or on a set of interacting lines. Given the timetable and the passengers? seat demand, we develop a branch-and-price algorithm that results in an allocation of rolling

Detection of failures of axle-bearings of railway vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bižić Milan B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The failure of axle-bearing is one of the most common causes of derailments of railway vehicles which are usually accompanied by huge material damage and human casualties. Modern railways are working intensively on the development and implementation of appropriate systems for early detection of axlebearing malfunctions, which are typically manifested by increasing of its temperature. The most common approach is based on the use of wayside systems or checkpoints located in certain places along the track. There is also an innovative approach that involves using the system for continuous measuring and online monitoring of axle-boxes temperature. The main aim is to provide early detection of malfunctions of the axle-bearing and prevention of the potential derailment. This paper analyses the existing solutions for the detection of axle-bearings malfunctions with special emphasis on the working principle and the main advantages and disadvantages. The paper presents the basics of the one newly developed wireless measuring system for on-line monitoring of axle-boxes temperature. The measuring system was tested in real conditions and can be successfully applied to the commercial railway vehicles. The main conclusion is that systems for on-line monitoring of axle-bearings temperatures are far more efficient than wayside systems. Obtained results may be important for those who deal with these and similar problems, problems of development, exploitation and maintenance of railway vehicles, strategies, regulations, etc.

ON OPERATION OF 740 M LONG FREIGHT TRAINS ON CZECH TEN-T RAILWAY NETWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Drábek

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Regulation (EU No 1315/2013 defines actual scope of core and comprehensive TEN-T network, including both networks for railway freight transport. For the core network, possibility to operate 740 m long freight trains is required. The aim of this paper is to analyse availability of appropriate overtaking tracks for 740 m long freight trains. Due to ETCS braking curves and odometry, such trains, after ETCS implementation, will require 780-800 m long overtaking tracks. For practical reasons (e.g. bypass lines, whole Czech railway TEN-T network is analysed. The overtaking track, whose occupation means influence on scheduled traffic or threat to boarding passengers, are excluded. The data was collected from station schemes from Collection of Official Requisites for 2015/16 Timetable, issued by SŽDC, Czech state Infrastructure Manager. Most of appropriate tracks are over 800 m long, but their density in the network and in particular directions varies considerably. For freight traffic, gradient of the line is important, so in the resulting figure, there are marked significant peaks for particular lines as well. Czech TEN-T lines are further segmented on the basis of number of tracks and their traffic character. Then, specific issues on overtaking or crossing of 740 m long freight trains are discussed. As a conclusion, for long-term development of Czech TEN-T lines, targeted investment is recommended not only for passenger railway, but also for freight railway. An attractive capacity offer for railway undertakings, which can stimulate freight traffic on European Rail freight corridors, can be represented by network-bound periodic freight train paths with suitable long overtaking tracks outside bottlenecks. After the overtaking by passenger trains, a freight train should run without stop through large node station or a bottleneck area. Before the sections with high gradients, coupling of additional locomotives should be connected with the overtaking

Environmental life cycle assessment of railway bridge materials using UHPFRC

Science.gov (United States)

Bizjak, Karmen Fifer; Šajna, Aljoša; Slanc, Katja; Knez, Friderik

2016-10-01

The railway infrastructure is a very important component of the world's total transportation network. Investment in its construction and maintenance is significant on a global scale. Previously published life cycle assessment (LCA) studies performed on road and rail systems very seldom included infrastructures in detail, mainly choosing to focus on vehicle manufacturing and fuel consumption. This article presents results from an environmental study for railway steel bridge materials for the demonstration case of the Buna Bridge in Croatia. The goal of these analyses was to compare two different types of remediation works for railway bridges with different materials and construction types. In the first part, the environmental impact of the classical concrete bridge construction was calculated, whereas in the second one, an alternative new solution, namely, the strengthening of the old steel bridge with ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) deck, was studied. The results of the LCA show that the new solution with UHPFRC deck gives much better environmental performance. Up to now, results of LCA of railway open lines, railway bridges and tunnels have been published, but detailed analyses of the new solution with UHPFRC deck above the old bridge have not previously been performed.

Composition and structure of the flora in intra-urban railway areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzta Wrzesień

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Railway areas are considered as large greenspaces and are recognized important in improving the biodiversity and dynamic of urban flora. In this study, we examined the flora composition and diversity along intra-city railway lines in Lublin, SE Poland and Lviv, W Ukraine. The flora has been analyzed in terms of species composition (multivariate ordination techniques, life span, life form, type of pollination mode, seed dispersal, life strategy sensu Grime, hemerophoby, urbanity degree, and in terms of habitat preferences using ecological indicator values. The multivariate analysis (CCA clearly revealed that abiotic factors (topographical, weather elements (annual precipitation and air temperature, and soil attributes (moisture, trophy, pH, salinity differed between two cities and impacted on the differences in railway flora composition. Plants growing on the intra-urban railway areas are mainly hemicryptophytes/perennials, C, CR, CRS-strategists, insect-, self-, or wind-pollinated, reproducing by seeds and mainly dispersed by wind. Intra-urban railway areas are predominated by native species, however the participation of invasive alien species is higher than their proportion in domestic floras. The share of invasive species is greater in railway areas of Lviv, ca. 12% (45 species compared to 8% in Lublin (36 species. Spontaneous flora in intra-urban railway areas represent distinct adaptations to unique urban-industrial ecosystems with different degree of anthropogenic disturbance.

Railway infrastructure security

CERN Document Server

Sforza, Antonio; Vittorini, Valeria; Pragliola, Concetta

2015-01-01

This comprehensive monograph addresses crucial issues in the protection of railway systems, with the objective of enhancing the understanding of railway infrastructure security. Based on analyses by academics, technology providers, and railway operators, it explains how to assess terrorist and criminal threats, design countermeasures, and implement effective security strategies. In so doing, it draws upon a range of experiences from different countries in Europe and beyond. The book is the first to be devoted entirely to this subject. It will serve as a timely reminder of the attractiveness of the railway infrastructure system as a target for criminals and terrorists and, more importantly, as a valuable resource for stakeholders and professionals in the railway security field aiming to develop effective security based on a mix of methodological, technological, and organizational tools. Besides researchers and decision makers in the field, the book will appeal to students interested in critical infrastructur...

75 FR 32839 - Norfolk Southern Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-The West Tennessee Railroad, LLC

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-09

... (Corinth), Miss.\\2\\ \\1\\ WTNN is a New Jersey limited liability company and NSR is a wholly owned subsidiary... Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--The West Tennessee Railroad, LLC Pursuant to a written... rights to Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) \\1\\ over approximately 118.9 miles of rail line...

Effective Development and Verification of Railway Control Software

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth

2011-01-01

This document presents a method for effective development of software for a product line of similar railway control systems. The software is constructed in three steps: first a specifications in a domain-specific language is created, then a formal behavioural controller model is automatically...

Case for railway electrification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McDougall, A.N.

1981-06-10

The publication earlier this year of the joint BR-DTp final report of the review of main line electrification represented the culmination of over two years work; the study is almost certainly the most complex and comprehensive of this type ever undertaken. Heavy reliance on computer models allowed business analysis over the 34-year timespan of the review to extend to a level of detail that was not expected at the time of the last such investigation, the 1931 Weir Report of the Committee on Main Line Railway Electrification. It is encouraging that, despite the sweeping changes in both technology and economic conditions during the intervening years, the verdict remains highly favourable.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Analysis of Compound Lining in Complex Underground Surge-Shaft Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juntao Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The mechanical behavior of lining structure of deep-embedded cylinder surge shaft with multifork tunnel is analyzed using three-dimensional nonlinear FEM. With the elastic-plastic constitutive relations of rock mass imported and the implicit bolt element and distributed concrete cracking model adopted, a computing method of complex surge shaft is presented for the simulation of underground excavations and concrete lining cracks. In order to reflect the interaction and initial gap between rock mass and concrete lining, a three-dimensional nonlinear interface element is adopted, which can take into account both the normal and tangential characteristics. By an actual engineering computation, the distortion characteristics and stress distribution rules of the dimensional multifork surge-shaft lining structure under different behavior are revealed. The results verify the rationality and feasibility of this computation model and method and provide a new idea and reference for the complex surge-shaft design and construction.

Railway noise annoyance on the railway track in northwest slovakia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pultznerova, Alzbeta; Eva, Panulinova; Kucharova, Daniela; Argalasova, Lubica

2018-01-01

This paper describes an assessment of noise caused by railway traffic in a large high-loaded railway track in Northwest Slovakia. The measurements of noise levels generated by trains passing through residential neighborhoods were taken. Noise maps were also calculated showing noise pollution generated by the train traffic. In addition, the annoyance level and sleep disturbance of residents affected by railway noise were evaluated by a validated questionnaire on a pilot sample of 107 respondents living near the important railway track. The measurements indicated that the noise levels generated by the passage of the train were extremely high especially at night, clearly exceeding the nighttime limits of equivalent sound pressure level established by the Decree of the Slovak Ministry of Health (No.549/2007) (L Aeq  = 55 dB). Measurements at one point during the night exceeded the limit values of up to 17.4 dB. The residents reported feeling affected by the noise generated by passing trains, which caused irritability, headache, poor concentration, and insomnia. In addition, 19.64% of the residents claimed that nocturnal noise pollution was the most distressing. The results of bivariate analysis showed a higher risk of annoyance especially for railway noise [OR MH  = 7.80 (4.02-15.14)] and the noise from industry [OR MH  = 3.08 (1.72-5.50)] in the exposed location. The effects of railway traffic on annoyance/sleep and psychosocial well-being were evaluated in a few studies. In accordance with our results the railway noise mostly disturbs sleep and rest of the respondents. The pilot survey showed the importance of sleep and rest disturbance by railway noise and the possibilities of getting worse health condition in the future. Noise abatement measures and strategies should, therefore, be implemented in an effective and manageable way increasing the environmental advantages of rail transport.

Technical comparison of communication equipment of high speed railways between Japan and Europe. Tsushin setsubi ni okeru Nichio no gijutsu hikaku (kosoku tetsudo)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sasaki, S [Railway Technology Research Institute, Tokyo (Japan)

1994-04-12

This paper compares and explains pieces of communication equipment in high-speed railways in Japan and Europe. The Shinkansen railways in Japan adopted a train wireless communication of the LCX system in 400-MHz band (partly a spatial wave system) that is used for orders, business operations, and public telephone lines, as well as data communications. Almost all of the European countries use the UIC system train wireless communication (the UIC Standard specifies the operation methods, criteria for communication quality assurance, frequency allocation plans, wireless line control systems, and control signals). This paper summarizes the systems adopted in Japan and Europe by the following items: order telephones, data communications, on-board public telephone service, measures against tunnel interference, track-side transmission cabling facilities, and seat reservation systems. The paper indicates that the communication facilities in the Shinkansen railways are distinguished from those for the conventional railway services to meet the requirement of high-speed and large-number conveyance, while the communication facilities in the European high-speed railways are interchangeable with those for the conventional railway lines. 7 figs., 1 tab.

VoLTE performance in railway scenarios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Sønderskov, Morten; Soler, José

2015-01-01

GSM-Railways (GSM-R) is the current standard for railway voice and data communication. GSM-R provides railway specific voice services, such as Railway Emergency Call (REC). GSM-R provides also the European Train Control System (ETCS), which offers in-cab signaling and Automatic Train Protection...... (ATP). Despite these features and services, GSM-R has various major shortcomings. Therefore, alternative technologies are considered to replace GSM-R and become the next generation railway mobile communication network. 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a likely candidate for GSM-R replacement. LTE...... is more efficient, flexible and offers much higher capacity, which allows the railway network to provide new communication-based applications for railways. Most of the research on LTE in railways has been focused on data-based railway applications (ETCS signaling and other). Nevertheless, voice...

VoLTE Performance in Railway Scenarios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Sønderskov, Morten; Soler, José

2015-01-01

GSM-Railways (GSM-R) is the current standard for railway voice and data communication. GSM-R provides railway specific voice services, such as Railway Emergency Call (REC). GSM-R provides also the European Train Control System (ETCS), which offers in-cab signaling and Automatic Train Protection...... (ATP). Despite these features and services, GSM-R has various major shortcomings. Therefore, alternative technologies are considered to replace GSM-R and become the next generation railway mobile communication network. 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a likely candidate for GSM-R replacement. LTE...... is more efficient, flexible and offers much higher capacity, which allows the railway network to provide new communication-based applications for railways. Most of the research on LTE in railways has been focused on data-based railway applications (ETCS signaling and other). Nevertheless, voice...

Electrical railway transportation systems

CERN Document Server

Brenna, Morris; Zaninelli, Dario

2018-01-01

Allows the reader to deepen their understanding of various technologies for both fixed power supply installations of railway systems and for railway rolling stock. This book explores the electric railway systems that play a crucial role in the mitigation of congestion and pollution caused by road traffic. It is divided into two parts: the first covering fixed power supply systems, and the second concerning the systems for railway rolling stock. In particular, after a historical introduction to the framework of technological solutions in current use, the authors investigate electrification systems for the power supply of rail vehicles, trams, and subways. Electrical Railway Transportation Systems explores the direct current systems used throughout the world for urban and suburban transport, which are also used in various countries for regional transport. It provides a study of alternating current systems, whether for power supply frequency or for special railway frequency, that are used around the world for ...

Capacity Utilization in European Railways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khadem Sameni, Melody; Landex, Alex

2013-01-01

and unprecedented approach for this aim. Relative operational efficiency of 24 European railways in capacity utilization is studied for the first time by data envelopment analysis (DEA). It deviates from previous applications of DEA in the railway industry that are conducted to analyze cost efficiency of railways....... Six DEA models quantify various aspects of micro, macro and quality of railway capacity utilization in these countries. New inputs like gross domestic product, population and area of the country help to provide a better picture of the status of railways. Passenger satisfaction data about different...... aspects of railway services in European countries has recently been quantified by European commission and are used for the first time in the literature. Invaluable insights can be inferred from the results which can provide a ground basis for railway practitioners and policy makers....

Analysis quality of content digital plan of cadastre lines (underground installation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinković Goran

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents the results of research quality digital geodetic plans lines and underground installations. The study included the creation of a digital geodetic plan sewerage network vectorization of analogue geodetic plans and creation of digital geodetic plan of the same details from the original data survey and maintenance survey. Based on research results the analysis of the accuracy and reliability digital geodetic plan created vectoring analogue plan or 'digitizing from the screen'. The results obtained in this work, the can be use not only in the Republic of Serbia, but also in other countries where digitalization of geodetic plans are increasingly gaining in importance.

Environmental life cycle assessment of railway bridge materials using UHPFRC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bizjak Karmen Fifer

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The railway infrastructure is a very important component of the world’s total transportation network. Investment in its construction and maintenance is significant on a global scale. Previously published life cycle assessment (LCA studies performed on road and rail systems very seldom included infrastructures in detail, mainly choosing to focus on vehicle manufacturing and fuel consumption. This article presents results from an environmental study for railway steel bridge materials for the demonstration case of the Buna Bridge in Croatia. The goal of these analyses was to compare two different types of remediation works for railway bridges with different materials and construction types. In the first part, the environmental impact of the classical concrete bridge construction was calculated, whereas in the second one, an alternative new solution, namely, the strengthening of the old steel bridge with ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC deck, was studied. The results of the LCA show that the new solution with UHPFRC deck gives much better environmental performance. Up to now, results of LCA of railway open lines, railway bridges and tunnels have been published, but detailed analyses of the new solution with UHPFRC deck above the old bridge have not previously been performed.

Underground storage tanks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Environmental contamination from leaking underground storage tanks poses a significant threat to human health and the environment. An estimated five to six million underground storage tanks containing hazardous substances or petroleum products are in use in the US. Originally placed underground as a fire prevention measure, these tanks have substantially reduced the damages from stored flammable liquids. However, an estimated 400,000 underground tanks are thought to be leaking now, and many more will begin to leak in the near future. Products released from these leaking tanks can threaten groundwater supplies, damage sewer lines and buried cables, poison crops, and lead to fires and explosions. As required by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA), the EPA has been developing a comprehensive regulatory program for underground storage tanks. The EPA proposed three sets of regulations pertaining to underground tanks. The first addressed technical requirements for petroleum and hazardous substance tanks, including new tank performance standards, release detection, release reporting and investigation, corrective action, and tank closure. The second proposed regulation addresses financial responsibility requirements for underground petroleum tanks. The third addressed standards for approval of state tank programs

 Railway Reforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asmild, Mette; Holvad, Torben; Hougaard, Jens Leth

This paper considers railway operations in 23 European countries during 1995-2001, where a series of reform initiatives were launched by the European Commission, and analyses whether these reform initiatives improved the operating efficiency of the railways. Efficiency is measured using Multi......-directional Efficiency Analysis, which enables investigation of how railway reforms affect the inefficiencies of specific cost drivers. The main findings are that the reform initiatives generally improve operating efficiency but potentially differently for different cost drivers. Specifically, the paper provides clear...

Train-Network Interactions and Stability Evaluation in High-Speed Railways--Part II: Influential Factors and Verifications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Haitao; Tao, Haidong; Wang, Xiongfei

2018-01-01

Low-frequency oscillation (LFO), harmonic resonance and resonance instability phenomena happened in high speed railways (HSRs) are resulted from the interactions between multiple electric trains and traction network. A train-network interaction system and a unified impedance-based model......, catenary lines and autotransformers (ATs); 3) different numbers and positions of trains and railway lines will also be considered and discussed. In order to validate the theoretical results, the time-domain simulation and experiment system have been conducted. Finally, the differences and the relations...

Energy recovery from air flow in underground railway systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morrone, B.; Mariani, A. [Seconda Univ. degli studi di Napoli, Aversa (Italy). Dept. of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering; Costanzo, M.L. [Tecnosistem spa, Napoli (Italy)

2010-07-01

The 20-20-20 energy policy of the European Union commits members to reduce carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, and stipulates that 20 per cent of final-use energy is to be supplied by renewable energy sources. This paper proposed the concept of recovering energy from underground trains by using the air flow inside tunnels to drive energy conversion systems such as turbines to generate electricity. Underground trains use much of their power to overcome the aerodynamic resistance moving the air in front of the train, creating a piston effect when travelling inside tunnels at relatively low speed. Numerical simulations were used in this study to determine how much electricity could be produced. A one-dimensional numerical analysis of a specific subway train track was used to evaluate the air flow magnitude inside the tunnel. Once the air flow features were detected, the potential electricity production was evaluated by considering the characteristics of a Wells turbine. Two types of 3-dimensional models of the tunnel and train were presented. One considered a long straight tunnel with a train running in it, and a small portion of a bypass tunnel. The other considered a large part of an opposite tunnel connected to the main one through the by-pass tunnel. Both the 3D models revealed a maximum flow rate of 2.5 x 105 m{sup 3}/h, while the 1D model showed an air flow of 1.5 x 105 m{sup 3}/h. The difference was due primarily to the presence of fans in the 1D Model and different modelling assumptions. It was concluded that one single Wells type turbine placed in a by-pass tunnel can produce 32.6 kWh per day, or about 10 MWh per year, resulting in a CO{sub 2} savings of about 5.5 tons per year. 8 refs., 1 tab., 11 figs.

Adaptive neuro fuzzy system for modelling and prediction of distance pantograph catenary in railway transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Panoiu, M.; Panoiu, C.; Lihaciu, I. L.

2018-01-01

This research presents an adaptive neuro-fuzzy system which is used in the prediction of the distance between the pantograph and contact line of the electrical locomotives used in railway transportation. In railway transportation any incident that occurs in the electrical system can have major negative effects: traffic interrupts, equipment destroying. Therefore, a prediction as good as possible of such situations is very useful. In the paper was analyzing the possibility of modeling and prediction the variation of the distance between the pantograph and the contact line using intelligent techniques

75 FR 54222 - Piedmont & Northern Railway, Inc.-Operation Exemption-North Carolina Department of Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-03

... to provide common carrier rail service over the Line, the common carrier obligation continues... to operate over approximately 13.04 miles of rail line (the Line) owned by the North Carolina... FD 35403, Patriot Rail, LLC--Continuance in Control Exemption--Piedmont & Northern Railway, in which...

Trains and the Italian Unification: the Time of the Railways Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Maggi

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The physical construction of modern Italy began in 1861, with the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy. The historical period coincided with the early industrial development of north-western Italy, and so the new infrastructure system developed in response, on the one hand, to the need to join together all the fragmentary pieces that formed the country and, on the other, to the general tendency to strengthen those areas that were economically and industrially stronger even before unification. The system that was being created in the 1860s by the Italian State before unification suffered continuous interruptions and was substantially without transverse connections, those with more difficult construction caused by the need to cross the Apennines. Within five years, from 1861 to 1866, the size of the railway system doubled, going from little more than 2,000 km to more than 4,000. The management of railway was entrusted to limited companies. The government guaranteed the company a contribution for each kilometer of railway built. In 1863 the tracks extended down the Adriatic coast as far as Brindisi, in order to attract the transit of the India Mail London- Brindisi-Bombay, the most important trade of the world. In 1863 Rome was linked to Naples, in 1864 the line from Bologna to Florence via Pistoia was opened, in 1866 Rome was linked to Florence and Ancona and in 1867 with Pisa. In 1874 the Genoa-Pisa line were completed as far as the frontier with France; later, in 1879 the Naples-Foggia line went into operation. In the same period some of the longer tunnels were opened. Those of Fréjus was realised between 1857 and 1871. The Gottardo tunnel came into being in 1882 and the Sempione tunnel in 1906. The opening of the alpine passes effectively permitted the connection of Italy to central Europe, flinging open the doors to more and more easily reachable markets. In last twenty years of the 19th century, in Italy began the strong development of the

Seismic design of circular-section concrete-lined underground openings: Preclosure performance considerations for the Yucca Mountain Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richardson, A.M.; Blejwas, T.E.

1992-01-01

Yucca Mountain, the potential site of a repository for high-level radioactive waste, is situated in a region of natural and man-made seismicity. Underground openings excavated at this site must be designed for worker safety in the seismic environment anticipated for the preclosure period. This includes accesses developed for site characterization regardless of the ultimate outcome of the repository siting process. Experience with both civil and mining structures has shown that underground openings are much more resistant to seismic effects than surface structures, and that even severe dynamic strains can usually be accommodated with proper design. This paper discusses the design and performance of lined openings in the seismic environment of the potential site. The types and ranges of possible ground motions (seismic loads) are briefly discussed. Relevant historical records of underground opening performance during seismic loading are reviewed. Simple analytical methods of predicting liner performance under combined in situ, thermal, and seismic loading are presented, and results of calculations are discussed in the context of realistic performance requirements for concrete-lined openings for the preclosure period. Design features that will enhance liner stability and mitigate the impact of the potential seismic load are reviewed. The paper is limited to preclosure performance concerns involving worker safety because present decommissioning plans specify maintaining the option for liner removal at seal locations, thus decoupling liner design from repository postclosure performance issues

78 FR 56769 - South Carolina Division of Public Railways, d/b/a Palmetto Railways-Intra-Corporate Family...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-13

... Cooper and Berkeley Railroad Company South Carolina Division of Public Railways, d/b/a Palmetto Railways... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35762] South Carolina Division of Public Railways, d/b/a Palmetto Railways--Intra-Corporate Family Transaction Exemption--The...

A comparative study of performance measurement standards of railway operator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pongjirawut Siripong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The European standard (EN 13816, is one of the widely accepted standards for measuring the quality of public passenger transport (PPT service. EN 13816 indicates 8 measurement criteria, 29 sub-criteria and 193 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs to be used to measure the performance of railway operators. Nowadays, there are other addition criteria beyond EN13816, developed by various organisations. This research firstly aims to explore the service performance measurement of railway operators used by actual railway operators at international level and in Thailand. After an intensive review of performance measurement standards, 9 standards are compiled and compared in terms of criteria, sub-criteria and KPIs using a cluster analysis methodology. The result found additional performance measurement aspects at 2 sub-criteria and 91 KPIs in addition to EN 13816. This research summarized and compared different performance measurement standards to measure service quality of metro rail line.

76 FR 59482 - The New Brunswick Railway Company-Continuance in Control Exemption-Maine Northern Railway Company...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-26

... requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323-25, for Eastern Maine Railway, a Class III rail common carrier to continue in... Exemption-- Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.; Maine Northern Railway Company--Modified Rail...

76 FR 6517 - Carolina Coastal Railway, Inc.-Lease and Operation Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-04

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35461] Carolina Coastal Railway, Inc.--Lease and Operation Exemption-- Norfolk Southern Railway Company Carolina Coastal Railway, Inc. (CLNA), a Class III carrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption \\1\\ under 49 CFR 1150.41 to...

Railway Reform in China.

OpenAIRE

Wu, J. H.; Nash, C.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this working paper is to consider the current situation of Chinese Railways, the progress of reforms to date, and possible future developments. The first section describes the current problems of Chinese Railways, as a vast organisation subject to strong central control, facing enormous and rapidly growing demands which it is unable to satisfy. The progress of reform in Chinese Railways to date, and in particular the Economic Contract Responsibility System instituted in the lat...

Characterization of the influence of building a road on the stability of the tunnel lining in a Banska Bystrica railway tunnel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vavrek Pavol

2001-06-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with solving the problem of tunnel lining stability in a railway tunnel. The road cut was made into the overburden of the tunnel. I investigated the effect of the road cut on the stability of tunnel lining. The FLAC3D mathematical modelling technique was used for this purpose. The solution consist of: - - - - - - - - - - - -modelling the initial situation before building the intervention,Determing the internal characteristics of the tunnel lining in its original state,modelling the situation after making the road cut,Determing the internal characteristics of the tunnel lining after the building intervention,Comparison of the internal characteristics of the tunnel lining before and after the building intervention.In the model, I used these general geotechnical properties of the rock environment and the tunnel lining:Material Youngus modulus [MPa] Poissons RatioClay 8 0,42Weakly wheathered calcite 3 000 0,25Hard wheathered calcite 600 0,30Fill 300 0,25Lining 20 000 0,20The arbitration of the tunnel lining stability was executed on the basis of the Mohr – Coulomb limit of the state. Building the road cut does not lead to loss of stability in the tunnel a at Station 1.225 00 or at Station 1.300 00.

Growth of Railway Network in China (1988-2002

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Serguei Tarkhov

2003-05-01

Full Text Available 20. 000 km of new railways were built in China in1988-2002. The railway network has increased its topologicalcomplexity from 75 to 112 circuits and the new 3nt topologicallayer appeared in 1993 and the 4'h will emerge in 2004 after the opening of the rail ferry Dalian - Yan-tai. The main features ofthe recent Chinese rail network are: 1 the predominance ofmeridional-ity, 2 the spatial disproportion between the easterncoastal area (with dense network and the empty western part,3 the low level of electrification (20% and the low share ofdouble-track sections (30%, 4 the land-lock orientation ofthe whole network and a small number of lines along the seacoasts. These disproportions are the main obstacles for a harmonicspatial devel-opment of the economic structure.

Bending stresses: imposed on underground small diameter lines in city streets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kottmann, A

1975-05-01

Die Technischen Werke der Stadt Stuttgart AG (TWS, Stuttgart) investigated the accuracy of available bending stress calculations to represent the actual stress exerted on underground pipelines, the effective bending intervals, and the pipe diameter required to effectively resist the expected stress. The investigation covers steel, cast iron, ductile cast iron, asbestos cement, and PVC 100. The theoretical stresses were determined by the Boussinesgne method from the effects of SLW60 vehicles on pipes buried 3.28 ft (1 m) underground. The cumulative load on the pipe was obtained as the total of the vehicle load, soil load, pipe load, and water load. Results indicate that the tensile stress from internal pipe pressure can be omitted, and that welded steel and sealed PVC pipes should account for longitudinal tensile stresses. Steel pipes are generally so oversized that they need not account for these stresses. The calculations also considered the interaction between the pipe and pipe joint as the pipe emerges from the trench for the 3 possible conditions: an overhang beam, a beam encased at one end and jointed at the other, and a beam, encased at both ends. The curves of the resisting moments varied according to the type of material and pipe diameter, with the greatest rate increase reported for asbestos cement, followed by PVC 100, cast iron, ductile cast iron, and steel. Operating data of a cast-iron underground TWS system in Stuttgart indicated that pipes with less than or equal to 4 in. ( less than or equal to 100 mm) nominal diameter were quite fragile while those with diameters >6 in. (>105 mm) sustained considerably less damage. The degree of damage was found to decrease with increasing diameters. The effect of temperature also proved important. Since it is not economically possible to reinstall the distribution lines with 8-in. (200-mm) pipes, elastic support systems such as crossing troughs are recommended to support the pipes in stress areas.

76 FR 63991 - Midwest Rail d/b/a Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway-Lease and Operation Exemption-Toledo...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-14

... provide common carrier rail service over the Line, connecting with and interchanging traffic with NSR, and... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35555] Midwest Rail d/b/a... Railway and Museum, Inc. Midwest Rail d/b/a Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway (Toledo), a noncarrier...

Formal Development and Verification of Railway Control Systems - In the context of ERTMS/ETCS Level 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vu, Linh Hong

This dissertation presents a holistic, formal method for efficient modelling and verification of safety-critical railway control systems that have product line characteristics, i.e., each individual system is constructed by instantiating common generic applications with concrete configuration dat...... standardized railway control systems ERTMS/ETCS Level 2. Experiments showed that the method can be used for specification, verification and validation of systems of industrial size....

Influence of a source line position on results of EM observations applied to the diagnostics of underground heating system pipelines in urban area

Science.gov (United States)

Vetrov, A.

2009-05-01

The condition of underground constructions, communication and supply systems in the cities has to be periodically monitored and controlled in order to prevent their breakage, which can result in serious accident, especially in urban area. The most risk of damage have the underground construction made of steal such as pipelines widely used for water, gas and heat supply. To ensure the pipeline survivability it is necessary to carry out the operative and inexpensive control of pipelines condition. Induced electromagnetic methods of geophysics can be applied to provide such diagnostics. The highly developed surface in urbane area is one of cause hampering the realization of electromagnetic methods of diagnostics. The main problem is in finding of an appropriate place for the source line and electrodes on a limited surface area and their optimal position relative to the observation path to minimize their influence on observed data. Author made a number of experiments of an underground heating system pipeline diagnostics using different position of the source line and electrodes. The experiments were made on a 200 meters section over 2 meters deep pipeline. The admissible length of the source line and angle between the source line and the observation path were determined. The minimal length of the source line for the experiment conditions and accuracy made 30 meters, the maximum admissible angle departure from the perpendicular position made 30 degrees. The work was undertaken in cooperation with diagnostics company DIsSO, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

The Effects of Liberalisation of the Passenger Railway Market on the Situation of Regional Rail Connections in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taczanowski Jakub

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Liberalisation of railway market can be an important instrument for increasing the attractiveness of local rail services and consequently for making the railways more competitive with other means of transport, which could result in changing the modal share in the favour of railways. The differences in the railway liberalisation level as well as in the policies towards rail transport between Central and Eastern European countries are vast, hence the present situation and the future prospects of regional services are diverse. Whereas there is only one railway line in Slovakia which is not operated by the state railway company ZSSK, a few private local connections which complement a very dense network of ČD state railways are in service in the Czech Republic. Poland, by contrast, is a country where liberalisation of railway market is most advanced as several different companies are responsible for transport in the regions. However, the results of this large scale liberalisation are ambiguous as the positive effects (reopening of some lines are balanced by isolation of the new regional government-owned systems from each other. In Austria, by contrast, the existence of several private and regional government-owned local railways which are an indispensable part of the regional transport networks has contributed to maintain an effective transport system. Although the effects of liberalisation on the local railway networks can often be ambiguous, several cases from the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland show that privatisation and municipalisation may have a positive effect on the railway service as it has enabled to maintain the service on many sections which were at risk of closure. However, the most important condition of the effective transport development seems to be an active cooperation between the railway operators and the local governments as an expression of appropriate transport policy.

The influence of mechanical vibrations of railway and car traffics on the radon exhalation using track detector technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moharram, B.M.

2000-01-01

The influence of train and car traffic vibrations on the radon concentration (CRn) increase near the railway tracks and the heavy traffic roads. It was estimated along the railway road, and perpendicular directions using CR-39 detectors. The special radius of the influence is about 32 m, while the related value for car traffics is found to be about 25 m. The base line of radon concentration in soil gas and radon exhalation are estimated in the whole area, far from the center of traffic roads by a distance (> 100 m) in different different directions and found to be 0.6 Bq/L and 1.25 x 10 4 Bq m -2 respectively.It is easy to detect that the average ratio between the radon concentration at its higher level and its base line, which is regular concentration of radon in the ordinary positions far from the effect of traffics, is about 1.18 for railway traffics. While the related value to vehicle traffic is about 1.23, which is higher than that of railway traffic because the ground is stimulated per minutely

New Porta Susa - Turin Railway Station

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio d'Ascia

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The project of the new station of Torino Porta Susa is the project of a huge urban public space, where the station, conceived as an urban gallery, becomes a real street, a “passage”, a new kind of urbanity shape for the future city. The railway station’s transparent volume - a 385 m (the length of the TGV long steel and glass tunnel, 30 m. width, with a variable height compared to the outdoor street level (between 12 and 3 m at the height of the cover - is proposed as a modern reinterpretation of the nineteenth century’s urban galleries and the great historical station’s halles, as well as a kind of symbolic building. Symbol of movement, of the travel universe and the presence of the transportation universe in the contemporary city, urban simulacrum of the object train disappeared from the urban scene below the future Central Spine. The sinuous movement of the tunnel follows the flows of urban pedestrians from the city towards the different transportation modes presents at various levels (national and international lines AV, regional lines, subways, taxis ... emphasizing with its lowering the presence of the big void inside of the underground subway station, about 20 meters deep. The gallery, oriented north-south, folds with its internal pedestrian paths to bring natural light and the sky of Turin, to the quays of trains (at an altitude of -10 m and the Subway (which share -20, transformed so’ in a sort of urban sidewalks. The fast rhythm of the structure of arches with step 360 cm. is marked by the presence of numerous openings along the longitudinal development of the gallery, which is crossed by three transversal passages inside the gallery and is bounded by two others on the north and south of the lot, connecting the city from east to west at street level in continuity with pre-existing axes. The presence of these transversal passages accentuates the urban value of the Spina which was to re-connect the two sides of the city until

Railway Track Allocation: Models and Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper; Ehrgott, Matthias

2011-01-01

Efficiently coordinating the movement of trains on a railway network is a central part of the planning process for a railway company. This paper reviews models and methods that have been proposed in the literature to assist planners in finding train routes. Since the problem of routing trains......, and train routing problems, group them by railway network type, and discuss track allocation from a strategic, tactical, and operational level....... on a railway network entails allocating the track capacity of the network (or part thereof) over time in a conflict-free manner, all studies that model railway track allocation in some capacity are considered relevant. We hence survey work on the train timetabling, train dispatching, train platforming...

Railway Track Allocation: Models and Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper; Ehrgott, Matthias

Eciently coordinating the movement of trains on a railway network is a central part of the planning process for a railway company. This paper reviews models and methods that have been proposed in the literature to assist planners in nding train routes. Since the problem of routing trains......, and train routing problems, group them by railway network type, and discuss track allocation from a strategic, tactical, and operational level....... on a railway network entails allocating the track capacity of the network (or part thereof) over time in a con ict-free manner, all studies that model railway track allocation in some capacity are considered relevant. We hence survey work on the train timetabling, train dispatching, train platforming...

Real-time Railway Traffic Management : Dispatching in complex, large and busy railway networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corman, F.

2010-01-01

Railway is an important and sustainable transportation mode, which despite good potentials results in a limited attractiveness, mostly due to the perceived consequences of unreliability. In fact, busy railway networks with frequent and heterogeneous services are highly sensitive to delay

LTE for Railways: Impact on Performance of ETCS Railway Signaling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2014-01-01

The Global System for Mobile Communications-Railways (GSM-R) is an obsolete mobile technology with considerable shortcomings in terms of capacity and data transmission capabilities. Because of these shortcomings, GSM-R is becoming the element limiting the number of running trains in areas with high...... train concentration, such as major train stations. Moreover, GSM-R cannot support advanced data services. Hence, modern technologies, such as long-term evolution (LTE), have to be evaluated as possible railway communication technologies to replace GSM-R in the future. This article analyzes...... the characteristics of the LTE railway radio access network in terms of eNodeB (LTE base station) density and eNodeB transmission power. Based on this analysis, a set of computer-based simulation scenarios (e.g., OPNET) with varying numbers of eNodeBs is evaluated regarding the achieved transfer delay and data...

Leukemia and brain tumors in Norwegian railway workers, a nested case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tynes, T; Jynge, H; Vistnes, A I

1994-04-01

In an attempt to assess whether exposure to electromagnetic fields on Norwegian railways induces brain tumors or leukemia, the authors conducted a nested case-control study of railway workers based on incident cases from the Cancer Registry of Norway in a cohort of 13,030 male Norwegian railway workers who had worked on either electric or non-electric railways. The cohort comprised railway line, outdoor station, and electricity workers. The case series comprised 39 men with brain tumors and 52 men with leukemia (follow-up, 1958-1990). Each case was matched on age with four or five controls selected from the same cohort. The exposure of each study subject to electric and magnetic fields was evaluated from cumulative exposure measures based on present measurements and historical data. Limited information on potential confounders such as creosote, solvents, and herbicides was also collected; information on whether the subject had smoked was obtained by interviews with the subjects or work colleagues. The case-control analysis showed that men employed on electric railways, compared with non-electric ones, had an odds ratio for leukemia of 0.70 (adjusted for smoking) and an odds ratio for brain tumor of 0.87. No significant trend was shown for exposure to either magnetic or electric fields. These results do not support an association between exposure to 16 2/3-Hertz electric or magnetic fields and the risk for leukemia or brain tumors.

77 FR 29753 - CaterParrott Railnet, L.L.C.-Sublease and Operation Exemption-Georgia & Florida Railway, L.L.C.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-18

... Railnet, L.L.C.--Sublease and Operation Exemption-- Georgia & Florida Railway, L.L.C. CaterParrott Railnet, L.L.C. (CPR), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to sublease from Georgia & Florida Railway, L.L.C. (GRF) and operate approximately 43.2 miles of rail line...

Demand prediction model for regional railway services considering spatial effects between stations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cordera Piñera, R.; Sañudo, R.; Olio, L. Dell' ; Ibeas, A.

2016-07-01

The railways are a priority transport mode for the European Union given their safety record and environmental sustainability. Therefore it is important to have quantitative models available which allow passenger demand for rail travel to be simulated for planning purposes and to evaluate different policies. The aim of this article is to specify and estimate trip distribution models between railway stations by considering the most influential demand variables. Two types of models were estimated: Poisson regression and gravity. The input data were the ticket sales on a regional line in Cantabria (Spain) which were provided by the Spanish railway infrastructure administrator (ADIF – RAM). The models have also considered the possible existence of spatial effects between train stations. The results show that the models have a good fit to the available data, especial the gravity models constrained by origins and destinations. Furthermore, the gravity models which considered the existence of spatial effects between stations had a significantly better fit than the Poisson models and the gravity models that did not consider this phenomenon. The proposed models have therefore been shown to be good support tools for decision making in the field of railway planning. (Author)

Gamma-ray backscatter applied to the on-line location of termite-damaged railway sleepers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fookes, R.A.; Watt, J.S.; Seatonberry, B.W.; Davison, A.; Greig, R.A.; Lowe, H.W.G.; Abbott, A.C.

1978-01-01

A radioisotope system has been developed to locate groups of termite-damaged sleepers during continuous scans of a railway track. It depends on measuring the intensities of collimated beams of 137 Cs γ-rays backscattered from within the sleeper. The detected intensity varies with the amount of termite damage (i.e. voidage). Variations in intensity caused by changes in the density of sound sleepers are minimised by the geometrical arrangement of source, shields and detector. The Atomic Voidage Detector (AVD) has been tested in field trials on the Newman to Port Hedland railway, Western Australia. Four separate groups of termite-damaged sleepers were located and examined. The lower limit of detectable voidage depends mainly on the scanning speed and distribution of voids within the sleeper, and is very approximately 8% voidage at 10.7 km/h and 5% at 2.7 km/h. (author)

Damage Detection in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers using Acoustic Emission

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, A.; Kaewunruen, S.; Janeliukstis, R.; Papaelias, M.

2017-10-01

Prestressed concrete sleepers (or railroad ties) are safety-critical elements in railway tracks that distribute the wheel loads from the rails to the track support system. Over a period of time, the concrete sleepers age and deteriorate in addition to experiencing various types of static and dynamic loading conditions, which are attributable to train operations. In many cases, structural cracks can develop within the sleepers due to high intensity impact loads or due to poor track maintenance. Often, cracks of sleepers develop and present at the midspan due to excessive negative bending. These cracks can cause broken sleepers and sometimes called ‘center bound’ problem in railway lines. This paper is the world first to present an application of non-destructive acoustic emission technology for damage detection in railway concrete sleepers. It presents experimental investigations in order to detect center-bound cracks in railway prestressed concrete sleepers. Experimental laboratory testing involves three-point bending tests of four concrete sleepers. Three-point bending tests correspond to a real failure mode, when the loads are not transferred uniformly to the ballast support. It is observed that AE sensing provides an accurate means for detecting the location and magnitude of cracks in sleepers. Sensor location criticality is also highlighted in the paper to demonstrate the reliability-based damage detection of the sleepers.

Effects of heavy metal pollution on enzyme activities in railway cut slope soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Xiaoyi; Ai, Yingwei; Li, Ruirui; Zhang, Wenjuan

2018-03-07

Railway transportation is an important transportation mode. However, railway transportation causes heavy metal pollution in surrounding soils. Heavy metal pollution has a serious negative impact on the natural environment, including a decrease of enzyme activities in soil and degradation of sensitive ecosystems. Some studies investigated the heavy metal pollution at railway stations or certain transportation hubs. However, the pollution accumulated in artificial cut slope soil all along the rails is still questioned. The interest on non-point source pollution from railways is increasing in an effort to protect the soil quality along the line. In this study, we studied spatial distributions of heavy metals and five enzyme activities, i.e., urease (UA), saccharase (SAC), protease (PRO), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidase (POA) in the soil, and the correlation among them beside three different railways in Sichuan Province, China, as well. Soil samples were respectively collected from 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 150 m away from the rails (depth of 0-8 cm). Results showed that Mn, Cd, Cu, and Zn were influenced by railway transportation in different degrees while Pb was not. Heavy metal pollution was due to the abrasion of the gravel bed as well as the tracks and freight transportation which caused more heavy metal pollution than passenger transportation. Enzymatic activities were significantly negatively correlated with heavy metals in soils, especially Zn and Cu. Finally, it is proposed that combined use of PRO and POA activities could be an indicator of the heavy metal pollution in cut slope soils. The protective measures aimed at heavy metal pollution caused by railway transportation in cut slope soils are urgent.

Technical-parameter calculation model for underground low-power electrical lines and indoor installations used in telecommunications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry Bastidas Mora

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents an analysis of electrical distribution theory for 60Hz-lines operating at low voltage, particularly underground lines and residential indoor installations. Such distribution lines’ behaviour is observed as a function of frequency to consider any advantages regarding the potential use of power transmission lines (PTL for transmitting telecommunication signals. A method for computing the secondary parameters is proposed which has been based on the primary parameters, namely inductance, capacitance, conductance and resistance. The secondary parameters so obtained were characteristic impedance, propagation constant (together with its real value and the attenuation constant. Conductor configurations, insulation materials and gauges commonly used in Colombia were verified for such low-voltage lines. A mathematical model is proposed as a theoretical tool for analysing and predicting characteristic impedance pattern and the attenuations which occur at high frequencies, thereby complementing our group’s previous work. Conclusions are drawn, together with a perspective regarding future work and applications.

Magnetic levitation railways. 2. enlarged ed. Magnetschwebebahnen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miedtank, R [comp.

1989-01-01

The bibliography contains 129 literature references, mostly with German abstracts on: Representation of the magnetic levitation railway (MAGLEV railway) as a fast modern railway; type of design of tracks and stations; manufacture of track supports made of steel and reinforced concrete with the accuracy required for this fast railway system. Introduction of experimental sections and planning study for this means of transport. (orig./HP).

Countermeasures planned for reducing water inflow into deep shafts at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory. Research for post-excavation grouting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuji, Masayoshi; Matsui, Hiroya; Hara, Masato; Mikake, Shinichiro; Takeuchi, Shinji; Asai, Hideaki; Minamide, Masashi; Sato, Toshinori

2009-01-01

A large amount of water inflow is frequently occurs during the excavation of an underground cavern, such as road and railway tunnels, and underground electric facilities etc. The reduction of water inflow is sometimes quite important for the cost reduction for the water treatment and pumping during the construction of an underground cavern. The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) is currently being constructed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. During its excavation, a large amount of water inflow into the shafts has been increasing and affecting the project progress. Therefore, a field experiment of post-excavation grouting around the Ventilation Shaft in a sedimentary formation carried out to confirm the effect of existing grouting technology for sedimentary formations in MIU project. The result shows that the applied methods in this field experiment are effective to prevent water inflow. This report describes the summary of the field experiment and the knowledge obtained through the experiment. (author)

An economic evaluation of setting up physical barriers in railway stations for preventing railway injury: evidence from Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, C K; Yip, P S F

2011-10-01

Setting physical barriers, for example platform screen doors (PSDs), has been proven to be effective in preventing falls onto railway tracks, but its cost-effectiveness is not known. For economic evaluation of public health interventions, the importance of including non-health factors has been noted despite a lack of empirical studies. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of PSDs, which are installed in part of the Hong Kong railway system, for preventing railway injuries. Data on railway injuries from 1997 to 2007 were obtained from the railway operators. Poisson regression was used to examine the risk reduction. Two incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) were calculated to assess the cost-effectiveness based on (1) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) only and (2) DALYs with potential fare revenue and passengers' waiting time lost due to railway circulation collapse. The PSD installation has effectively reduced railway injuries (adjusted 5-year average percentage change: -68.8%, pfair and appropriate value of the intervention's cost-effectiveness is needed.

Study of traction rolling-stock using in Lithuanian sector of railway line “Rail Baltica”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gintautas BUREIKA

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the current traction rolling-stock used by „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ Plc. for freight transportation. The technical data of the above mentioned rolling-stock is explored and compared, and operation costs are estimated in the article. After the assessment of the forecasts of freight flows on the constructed railway „Rail Baltica“, the algorithm for selection of freight locomotives was proposed. The efficiency of the locomotives operated on the railway is determined by three multicriteria evaluation methods: the sum of ratings, simple additive weighting, and the geometric mean method. Locomotives are valued in accordance with technical, economic and ecological parameters. The results of possible effective performance of the rolling stock have been determined by changing coefficient values of the criteria. Finally, basic conclusions are given.

Estimating railway infrastructure project cost from transferring nominal price to real price by considering the working time possessions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Rui; Landex, Alex; Salling, Kim Bang

are varying depending on the working time possessions presented through the closure of the railway line. The effective working hours, type of construction work and construction speed are used as constraints to ensure the track closure plan remains feasible. To demonstrate the approach a Danish railway...... and 2) railway construction work costs are not transparent in the market. This paper suggests separating the costs into 3 sub-categories: materials, labour and machinery. Evidently, the materials are further broke-down into subcomponents which then remains fixed whereas the cost of labour and machinery...... construction project, the new line to the fixed link across Fehmarn Belt, is introduced where it is shown that the non-material cost is about 19% of the total expenditure. By assuming three sets of track blocking scenarios with the same amount of construction works it is proven that given an optimal track...

Model of traffic access mode and railway station choice of suburban railway system in Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gregor RAK

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the establishment of a model of understanding the access mode and railway station choice of Slovenian passengers. Therefore, a model has been designed to predict the determination of existing decision making preferences of railway users about the access mode and railway station choice with a stated preference survey and face to face method. The target group in the survey were railway passengers in the suburban environment that use the rail for work and school purposes. The total number of respondents was 412. The survey showed that most passengers access the railway station with car (60,2%, by foot (26,2%, with public transport (bus – 8,3% and with bike (5,3%. Average distance to the station is 4,9 km, average time of access is 10,5 min. Upon exit most passengers walk to the final destination (84,5%, use the public transport (bus – 14,1%, car (1,2% or bike (0,2%. Average time from exit of the train to final destination is 13,1 min, average distance is 1,58 km.

Experimental Stress Analysis at Railway Inspection Pit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicuşor Laurentiu Zaharia

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Railway inspection pits are used in railway halls. The purpose of inspection pits is to allow the working under the vehicle. Inspection pits can be found in locomotive depots, factories etc. The new design for a inspection pit in a railway hall involve tests in purpose of homologations the railway infrastructure. Before the homologation committee meeting, tests are made; after the test, a testing report is made which it will be part at homologation documents.

A model to quantify the resilience of mass railway transportation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adjetey-Bahun, Kpotissan; Birregah, Babiga; Châtelet, Eric; Planchet, Jean-Luc

2016-01-01

Traditional risk management approaches focus on perturbation events' likelihood and their consequences. However, recent events show that not all perturbation events can be foreseen. The concept of resilience has been introduced to measure not only the system's ability to absorb perturbations, but also its ability to rapidly recover from perturbations. In this work, we propose a simulation-based model for quantifying resilience in mass railway transportation systems by quantifying passenger delay and passenger load as the system's performance indicators. We integrate all subsystems that make up mass railway transportation systems (transportation, power, telecommunication and organisation subsystems) and their interdependencies. The model is applied to the Paris mass railway transportation system. The model's results show that since trains continue running within the system even by decreasing their speed, the system remains resilient. During the normal operation of the system as well as during perturbation, the model shows similarities with reality. The perturbation management plan that consists of setting up temporary train services on part of the impacted line while repairing the failed system's component is considered in this work. We also assess the extent to which some resilient system's capacities (i.e. absorption, adaptation and recovery) can increase the resilience of the system. - Highlights: • The need of resilience quantification models in sociotechnical systems. • We propose a simulation-based model. • This model is applied to Paris mass railway transportation system.

[Research on China railway health campaign in 1930s].

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Huaping

2015-01-01

The motivation factors of China's railway health campaign in 1930s included avocation by the government, mass media mobilization, railway authorities' hygiene awareness and the systematization of the construction of organization. During the health campaign, the railway authorities adopted various approaches for its formation, including the rally speeches, distribution of materials, cleaning and vaccination etc. Unfortunately, the actual effect of railway health campaign was not satisfactory, yet, it enhanced theoretically railway employees' health knowledge and contributed to the promotion of modernization of hygienic knowledge. Meanwhile, there still existed many problems in the railway health campaign, for example, lack of funds, formalism and uneven development among the railway bureaus.

Railway safety climate: a study on organizational development.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yung-Hsiang

2017-09-07

The safety climate of an organization is considered a leading indicator of potential risk for railway organizations. This study adopts the perceptual measurement-individual attribute approach to investigate the safety climate of a railway organization. The railway safety climate attributes are evaluated from the perspective of railway system staff. We identify four safety climate dimensions from exploratory factor analysis, namely safety communication, safety training, safety management and subjectively evaluated safety performance. Analytical results indicate that the safety climate differs at vertical and horizontal organizational levels. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the multilevel safety climate in a railway organization, presents possible causes of the differences under various cultural contexts and differentiates between safety climate scales for diverse workgroups within the railway organization. This information can be used to improve the safety sustainability of railway organizations and to conduct safety supervisions for the government.

Impact of service quality management (SQM) practices on Indian railways : study of South Central Railways.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-01

The main objective of this study is to present a framework developed for assisting Railways to monitor and : control the quality of services provided to passengers. The study evaluated the passenger Rail Service quality of : Indian Railways by develo...

77 FR 49863 - Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC and Permian Basin Railways-Continuance in Control Exemption-Santa Cruz...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-17

... and Monterey Bay Railway Company (SCMB) upon SCMB's becoming a Class III rail carrier.\\1\\ \\1\\ PBR and... rights over a 31.0-mile rail line (the Line) owned by Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP). The Line... is not subject to the Board's approval jurisdiction and will not result in SCCRTC acquiring a common...

Existing Noise Level at Railway Stations in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahidan Shahiron

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Railway transportation known as one of the most environmental friendly transportation mode. However, the significance problems of railway transportation are noise pollution and negatively impact the wellbeing of the whole community. Unfortunately, there has been lack of public awareness about the noise level produce by the railway transportation in Malaysia. This study investigates the noise level produced by railway transportation in Malaysia specifically by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB. Methods of collecting existing noise level at railway stations in Malaysia are briefly discussed in this study. The finding indicates that the noise level produced by the railway transportation in Malaysia which is by KTMB is considered as dangerous to human being and also exceed the noise limit that has been assigned by Department of Environment Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Malaysia. A better noise barrier and improved material should be developed to mitigate the existing noise level produced by railway transportations in Malaysia.

20 CFR 202.15 - Railway labor organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Railway labor organizations. 202.15 Section... EMPLOYERS UNDER THE ACT § 202.15 Railway labor organizations. Railway labor organizations, national in scope... bylaws of such organizations, shall be employers within the meaning of the act. (a) An organization doing...

Communication Technologies Support to Railway Infrastructure and Operations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander

GSM-Railways (GSM-R), which is state-of-the-art railway mobile communication technology, is gradually replacing legacy analogue radio systems. Although GSM-R is an unquestionable achievement in terms of European railway interoperability, from a telecommunication point of view, it is an obsolete...... are considered to replace GSM-R in the future. This thesis is focused on Long Term Evolution (LTE) as one of the most likely successors to GSM-R. As a technology designed for commercial purposes, LTE has to be investigated specifically in railway environment. Using computer-based simulations, the LTE network...... important railway applications: European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling and railway-specific voice communication. Therefore, LTE is technically capable of replacing GSM-R as the communication network for the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Moreover, the simulation results show...

Multiple regression equations modelling of groundwater of Ajmer-Pushkar railway line region, Rajasthan (India).

Science.gov (United States)

Mathur, Praveen; Sharma, Sarita; Soni, Bhupendra

2010-01-01

In the present work, an attempt is made to formulate multiple regression equations using all possible regressions method for groundwater quality assessment of Ajmer-Pushkar railway line region in pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Correlation studies revealed the existence of linear relationships (r 0.7) for electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH) and total dissolved solids (TDS) with other water quality parameters. The highest correlation was found between EC and TDS (r = 0.973). EC showed highly significant positive correlation with Na, K, Cl, TDS and total solids (TS). TH showed highest correlation with Ca and Mg. TDS showed significant correlation with Na, K, SO4, PO4 and Cl. The study indicated that most of the contamination present was water soluble or ionic in nature. Mg was present as MgCl2; K mainly as KCl and K2SO4, and Na was present as the salts of Cl, SO4 and PO4. On the other hand, F and NO3 showed no significant correlations. The r2 values and F values (at 95% confidence limit, alpha = 0.05) for the modelled equations indicated high degree of linearity among independent and dependent variables. Also the error % between calculated and experimental values was contained within +/- 15% limit.

RESTRUCTURING INDONESIAN RAILWAY – INTEGRATION OR SEPARATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Utut Widyanto

2013-05-01

The study found that the separation model is still the best approach for restructuring Indonesian railway but if looking at the Indonesian railway current condition with its problem of backlog assets it would be better that the separation approach is used in the development of railway in other islands. Keywords: Restructuration, separation, funds, operator.

Alternate Double Single Track Lines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moraga Contreras, P.; Grande Andrade, Z.; Castillo Ron, E.

2016-07-01

The paper discusses the advantages and shortcomings of alternate double single track (ADST) lines with respect to double track lines for high speed lines. ADST lines consists of sequences of double and single track segments optimally selected in order to reduce the construction and maintenance costs of railway lines and to optimize the timetables used to satisfy a given demand. The single tracks are selected to coincide with expensive segments (tunnels and viaducts) and the double tracks are chosen to coincide with flat areas and only where they are necessary. At the same time, departure times are adjusted for trains to cross at the cheap double track segments. This alternative can be used for new lines and also for existing conventional lines where some new tracks are to be constructed to reduce travel time (increase speed). The ADST proposal is illustrated with some examples of both types (new lines and where conventional lines exist), including the Palencia-Santander, the Santiago-Valparaíso-Viña del Mar and the Dublin-Belfast lines, where very important reductions (90 %) are obtained, especially where a railway infrastructure already exist. (Author)

Assessing The Impact Of Railway Restructuring In Nigeria | Ibe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study presents railway restructuring as a solution option to railway problems in Nigeria. It aims at ascertaining the efficiency of the critical input factors of Nigerian Railway corporation (NRC) while comparing it with that of the restructured developed and best practices railways to establish the basis for restructuring.

Operating a railway system within a challenging environment: Economic history and experiences of Zimbabwe’s national railways

OpenAIRE

Charles Mbohwa

2008-01-01

This paper presents a historical background to the development of the railways in Zimbabwe and then discusses their current state. Besides being a landlocked country in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has since 2000 been saddled with socio-economic and political challenges which have seen a decline in all economic indices, hence posing some challenges to its railways. This article discusses the challenges faced by the railways as a result of high inflation, unstable currency exchange rate, brain dr...

Railway power supply - free of crises and independent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weigert, E.

1981-01-01

The German Federal Railway realizes 84% of its transport performance by electric traction. The prevailing primary energy source of the railway electric power supply is coal, but the DB uses also furnace gas, nuclear energy and hydroelectric power. The shave of mineral oil lies by about 5%. The public utilities deliver about 15%. The dispersed situation of the power stations and converter stations over the whole supply area offers the advantage of short transport distances. Therefore the 110-kV-railway mains especially meets distribution demands. Very useful is the compound operation with the Austrian Federal Railways and the Swiss Federal Railways. (orig.) [de

Towards a real-time Structural Health Monitoring of railway bridges

OpenAIRE

Vagnoli, Matteo; Remenyte-Prescott, Rasa; Andrews, John

2017-01-01

More than 350,000 railway bridges are present on the European railway network, making them a key infrastructure of the whole railway network. Railway bridges are continuously exposed to changing environmental threats, such as wind, floods and traffic load, which can affect safety and reliability of the bridge. Furthermore, a problem on a bridge can affect the whole railway network by increasing the vulnerability of the geographic area, served by the railway network. In this paper a Bayesian B...

Computer Based ex-ante Evaluation of the Planned Railway Line between Copenhagen and Ringsted by use of a Decision Support System named COSIMA-DSS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salling, Kim Bang; Landex, Alex

2006-01-01

This paper presents an appraisal study concerning the extension of the main railway line between Copenhagen and Ringsted by use of a software system named COSIMA-DSS. The modelling system is based upon a multi-methodological approach combining a cost-benefit analysis together with a multi......-criteria analysis. One of the key impacts in cost-benefit analyses is the time benefit which depends on the timetabling. The paper describes some of the challenges related to the calculation of the time benefits and how the time benefits can be implemented in the decision support system. At the end of the paper...

Review of experience of major reform of railways of the world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.V.Martsenyuk

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To evaluate the possibility of the foreign countries experience in the reforming of railway transport of Ukraine. Methodology. On the basis of comparative analysis the suitability of foreign experience of infrastructure branches reformation, dividing the range of problems to the questions of ideological and methodological character, and of course, taking into account the peculiarities of the situation in Ukraine is estimated. As for the first range of problems, it is, first of all, the choice of the form of ownership. Findings. Experience shows that both types of property have not only the beneficial but also the negative impacts. On the one hand, it is the state railways have the conditions for development and implementation of the new technologies such as high-speed trains, construction of which, as well as construction of specialized lines would be impossible without appropriate research base, and without public funding. On the other – private companies. operating on a concession basis, usually provide a higher level of services at affordable rates. Originality. It can be concluded that there is no direct correlation between the ownership form of railroads and economic or qualitative characteristics of their work. The necessity of various forms of technical and economic relationships, the existence of separate railways at the regional and local levels, which offers a great opportunity to overcome the monotony of operation, in the development of railways towards greater differentiation of service levels is proved. This however does not mean that the only alternative is to sell concessions to private enterprises, especially if the transfer of ownership is not supplemented by commitments to support public transport at a certain level. Practical value. Examples of positive governance are opposed to the equal examples of private management and vice versa. Deep analysis of reforming experience of world leading railways will prevent from

Parameters of passenger facilities according to railway station characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ondřej HAVLENA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents ways and goals of categorization of railway stations and stops in the Czech railway network. The aim of this categorization is to classify railway stations (or stops in the railway network according to a suite of entrance parameters (e.g. municipality population, transfer links, job opportunities, tourist attractiveness. On the basis of these parameters, railway stations and stops will be classified into several categories, which will be used to specify the conclusions for station equipment concerning ticket offices, commercial services, waiting rooms and other accessories. Research results can be used as a support for infrastructure managers and railway operators to optimise the scale of their services.

A preliminary survey on mode choice and its effect in users’ satisfaction on their journey to the railway station

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Nur Fahriza Mohd; Sadullah, Ahmad Farhan Mohd; Zulkiple, Adnan

2018-04-01

This paper focuses on two lines of investigation with regard to mode choice to Klang Komuter Station. Firstly, the profile of the access modes on journeys to the railway station is analysed. Secondly, the relationship of users’ mode choice towards overall perception on traveling from home to the railway station is estimated. The data collection was conducted via Revealed Preferences / Stated Preferences (RP/SP) Survey. Meanwhile, the analysis that was implemented in this study was correspondence analysis. This paper discussed more on journey purposes and the effects of distances from home to the railway, users’ trip purposes and travel time between car and bus that was found to have an important effect on the users’ mode choice and their satisfaction on their journey to the railway station. The results show that users were more satisfied to reach the station by car instead of the bus.

Twenty years of high-speed lines in Spain; Zwanzig Jahre Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecken in Spanien

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vega Vega, Tomas [ADIF, Madrid (Spain); Gil Ortiz, Jose Miguel [Balfour Beatty Rail Iberica, Alcobendas (Spain)

2012-07-15

In April 1992, i.e. 20 years ago, fast train services started in Spain when high-speed trains were put into operation on the almost 500 km long Madrid-Cordoba-Sevilla railway line. Both the 1,435 mm UIC standard gauge and the 1 AC 25 kV 50 Hz overhead line voltage level meant a big step in the development. Today the Spanish high-speed network covers some 2,200 km of railway line, and more lines are planned or already under construction. (orig.)

[Formation of working conditions and the problems of hygienic assessment of industrial environmental factors in railway tunnels].

Science.gov (United States)

Kurenkova, G V; Lemeshevskaya, E P

Tunnels are an integral part of the ways and artificial constructions of the railway. Objective assessment of working conditions is important, because current regulations fail to allow to give a definite hygienic assessment of some factors of the production environment of the tunnels. Objective: to reveal the peculiarities of the formation of working conditions in railway tunnels with the subsequent hygienic assessment for the development of preventive measures. Measurement of the factors of working process and working environment is carried out with the use of the certified equipment for the approved the hygienic and sanitary-chemical methods in workplaces in tunnels of the East-Siberian railway. Specific conditions were shown to be formed due to constructive solutions, climate and geographical location, the length of railway tunnels, the composition of the rocks through which the tunnel, the nature of the maintenance tunnels, ventilation system, repetition rate and type of passing rolling stock. All employees from occupational groups from examined tunnels were established to be exposed to high concentrations of aerosols with predominantly fibrogenic action, noise levels, adverse climate (low positive and negative temperatures, high relative humidity and mobility of air), the lack of natural lighting, low levels of artificial light, hard exertion of labor (dynamic physical load, working position, the slopes of the body, movement in space). Additionally, high levels of the vibration, nonionizing and ionizing radiation were typical for jobs of the Baikal and the North-Muya tunnel. There is proposed the algorithm of hygienic assessment of the microclimate, light environment at the working places depending on the time of the works in the underground conditions and constructional features of tunnels, methods of accounting personnel dose rates from natural sources.

Environmental impact of oil transportation by tankers, pipelines, railway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsitskishvili, M.S.; Chelidze, M.A.; Kaviladze, I.; Chkhartishvili, A.G.; Tsitskishvili, L.B.; Ninua, T.L.; Kordzaxia, G.I.; Gavasheli, L.; Petriashvili, E.T.; Alania, M.L.; Gigolashvili, Sh.Z.; Kordzakhia, M.O.; Chankotadze, P.

2005-01-01

Full text : Considering all types of risks (technical, operational, natural hazards (e.g. geo-hazards) and third party intrusion), the underground pipelines constructed in accordance with the international standards are the most safe and reliable system for oil transportation. Statistical data provided by CONCAWE and US Department of Transportation confirms that the pipeline related spills are rare and mainly related to the old pipelines. Georgia's experience yet confirms the general sound guess that the situation in our countries is not the same as in western Europe or USA and accordingly the CONCAWE statistical data can not be applied mechanically. Two spills (although small and manageable), during the recent 4 years and some discovered illegal hot-taps on the Baku-Supsa pipeline indicate that the issue of third party intrusion risks is much higher in the region and well organized security system is required to protect the pipeline from intentional damage. Of course the pipeline system can not function isolated and it is integrated with the other systems of oil transportation, mainly with off-shore terminals and tankers. The most significant of the recorded pollution damages are related to the tanker collisions (like Prestige and Exxon Valdez cases). The basic fact, which we would like to stress, is that the environmental risks related to the tanker collisions are much higher for such confined or semi-confined systems as Black and Caspian seas. The overloading of the Black Sea transportation capacity and especially its limiting narrow point - the Bosporus will inevitably lead in future to the implementation of the restrictive measures limiting transportation of oil by tankers in the Black Sea. Therefore, the role of the BTC pipeline as major transportation system will increase significantly. We consider that responsibility of the scientific society is to facilitate this process as soon as the BTC pipeline is functional. The railway transportation of oil is quite

ISSUES OF ORGANIZING THE PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION ON US RAILWAYS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. H. Korobiova

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The paper focuses on a study of the US railway transport organization management during passenger transportation. Methodology. Studies were carried out on the basis of the analysis of literature sources and reporting data on passenger transportation in the USA. Findings. Negative trends in the work of the passenger complex of the Ukrainian railways are the slowdown in the volumes of transportation, the progressive aging of the rolling stock and the overall activity running at a loss for Ukrzaliznytsia. In this regard, the actual task for domestic rail transport is the implementation of industry reforms. Therefore, the paper presented the study of the experience of organizing the passenger transportation on US railways, whose peculiarity is the extremely high degree of competition between modes of transport. As a result of the conducted analysis for working conditions of the US and Ukrainian railways, the general conditions for the functioning of the railways in both countries connected with passenger transportation securing have been established. It was found that general condition for execution of railway passenger transportation for the United States and Ukraine is the subsidization of this activity and combined use of infrastructure for the freight and passengers’ transportations. In this connection, when developing approaches to reforming the passenger economy of Ukraine's railways, it is advisable to use the experience of the United States in assessing the social effectiveness of rail transport, the impact of passenger transportation on the conditions of freight trains handling, and combined use of railway infrastructure by freight and passenger companies. Originality. The author determined the general trends in the development of passenger railway transportation in the US and Ukraine. Practical value. The resulted methods of organizing the operation of the US railway passenger transportation complex can be adapted to solve

The keys to Europe : regulating railways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2012-01-01

The expansion of the railways in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century quickly raised new questions about harmonizing standards to allow them to travel over national borders. Negotiations regarding how to run international railways involved entrepreneurs, engineers, and politicians from

Dynamic response of railway tracks in tunnel

OpenAIRE

Hoang , T; Duhamel , Denis; Forêt , Gilles; Yin , H.P.; Joyez , P; Caby , R

2014-01-01

International audience; Periodically supported beams subjected to a moving load are often used for modelling the railway dynamics and analytical solutions have been developed for such modelling [3, 4]. More complex models can be constructed by including supports with damping or non-linear stiffness elements. This study deals with the dynamical modelling of non-ballasted railways, especially railways in tunnels. The model is developed as a dynamical system of multi-degree of freedom. Under the...

Annoyance and activity disturbance induced by high-speed railway and conventional railway noise: a contrastive case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Di, Guo-Qing; Lin, Qi-Li; Li, Zheng-Guang; Kang, Jian

2014-03-07

High-speed railway (HR, Electrified railway with service speed above 200 km/h.) noise and conventional railway (CR, Electrified railway with service speed under 200 km/h.) noise are different in both time and frequency domain. There is an urgent need to study the influence of HR noise and consequently, develop appropriate noise evaluation index and limits for the total railway noise including HR and CR noise. Based on binaural recording of HR and CR noises in a approximate semi-free field, noise annoyance and activity disturbance induced by maximal train pass-by events in China were investigated through laboratory subjective evaluation. 80 students within recruited 102 students, 40 males and 40 females, 23.9 ± 2.1 years old, were finally selected as the subjects. After receiving noise stimulus via headphone of a binaural audio playback system, subjects were asked to express the annoyance or activity disturbance due to railway noise at a 0-100 numerical scale. The results show that with the same annoyance rating (A) or activity disturbance rating (D), the A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq) of CR noise is approximately 7 dB higher than that of HR noise. Linear regression analysis between some acoustical parameters and A (or D) suggests that the coefficient of determination (R2) is higher with the instantaneous fast A-weighted sound pressure level (LAFmax) than that with LAeq. A combined acoustical parameter, LHC = 1.74LAFmax + 0.008LAFmax(Lp-LAeq), where Lp is the sound pressure level, was derived consequently, which could better evaluate the total railway noise, including HR and CR noise. More importantly, with a given LHC, the noise annoyance of HR and CR noise is the same. Among various acoustical parameters including LHC and LAeq, A and D have the highest correlation with LHC. LHC has been proved to be an appropriate index to evaluate the total railway noise, including both HR and CR. However, it should be pointed out that this study provides

Railway timetabling from an operations research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.G. Kroon (Leo); D. Huisman (Dennis); G. Maróti (Gábor)

2007-01-01

textabstractIn this paper we describe Operations Research (OR) models and techniques that can be used for determining (cyclic) railway timetables. We discuss the two aspects of railway timetabling: ($i$) the determination of arrival and departure times of the trains at the stations and other

Measurements of national radiation exposure rates on train lines in Tokai area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, Hideharu

1996-01-01

For data accumulation of natural radiation exposure rate derived from gamma-ray and cosmic-ray to evaluate population dose, the author measured the rate in the running vehicles of 12 JR Tokai lines, 17 Nagoya Railway lines, 4 Kinkinippon Railway lines and 1 line of Nagoya City Bus. A portable gamma spectrometer equipped with 3' in diameter x 3' NaI (Tl) scintillation detector was placed on the seat of the vehicle for measurement in the period of December, 1992-August, 1995. Gamma-ray and cosmic-ray exposure rates in air were assessed separately as reported before and expressed in Gy/h. The average exposure rate of gamma-ray in JR Tokai lines was 19.8 nGy/h and of cosmic-ray, 28.5 nGy/h, both of which were markedly varied from line to line. The average rates of gamma-and cosmic-ray were 21.6 nGy/h and 29.0 nGy/h, respectively, in Nagoya Railway lines and 20.9 nGy/h and 28.7 nGy/h, respectively, in Kinkinippon lines. In the city bus, the respective rates were 27.2 nGy/h and 27.0 nGy/h. Thus, the average rates of gamma-ray (about 20 nGy/h) and cosmic-ray (about 29 nGy/h) were not so different between JR and other private railway lines. In the bus, the former rate was slightly lower and the latter, slightly higher. However, the total rates of both rays were in the range of about 50-55 nGy/h in all vehicles examined. (H.O.)

Railway networks 2025/2030. Expansion concept for an efficient rail cargo traffic in Germany; Schienennetz 2025/2030. Ausbaukonzeption fuer einen leistungsfaehigen Schienengueterverkehr in Deutschland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holzhey, Michael [KCW GmbH, Berlin (Germany)

2010-08-15

This study investigated the need for the construction of new railway lines and expansion of the existing railway network in Germany. The target to be achieved was based on the UBA strategy of being able to absorb 213 billion tkm on the rail by 2025. The time factor is not really that important, however; what counts is the selection of a target that forces all parties concerned to make infrastructural plans and think ahead if they are convinced in principle of the advantages of railway cargo transport. (orig.)

Construction and Capacity Analysis of High-Rank LoS MIMO Channels in High Speed Railway Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingya Yang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The validity of the maximum capacity criterion applied to realize high-rank line-of-sight (LoS multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO channels is investigated for high speed railway scenarios. Performance is evaluated by ergodic capacity. Numerical results demonstrate that by simply adjusting antenna spacing according to the maximum capacity criterion, significant capacity gains are achievable. We find relatively low sensitivity of the system to displacements from the optimal point and angle in relatively short range. Thus, we present two proposals to reconfigure antenna arrays so as to maximize LoS MIMO capacity in the high speed railway scenarios

DC Cable for Railway

Science.gov (United States)

Tomita, Masaru

The development of a superconducting cable for railways has commenced, assuming that a DC transmission cable will be used for electric trains. The cable has been fabricated based on the results of current testing of a superconducting wire, and various evaluation tests have been performed to determine the characteristics of the cable. A superconducting transmission cable having zero electrical resistance and suitable for railway use is expected to enhance regeneration efficiency, reduce power losses, achieve load leveling and integration of sub-stations, and reduce rail potential.

Passenger Perspectives in Railway Timetabling: A Literature Review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jens Parbo; Nielsen, Otto Anker; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

2016-01-01

When looking at railway planning, a discrepancy exists between planners who focus on the train operations and publish fixed railway schedules, and passengers who look not only at the schedules but also at the entirety of their trip, from access to waiting to on-board travel and egress. Looking...... with fluctuating passenger demand. A key aspect is the robustness of railway timetables. Empirical evidence indicates that passengers give more importance to travel time certainty than travel time reductions, as passengers associate an inherent disutility with travel time uncertainty. This disutility may...... be broadly interpreted as an anxiety cost for the need for having contingency plans in case of disruptions, and may be looked at as the motivator for the need for delay-robust railway timetables. Interestingly, passenger-oriented optimisation studies considering robustness in railway planning typically limit...

76 FR 75602 - Hilton & Albany Railroad, Inc.-Lease and Operation Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-02

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35567] Hilton & Albany Railroad, Inc.--Lease and Operation Exemption-- Norfolk Southern Railway Company Hilton & Albany Railroad... milepost J 302.3 near Albany West, Ga., and milepost J 357.8 near Hilton, Ga. (the line). This transaction...

The Network effects of Railway Investments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Sten; Landex, Alex; Kaas, Anders H.

2006-01-01

Network effects is when a change at one place in the railway network results in changes elsewhere in the network – maybe even far away from the original change. Railway investments have network effects, and therefore, this paper describes the network effects and how these network effects can...

Võitlus Tartu–Petseri raudtee ümber 1920. aastatel / The struggle for the Tartu–Pechory railway in the 1920s

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kersti Taal

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The railway first reached Estonia in 1870, when the Tallinn–St. Petersburg line was opened on 24 October. As early as 1849 and 1857, Fr. R. Kreutzwald and J. W. Jannsen had introduced the Estonians to a steam carriage moving on rails. Both men considered railway very important both from the point of view of traffic flow and economy. The railway soon reached the southern part of the Government of Livonia. The Tapa–Tartu railway was completed in 1876, and in 1888, Tartu got a railway connection with Riga via Valga. People dreamt of a Tallinn–Pskov railway via Pechory as early as the last decades of the 19th century, but the actual construction began only in the late 1920s. As early as 1920, the route of the Tartu–Pechory railway was marked at ground level, but the construction failed to begin due to economic difficulties. Transit to Russia was also considered (Tallinn–Moscow direct line. Early in 1928, people in south-eastern Estonia (Põlva, Kanepi, Kambja, and Räpina parishes became active in their demands for rail connections. Meetings were arranged, signatures gathered, and petitions sent to the Prime Minister, the government and ministries. In the petitions sent early in the year, the reasons given for the importance of the railway for the region were economic and strategic. The railway was considered so important that each village and small town wanted it to pass them as near to them as possible. The eastern route via Kauksi was supported by the people in Räpina parish, whereas the western route via Põlva was favoured by the people in Põlva parish, as well as, by the communes in Kanepi and Kambja parishes. On 25 May 1928, the Third Estonian Parliament passed the Railway Network Development Act, but it did not fix precisely the middle section of the route. The marking of the route began in June; the engineers who worked on it proposed that the railway should be built along the western route: it would be considerably cheaper

Operating a railway system within a challenging environment: Economic history and experiences of Zimbabwe’s national railways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles Mbohwa

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a historical background to the development of the railways in Zimbabwe and then discusses their current state. Besides being a landlocked country in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has since 2000 been saddled with socio-economic and political challenges which have seen a decline in all economic indices, hence posing some challenges to its railways. This article discusses the challenges faced by the railways as a result of high inflation, unstable currency exchange rate, brain drain, poor management, government interference in management, customs border delays, and energy shortage. The problems have been addressed in unique ways and unusual solutions are proposed. These include customer financing for maintenance and spares and the resuscitation of steam locomotives. The presented solutions, lessons and issues from this experience contribute to discussions and study of railway logistics in challenging environments. Finally, current and future research issues, which have a global appeal, are presented.

Underground cables as an alternative to overhead lines. A comparison of economic and technical aspects of voltages over 22 kV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trohjell, J.E.; Vognild, I.H.

1994-07-11

The report presents technical and economical aspects of underground cables compared to overhead lines in Norway in high voltage transmission systems above 22 kV. The economical comparison between the two options includes capital costs of installation (investment costs), maintenance costs and costs of electrical losses. The main technical issues discussed are reliability and flexibility. 35 refs., 23 figs., 29 tabs.

Characteristics of suicide hotspots on the Belgian railway network.

Science.gov (United States)

Debbaut, Kevin; Krysinska, Karolina; Andriessen, Karl

2014-01-01

In 2004, railway suicide accounted for 5.3% of all suicides in Belgium. In 2008, Infrabel (Manager of the Belgian Railway Infrastructure) introduced a railway suicide prevention programme, including identification of suicide hotspots, i.e., areas of the railway network with an elevated incidence of suicide. The study presents an analysis of 43 suicide hotspots based on Infrabel data collected during field visits and semi-structured interviews conducted in mental health facilities in the vicinity of the hotspots. Three major characteristics of the hotspots were accessibility, anonymity, and vicinity of a mental health institution. The interviews identified several risk and protective factors for railway suicide, including the training of staff, introduction of a suicide prevention policy, and the role of the media. In conclusion, a comprehensive railway suicide prevention programme should continuously safeguard and monitor hotspots, and should be embedded in a comprehensive suicide prevention programme in the community.

A three-level framework for performance-based railway timetabling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goverde, R.M.P.; Besinovic, N.; Binder, A.; Cacchiani, V.; Quaglietta, E.; Roberti, R.; Toth, P.

2015-01-01

The performance of railway operations depends highly on the quality of the railway timetable. In particular for dense railway networks it can be a challenge to obtain a stable robust conflict-free and energy-efficient timetable with acceptable infrastructure occupation and short travel times. This

Low frequency vibration tests on a floating slab track in an underground laboratory

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

De-yun DING; Wei-ning LIU; Ke-fei LI; Xiao-jing SUN; Wei-feng LIU

2011-01-01

Low frequency vibrations induced by underground railways have attracted increasing attention in recent years. To obtain the characteristics of low frequency vibrations and the low frequency performance of a floating slab track (FST), low frequency vibration tests on an FST in an underground laboratory at Beijing Jiaotong University were carried out. The FST and an unbalanced shaker SBZ30 for dynamic simulation were designed for use in low frequency vibration experiments. Vibration measurements were performed on the bogie of the unbalanced shaker, the rail, the slab, the tunnel invert, the tunnel wall, the tunnel apex, and on the ground surface at distances varying from 0 to 80 m from the track. Measurements were also made on several floors of an adjacent building. Detailed results of low frequency vibration tests were reported. The attenuation of low frequency vibrations with the distance from the track was presented, as well as the responses of different floors of the building. The experimental results could be regarded as a reference for developing methods to control low frequency vibrations and for adopting countermeasures.

A Bi-Level Programming Model for the Railway Express Cargo Service Network Design Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boliang Lin

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Service network design is fundamentally crucial for railway express cargo transportation. The main challenge is to strike a balance between two conflicting objectives: low network setup costs and high expected operational incomes. Different configurations of these objectives will have different impacts on the quality of freight transportation services. In this paper, a bi-level programming model for the railway express cargo service network design problem is proposed. The upper-level model forms the optimal decisions in terms of the service characteristics, and the low-level model selects the service arcs for each commodity. The rail express cargo is strictly subject to the service commitment, the capacity restriction, flow balance constraints, and logical relationship constraints among the decisions variables. Moreover, linearization techniques are used to convert the lower-level model to a linear one so that it can be directly solved by a standard optimization solver. Finally, a real-world case study based on the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway Line is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed solution approach.

Modeling thermal effects in braking systems of railway vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milošević Miloš S.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The modeling of thermal effects has become increasingly important in product design in different transport means, road vehicles, airplanes, railway vehicles, and so forth. The thermal analysis is a very important stage in the study of braking systems, especially of railway vehicles, where it is necessary to brake huge masses, because the thermal load of a braked railway wheel prevails compared to other types of loads. In the braking phase, kinetic energy transforms into thermal energy resulting in intense heating and high temperature states of railway wheels. Thus induced thermal loads determine thermomechanical behavior of the structure of railway wheels. In cases of thermal overloads, which mainly occur as a result of long-term braking on down-grade railroads, the generation of stresses and deformations occurs, whose consequences are the appearance of cracks on the rim of a wheel and the final total wheel defect. The importance to precisely determine the temperature distribution caused by the transfer process of the heat generated during braking due to the friction on contact surfaces of the braking system makes it a challenging research task. Therefore, the thermal analysis of a block-braked solid railway wheel of a 444 class locomotive of the national railway operator Serbian Railways is processed in detail in this paper, using analytical and numerical modeling of thermal effects during long-term braking for maintaining a constant speed on a down-grade railroad.

Systematic review of research on railway and urban transit system suicides.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishara, Brian L; Bardon, Cécile

2016-03-15

We critically review research on railway suicides to inform suicide prevention initiatives and future studies, including who is at risk and why, and behaviours at track locations. Literature was identified from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and our documentation centre, and contacting 71 railway companies, resulting in 716 articles and eight unpublished reports, with 94 having empirical data on 55 unique studies. Research quality was critically assessed. The quality of studies varies greatly with frequent shortcomings: no justification of sample size, lacking information on the reliability and validity of measures, no explanation nor theoretical understanding of findings. Railway suicides resemble closely people who use other methods, although they tend to be younger. As with other suicide methods, mental health problems are likely to be present. Railway suicide attempters usually die, but most urban transportation systems attempters survive. Railway suicides are rarely impulsive; people usually go to the railway for the purpose of killing themselves. Hotspots have been the focus of some prevention measures. We know little about why people choose railway suicide, but studies of survivors suggest they often thought they would have an immediate, certain and painless death. Media reports on railway suicides can increase their incidence. Most research focuses on the incidence and characteristics of events and attempters. Research has not shown that railway suicides are different from suicides by other means. Better quality research is needed, particularly studies that investigate why people use railways to kill themselves and how railway suicides can be effectively prevented, as well as more evaluations of prevention programmes. Because of significant variations by country and region in characteristics of railway suicides, prevention programmes should conduct a local assessment of the characteristics of attempters and incidents. We need more research on

Guideline for load and resistance assessment of existing european railway bridges

OpenAIRE

JENSEN, Jens S; CASAS, Joan R; KAROUMI, Raid; PLOS, Mario; CREMONA, Christian; MELBOURNE, Clive

2008-01-01

Many of the European railway bridges are getting close to the end of their service life. At the same time the railway operators demand higher axle loads for freight trains and higher speeds for passenger trains. This requires new and better approaches for assessing both the railway loads and the resistance of railway bridges. The main objective of the "Guideline for Load and Resistance Assessment of Existing European Railway Bridges", developed within EU founded project "Sustainable Bridge...

76 FR 31679 - Saratoga and North Creek Railway, LLC-Operation Exemption-Warren County, NY

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-01

... that it is negotiating the terms of an agreement with the County to restore common carrier rail freight... operate approximately 39.07 miles of rail line owned by Warren County, NY (the County), a noncarrier... Class III rail carrier and a subsidiary of Permian Basin Railways, Inc., which in turn is owned by Iowa...

77 FR 47921 - Pecos Valley Permian Railroad, L.L.C. d/b/a Pecos Valley Southern Railway Company-Lease Exemption...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-10

... rail carrier. As a result of this transaction, PVR will provide common carrier rail service over the rail lines owned by PVS between Pecos and Saragosa. PVR states that the lease agreement between PVS and... the Pecos Valley Southern Railway Company (PVS) and operate 24 miles of rail line located between...

Vulnerability assessment and mitigation for the Chinese railway system under floods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Liu; Ouyang, Min; Peeta, Srinivas; He, Xiaozheng; Yan, Yongze

2015-01-01

The economy of China and the travel needs of its citizens depend significantly on the continuous and reliable services provided by its railway system. However, this system is subject to frequent natural hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, and debris flow. A mechanism to assess the railway system vulnerability under these hazards and the design of effective vulnerability mitigation strategies are essential to the reliable functioning of the railway system. This article proposes a comprehensive methodology to quantitatively assess the railway system vulnerability under floods using historical data and GIS technology. The proposed methodology includes a network representation of the railway system, the generation of flood event scenarios, a method to estimate railway link vulnerability, and a quantitative vulnerability value computation approach. The railway system vulnerability is evaluated in terms of its service disruption related to the number of interrupted trains and the durations of interruption. A maintenance strategy to mitigate vulnerability is proposed that simultaneously considers link vulnerability and number of trains using it. Numerical experiments show that the flood-induced vulnerability of the proposed representation of the Chinese railway system reaches its maximum monthly value in July, and the proposed vulnerability mitigation strategy is more effective compared to other strategies. - Highlights: • We propose a methodology to assess flood-induced railway system vulnerability. • Railway system vulnerability is evaluated in terms of its service disruption. • Chinese railway system reaches its maximum monthly vulnerability in July. • We propose an effective maintenance strategy considering link vulnerability and burden

SURVEY RESULTS AND TESTING OF RAILWAY BRIDGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. H. Haniiev

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the survey and testing of railway bridges by the State Joint-Stock Railway Company «Uzbekiston Temir Yollari» («Uzbekistan Railways». It is stated that in the existing rules on determination of the capacity of bridges the recommendations on taking into account the cumulative deflection to the moment of technical diagnostics of spans on the bridge capacity are absent. The author states on the need to develop a method for determining the wear of spans on restriction of the residual deflection in the bridge floor slabs.

Future Emissions from Railway Traffic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sorenson, Spencer C.

1998-01-01

In investigation of the expected development in factors which influence railway energy consumption and emissions. Traffic factors such as train speed, load, an occupancy were considered. Tehcnical factors such an emissions factors, fleet composition and train weight were also considered. An estim......In investigation of the expected development in factors which influence railway energy consumption and emissions. Traffic factors such as train speed, load, an occupancy were considered. Tehcnical factors such an emissions factors, fleet composition and train weight were also considered...

Power-Electronics Issues of Modern Electric Railway Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

STEIMEL, A.

2010-05-01

Full Text Available After de-regulation of the former state-owned railways and severe restructuring of the railway industry in the last 15 years, more innovative vehicle concepts saw the light of the day. Power electronics, already formerly being a pacemaker for progress of traction vehicles, brought forth an utmost standardization of the main drive by means of the IGBT-converter-fed induction motor drive. This is independent of the railway supply voltage system or of a diesel prime mover, for locomotives, high-speed and mass-transit trains as well as for tramways. Vehicles able to operate on all four European railway voltage systems have become feasible and are used now widely. New trends as Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors or Medium-Frequency Transformers are discussed, and a short overlook over actual field-oriented high-performance motor control systems - including a speed-sensorless variant - is given. Power electronics dominates the field of conversion of the 16.7-Hz railway supply power, typical for Central Europe, from the 50-Hz three-phase utility grid.

Customer benefit by new technologies in railway engineering. Specialist conference in the course of the ETG congress 2007; Kundennutzen durch neue Bahn-Technologien. Fachtagung im ETG-Kongress 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steimel, A. [Ruhr-Univ. Bochum (Germany). Lehrstuhl EELE

2008-01-15

The specialist conference customer benefit by new technologies in railway engineering took place as part of the international ETG-Congress 2007 (Congress of the Energietechnische Gesellschaft within VDE) in Karlsruhe. Light rapid transit vehicles, operating on DC-fed urban lines and AC-fed regional main lines as well, the state-of-the-art of energy storage devices and their interaction with the DC railway systems power supply, multi-system traction in the European high-speed and goods services and new drive technologies were reviewed. (orig.)

Developing noise control strategies for entire railway networks

Science.gov (United States)

Oertli, Jakob

2006-06-01

The EU Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49) requires member states to deliver noise maps to the commission by 2007 and action plans by 2008 both for agglomerations as well as for major roads, railways and airports. Noise mitigation projects resulting from action plans are usually very expensive and therefore may threaten the economic viability of the railways in the current harsh competitive transport market, thus hindering sustainable transport policies. It is therefore of vital interest that the action plans and the resulting projects are designed in the most cost-effective way possible. The EU and Union of Railways (UIC) sponsored project Strategies and Tools to Assess and Implement noise Reducing measures for Railway Systems (STAIRRS) recognized this need and developed a tool, with which such optimal solutions can be obtained for entire railway networks. Since data collection is the most expensive part of the analysis, noise mapping data is ideally collected in such a way that it can be used for the calculation of the different scenarios, from which the most cost-effective action plans are chosen. The paper shows how the STAIRRS tool is used for this purpose and how cost-effectiveness considerations have led to optimal railway noise mitigation strategies in Switzerland and have given a basis for noise related decision making in Luxembourg.

Acoustic energy propagation around railways

Science.gov (United States)

Cizkova, Petra

2017-09-01

The article deals with the issues of acoustic energy propagation around railways. The research subject was noise emission spreading into the surroundings during the passage of trains over a directly travelled steel bridge construction. Noise emissions were measured using direct measurements in the field. The measurements were performed in two measurement profiles. The noise exposures A LAE measured near the steel bridge construction were compared against the noise exposures A LAE captured on an open track. From the difference of these data, the noise level of the steel bridge structure was determined. Part of the research was to evaluate the effect of the reconstruction of the railway track superstructure on the acoustic situation in the given section of the railway track. The article describes the methodology of measurements, including the processing and evaluation of measured data. The article points out the noise levels of the steel bridge construction and assesses changes in the acoustic situation after the reconstruction.

THE RAILWAYS THE

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sout'h Africa's armed forces were small, and their material resources ... scheme, contingency planning proceeded. On the outbreak of ... hannesburg); a Railway Operating Company; a Mechanical .... ded his verdict that from the points of view.

A tutorial on fundamental model structures for railway timetable optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harrod, Steven

2012-01-01

This guide explains the role of railway timetables relative to all other railway scheduling activities, and then presents four fundamental timetable formulations suitable for optimization. Timetabling models may be classified according to whether they explicitly model the track structure, and whe......This guide explains the role of railway timetables relative to all other railway scheduling activities, and then presents four fundamental timetable formulations suitable for optimization. Timetabling models may be classified according to whether they explicitly model the track structure...

Reliability analysis of maintenance operations for railway tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rhayma, N.; Bressolette, Ph.; Breul, P.; Fogli, M.; Saussine, G.

2013-01-01

Railway engineering is confronted with problems due to degradation of the railway network that requires important and costly maintenance work. However, because of the lack of knowledge on the geometrical and mechanical parameters of the track, it is difficult to optimize the maintenance management. In this context, this paper presents a new methodology to analyze the behavior of railway tracks. It combines new diagnostic devices which permit to obtain an important amount of data and thus to make statistics on the geometric and mechanical parameters and a non-intrusive stochastic approach which can be coupled with any mechanical model. Numerical results show the possibilities of this methodology for reliability analysis of different maintenance operations. In the future this approach will give important informations to railway managers to optimize maintenance operations using a reliability analysis

Construction and Operation of Railway Bridges and Ferries in the Lower Volga Streamflow (End of 19th – First Half of 20th Century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OPALEV M.N.

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the history of operation of Russia’s first railway ferry and the process of bridge construction across the lower Volga streamflows at Ryazan-Ural (now Volga railway line in Saratov, Stalingrad (Volgograd and Astrakhan. River railway ferries “Saratovskaya pereprava” and “Saratovsky ledokol” were built in 1894 in England and water crafts “Vtoraya pereprava” (1909 and “Stalin” (1926 were floated out in Volga in Nizhny Novgorod, from the Sormov plant. As a rule, the organization of transportations by means of steam locomotives and waggons through Volga during the first half of the 20th century preceded the construction of capital metal railway bridges, such as Astrakhan (1909 and Saratov (1935, and also a combined railway-automobile bridge through the Volga (Stalingrad Hydro-Electric Power Station (1961. The article is devoted not only to the technical features of ferries, bridges, but their efficient use in peace time and war time. So, the carrying capacity of the Saratov railway ferry increased in more than three times from 1907 to 1916. The Ryazan-Ural railway ferries were actively used by new Bolshevist regime. After the railroad construction on the left bank of Volga in autumn and winter of 1941, railway ferries “Stalin” and “Saratovskaya pereprava” were used for the carriage of military trains and population evacuation from the western bank of Volga. The author describes one of the most heroic and tragic facts in the history of Stalingrad battle using the example of the special operation railway ferry flooding and its consequent reconstruction.

On-Site Measurements for Voltage Unbalance Studies Associated with the AC Railway Operation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stamatopoulos, Athanasios; Silva, Filipe Miguel Faria da; Bak, Claus Leth

2017-01-01

unbalance with regards to traction loads has been augmented since the decision to expand the electric railway. Towards this direction, and on the occasion of a newly built electrified line, voltage unbalance measurements were carried out and are presented in this paper. The information from the extracted......On-site measurements in Electrical Power Systems can provide valuable information about the performance of the network and also, can be of great assistance to the validation and assessment of simulation models developed for power system studies. Lately, the noticeable increase of non......-conventional types of loads, such as the AC railway, has raised concerns regarding the secure operation of power transmission networks. This renders the monitoring and reporting of various aspects of system’s power quality even more necessary. For the Danish transmission grid, in particular, the relevance of voltage...

Location of leaks in pressurized underground pipelines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eckert, E.G.; Maresca, J.W. Jr.

1993-01-01

Millions of underground storage tanks (UST) are used to store petroleum and other chemicals. The pressurized underground pipelines associated with USTs containing petroleum motor fuels are typically 2 in. in diameter and 50 to 200 ft in length. These pipelines typically operate at pressures of 20 to 30 psi. Longer lines, with diameters up to 4 in., are found in some high-volume facilities. There are many systems that can be used to detect leaks in pressurized underground pipelines. When a leak is detected, the first step in the remediation process is to find its location. Passive-acoustic measurements, combined with advanced signal-processing techniques, provide a nondestructive method of leak location that is accurate and relatively simple, and that can be applied to a wide variety of pipelines and pipeline products

PROCESS FEATURES OF FLUCTUATIONS PROPAGATION AT STRESS-STRAIN WORK OF THE RAILWAY TRACK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Bondarenko

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Scientific work aims at the determination the basic laws of fluctuations propagation process from exitation of rolling stock in the design system of permanent way and substructures of the railway lines for studing the deformation processes as the basis for a regulatory framework of the track operation in the conditions of ensuring the reliability of railways. Methodology. To achieve the aim the principles of elasticity theories and wave propagation process in describing the interaction track and rolling stock were applied. Findings. The kinds of fluctuations and system which should be used when considering the fluctuations in the deformation process of rail track were established. The general view of the displacement function was determined. Originality. The theoretical concepts and principles to consider fluctuations of a structures system of permanent way and substructures of the railway track, energised by rolling stock were grounded. This will allow studing the process of deformation work of the mentioned system, which changes its state. That in turn will allow us to determine the parameters of the trains functional reliability, as part of the security passes of rolling stock on the track section with regard to its technical condition. Practical value. Usually for safe crossing of rolling stock parameters of fluctuation process in the system «vehicle-track» are determined. Existing models or carefully consider fluctuations of rolling stock in generalized characteristics of the structures of permanent way and substructures of the railway tracks or view of quasi-dynamic fluctuations rails with general characteristics of under rail base. This review process of oscillations, energised by rolling stock and delivered to all the elements of the permanent way and substructures of the railway track do not allow determining both the reliability parameters of elements in the system of track construction and parameters of functional

GPR Laboratory Tests For Railways Materials Dielectric Properties Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca De Chiara

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In railways Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR studies, the evaluation of materials dielectric properties is critical as they are sensitive to water content, to petrographic type of aggregates and to fouling condition of the ballast. Under the load traffic, maintenance actions and climatic effects, ballast condition change due to aggregate breakdown and to subgrade soils pumping, mainly on existing lines with no sub ballast layer. The main purpose of this study was to validate, under controlled conditions, the dielectric values of materials used in Portuguese railways, in order to improve the GPR interpretation using commercial software and consequently the management maintenance planning. Different materials were tested and a broad range of in situ conditions were simulated in laboratory, in physical models. GPR tests were performed with five antennas with frequencies between 400 and 1800 MHz. The variation of the dielectric properties was measured, and the range of values that can be obtained for different material condition was defined. Additionally, in situ GPR measurements and test pits were performed for validation of the dielectric constant of clean ballast. The results obtained are analyzed and the main conclusions are presented herein.

Maintenance management of railway infrastructures based on reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macchi, Marco; Garetti, Marco; Centrone, Domenico; Fumagalli, Luca; Piero Pavirani, Gian

2012-01-01

Railway infrastructure maintenance plays a crucial role for rail transport. It aims at guaranteeing safety of operations and availability of railway tracks and related equipment for traffic regulation. Moreover, it is one major cost for rail transport operations. Thus, the increased competition in traffic market is asking for maintenance improvement, aiming at the reduction of maintenance expenditures while keeping the safety of operations. This issue is addressed by the methodology presented in the paper. The first step of the methodology consists of a family-based approach for the equipment reliability analysis; its purpose is the identification of families of railway items which can be given the same reliability targets. The second step builds the reliability model of the railway system for identifying the most critical items, given a required service level for the transportation system. The two methods have been implemented and tested in practical case studies, in the context of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, the Italian public limited company for railway transportation.

Integrity Evaluation of Railway Bogie Using Infrared Thermography Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jeong Guk

2011-01-01

The lock-in thermography was employed to evaluate the integrity of railway bogies. Prior to the actual application on railway bogies, in order to assess the detectability of known flaws, the calibration reference panel was prepared with various dimensions of artificial flaws. The panel was composed of structural steel, which was the same material with actual bogies. Through lock-in thermography evaluation, the optimal frequency of heat source was determined for the best flaw detection. Based on the defects information, the actual defect assessments on railway bogie were conducted with different types of railway bogies, which were used for the current operation. In summary, the defect assessment results with thermography method showed a good agreement as compared with the conventional inspection techniques. Moreover, it was found that the novel infrared thermography technique could be an effective way for the inspection and the detection of surface defects on bogies since the infrared thermography method provided rapid and non-contact mode for the investigation of railway bogies

Innovative Railway Stations

Science.gov (United States)

Rzepnicka, Sylwia; Załuski, Daniel

2017-10-01

In relation to modern demographic trends, evolving technologies and environment-friendly solutions increases the potential of rail considered as sustainable form of public transport. Contemporary tendencies of designing railway stations in Europe are focused on lowering energy consumption and reducing carbon emission. The main goal of the designers is to create a friendly and intuitive space for its users and at the same time a building that uses renewable energy sources and minimizes negative impact on the environment by the increase of biologically active areas, reuse of rainwater and greywater, innovative heating and cooling solutions and reduction of energy losses. The optimisation of a life circle in railway architecture introduces new approach to passenger service. Examples mentioned in the content of this article help to synthesize changes in approach to the design within the context of sustainability.

Improvement of railway ballast maintenance approach, incorporating ballast geometry and fouling conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, J.; Motieyan-Najar, M. E.; Zakeri, J. A.; Yousefi, B.; Mollazadeh, M.

2018-04-01

Ballast plays an important role in the stability of railway track systems. The effectiveness of the ballast in maintaining the track stability is very much dependent on its mechanical conditions. The available ballast maintenance approaches are mainly based on only track geometry conditions (such as track profile) which do not sufficiently reflect the ballast mechanical behaviors. That is, the ballast potential of degradation (i.e., ballast long term behaviors) has been omitted. This makes the effectiveness of the current ballast maintenance approach questionable, indicating a need for a more comprehensive and effective ballast conditions assessment technique. In response to this need, two ballast condition indices based on ballast geometry degradation (BGI) and the level of ballast fouling (BFI) as the main indicators of ballast mechanical behavior were developed. The BGI is a function of the standard deviations of track alignment, unevenness and twist. The BFI was developed based on the data obtained from the ground penetration radar (GPR). Making use of the new indices, a more reliable maintenance algorithm was developed. Through illustrations of the applicability of the new maintenance algorithm in a railway line, it was shown that the new algorithm causes a considerable improvement in the maintenance effectiveness and an increase in the life cycle of railway tracks by making more effective allocation of resources and more accurate maintenance planning.

Comparison of Annoyance from Railway Noise and Railway Vibration.

Science.gov (United States)

Ögren, Mikael; Gidlöf-Gunnarsson, Anita; Smith, Michael; Gustavsson, Sara; Persson Waye, Kerstin

2017-07-19

The aim of this study is to compare vibration exposure to noise exposure from railway traffic in terms of equal annoyance, i.e., to determine when a certain noise level is equally annoying as a corresponding vibration velocity. Based on questionnaire data from the Train Vibration and Noise Effects (TVANE) research project from residential areas exposed to railway noise and vibration, the dose response relationship for annoyance was estimated. By comparing the relationships between exposure and annoyance for areas both with and without significant vibration exposure, the noise levels and vibration velocities that had an equal probability of causing annoyance was determined using logistic regression. The comparison gives a continuous mapping between vibration velocity in the ground and a corresponding noise level at the facade that are equally annoying. For equivalent noise level at the facade compared to maximum weighted vibration velocity in the ground the probability of annoyance is approximately 20% for 59 dB or 0.48 mm/s, and about 40% for 63 dB or 0.98 mm/s.

Lightning in hybrid cable-overhead lines and consequent transient overvoltages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Silva, Filipe Miguel Faria da; Schultz Pedersen, Kasper; Bak, Claus Leth

2017-01-01

Whereas lines that consist entirely of underground cable are naturally protected from lightning, the phenomenon must be considered for lines that are a mix of overhead lines and underground cables. The difference between overhead lines and underground cables wave impedances may lead to transient ...... conductor and for hits on the earth wire, with and without back flashover. For the most common situation, stroke on the earth wire, it is demonstrated that the cable’s ground propagation mode is dominant, reducing the impact of the reflections....

Synergies of the Liberalization of the Railway Transport Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panák Michal

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The liberalization of transport market brings various effects, which in the context of the assessment of synergies can affect in different ways the company, a customer as such, and transport undertakings operating on the railway transport market as well. This paper provides an innovative perspective on the relationship between liberalization and synergy, defining new types of synergies that have not yet been monitored in the conditions of railway transport. This approach is interesting because of the possibility of assessing the operation of railway undertakings in the open transport market. The eminent is characteristic of integration type synergies and emergence type synergies in relation to railway transport, as well as the breakdown of synergies in relation to the customer and carrier.

The Spontaneous Combustion of Railway Ties and Asphalt Shingles

Science.gov (United States)

Leslie, Geoffrey

Many Low Carbon Fuels (LCFs) present unknown spontaneous combustion risks, which must be quantified before their use as fossil fuel replacements. Wood and coal spontaneous combustion is well understood; however, LCFs weather, and subsequent chemical changes could affect their spontaneous combustion properties. LCF spontaneous combustion could lead to accidental fires with possible loss of life, limb and property. The spontaneous combustion risks of two LCFs, discarded creosote-treated wooden railway ties and roofing asphalt shingles, were investigated with calorimetry and heat transfer experiments. Chemical changes due to weathering were studied with pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (py-GC/MS). Creosote-treated wooden railway tie dust, roofing asphalt shingle particles, poplar wood pellets, and petroleum coke self-heating were studied with isothermal calorimetry. Railway tie dust and asphalt shingle heat transfer were characterized with a guarded hot plate. Petroleum coke self-heating was consistent with coal, while both poplar pellets and railway tie dust were found to be more reactive compared to oven test results of similar materials. The observed increase in reactivity was probably a result of significant moisture contenint in the pellet and railway tie dust. Critical conditions for spontaneous combustion were evaluated with the Frank-Kamenetskii parameter, assuming an ambient temperature of 40°C and constant moisture content. Kamenetskii calculations indicate that a 1.6 m cube of railway tie dust, or a 58 m cube of asphalt particles, would be unstable and combust. LCF chemistry may have been affected by weathering, which would cause chemical changes that affect their spontaneous combustion properties. Therefore, railway tie wood and roofing asphalt shingle chemistry were investigated by identifying products of 250° and 550°C pyrolysis with py-GC/MS. Railway tie wood pyrolyzates did not show signs of weathering; in contrast, asphalt pyrolysis

Computer modeling design of a frame pier for a high-speed railway project

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jing-xian; Fan, Jiang

2018-03-01

In this paper, a double line pier on a high-speed railway in China is taken as an example. the size of each location is drawn up firstly. The design of pre-stressed steel beam for its crossbeam is carried out, and the configuration of ordinary reinforcement is carried out for concrete piers. Combined with bridge structure analysis software Midas Civil and BSAS, the frame pier is modeled and calculated. The results show that the beam and pier column section size reasonable design of pre-stressed steel beam with 17-7V5 high strength low relaxation steel strand, can meet the requirements of high speed railway carrying capacity; the main reinforcement of pier shaft with HRB400 diameter is 28mm, ring arranged around the pier, can satisfy the eccentric compression strength, stiffness and stability requirements, also meet the requirements of seismic design.

Communications construction on mining grounds influenced by mining damage. Budownictwo komunikacyjne na terenach objetych szkodami gorniczymi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosikon, A

1979-01-01

This book considers problems associated with construction of communication lines on grounds influenced by underground coal mining. It is stated that about 50% of coal mined in Poland comes from protective coal pillars. Improving methods of strata control and ground control after underground mining will influence perspectives of mining in protective pillars. The following problems associated with minimizing mining damage are analyzed: types of ground deformation caused by underground mining, continuous and discontinuous deformation, factors which influence formation of subsidence troughs, forecasting ground subsidence according to the Knothe and Budryk theory, horizontal and vertical ground dislocation, coefficients used for description of ground deformation, Kochmanski's theory of continuous deformation, effects of ground subsidence of foundations of buildings and industrial structures, construction of roads, railway tracks and other communication lines on ground influenced by discontinuous deformations caused by coal mining, problems associated with construction of bridges and tunnels, construction of sewage systems, effects of underground mining on maintenance and repair of communication lines and sewage systems. Ways of minimizing discontinuous ground deformation are analyzed.

Mine railway equipments management information system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, X.; Han, K.; Duan, T.; Liu, Z.; Lu, H. [China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou (China)

2007-06-15

Based on client/server and browser/server models, the management information system described realized the entire life-cycle management of mine railway equipment which included universal equipment and special equipment in the locomotive depot, track maintenance division, electrical depot and car depot. The system has other online functions such as transmitting reports, graphics management, statistics, searches, graphics wizard and web propaganda. It was applied in Pingdingshan Coal Co. Ltd.'s Railway Transport Department. 5 refs., 4 figs.

Alignment analysis of urban railways based on passenger travel demand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Jonas Lohmann Elkjær; Landex, Alex

2010-01-01

Planning of urban railways like Metro and especially Light Rail Transit often result in multiple alignment alternatives from where it can be difficult to select the best one. Travel demand is a good foundation for evaluating a railway alignment for its ability to attract passengers. Therefore...... and can be applied as decision support in different stages of the urban railway alignment planning....

Application of Mastic Asphalt Waterproofing Layer in High-Speed Railway Track in Cold Regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Song Liu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Freeze-thaw damage is a typical distress incurred in road and railway engineering in cold regions. Concrete waterproofing layer is commonly used in high-speed railway tracks to prevent the penetration of surface water, however, it cracks easily under thermal stress, especially in cold regions. Recently solutions have been proposed to increase the waterproofing layer’s cracking resistance by using asphalt layers. Nonetheless, the use of emulsified asphalt as well as dense-graded asphalt mixture were not effective enough. To improve the effectiveness, in this study, mastic asphalt was designed for application as the waterproofing layer on the subgrade surface of high-speed railway tracks in cold regions. The overall performance of mastic asphalt was preliminarily evaluated by laboratory tests, then a 200-m test section was constructed for field validation in northeastern China as part of a new high-speed railway line, and water content sensors were placed inside the subgrade to monitor the performance of the mastic asphalt waterproofing layer (MAWL. The subsequent field investigation and monitoring data during the two years operation showed that MAWL dramatically outperformed the conventional concrete waterproofing layer in terms of waterproof performance. Plenty of serious cracks were found in the conventional concrete waterproofing layer, but only a limited number of local cracks were observed in MAWL. As a result, MAWL keeps the water content of subgrade at a stable level. In addition, MAWL showed relatively high stability during the two years investigation period, and no obvious deterioration was observed in the test section.

A comparative study of different transformer connections for railway power supply- mitigation of voltage unbalance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Firat, Gurkan; Yang, Guangya; Ali Hussain Al-Ali, Haider

2015-01-01

The railway represents a large power consumer that can cause uneven loading of the phases in the high voltage grid. These unbalanced loads supplied by the utility may lead to voltage unbalance problems in the system and thereby affects the other consumers connected to the same network. It is fact...... that, voltage unbalance appears mainly as a result of unbalanced currents at the points of common coupling drawn by unevenly distributed loads. Because of a significant amount of negative sequence current injected to the system, the power system components will suffer from consequent negative effects...... such as overheating, additional losses of lines and transformers, interference with communication systems etc. This paper presents a comparative study of some transformer connections which commonly used in railway supplying AC traction loads, for voltage unbalance mitigations. Simulations for comparison...

75 FR 14243 - Pacific Rim Railway Company, Inc.-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-City of Keokuk, IA

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-24

...-mile) consisting of a 2,194 foot-long railroad bridge over the Mississippi River, commonly known as the... that, because the Bridge is part of a through route for rail transportation, it is a ``railroad line... Junction Railway Company (KJRY), a Class III rail carrier. PRIM does not propose to operate over the Bridge...

Seismic Performance of Multi-Span RC Railway Bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Georgakis, Christos; Barrau, Xavier

2008-01-01

Presently, there is no clear method for determining the optimal railway bridge design for a particular ground type and expected seismic intensity. Four main types of RC bridge dominate the current multi-span railway bridge design trends – the Simply Supported Beam, Continuous Box-Girder (CBG), CBG...

Railway Endowment in Italy’s Provinces, 1839-1913

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groote, Peter D.; Ciccarelli, Carlo

This paper presents new annual estimates of railway extension in Italian provinces at 1913 borders for the period 1839-1913. The main operator of the Italian railway network (Ferrovie dello Stato) published in 1911 a unique set of homogeneous historical five year maps illustrating the routes of

Underground infrastructure damage for a Chicago scenario

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dey, Thomas N [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bos, Rabdall J [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2011-01-25

Estimating effects due to an urban IND (improvised nuclear device) on underground structures and underground utilities is a challenging task. Nuclear effects tests performed at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) during the era of nuclear weapons testing provides much information on how underground military structures respond. Transferring this knowledge to answer questions about the urban civilian environment is needed to help plan responses to IND scenarios. Explosions just above the ground surface can only couple a small fraction of the blast energy into an underground shock. The various forms of nuclear radiation have limited penetration into the ground. While the shock transmitted into the ground carries only a small fraction of the blast energy, peak stresses are generally higher and peak ground displacement is lower than in the air blast. While underground military structures are often designed to resist stresses substantially higher than due to the overlying rocks and soils (overburden), civilian structures such as subways and tunnels would generally only need to resist overburden conditions with a suitable safety factor. Just as we expect the buildings themselves to channel and shield air blast above ground, basements and other underground openings as well as changes of geology will channel and shield the underground shock wave. While a weaker shock is expected in an urban environment, small displacements on very close-by faults, and more likely, soils being displaced past building foundations where utility lines enter could readily damaged or disable these services. Immediately near an explosion, the blast can 'liquefy' a saturated soil creating a quicksand-like condition for a period of time. We extrapolate the nuclear effects experience to a Chicago-based scenario. We consider the TARP (Tunnel and Reservoir Project) and subway system and the underground lifeline (electric, gas, water, etc) system and provide guidance for planning this scenario.

The empty wagons adjustment algorithm of Chinese heavy-haul railway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Jinchuan; Yang, Hao; Wei, Yuguang; Shang, Pan

2016-01-01

The paper studied the problem of empty wagons adjustment of Chinese heavy-haul railway. Firstly, based on the existing study of the empty wagons adjustment of heavy-haul railway in the world, Chinese heavy-haul railway was analyzed, especially the mode of transportation organization and characteristics of empty wagons adjustment. Secondly, the optimization model was set up to solve the empty wagons adjustment of heavy-haul railway and the model took the minimum idling period as the function goal. Finally, through application and solution of one case, validity and practicability of model and algorithm had been proved. So, the model could offer decision support to transport enterprises on adjusting empty wagons.

Causal Analysis of Railway Running Delays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cerreto, Fabrizio; Nielsen, Otto Anker; Harrod, Steven

Operating delays and network propagation are inherent characteristics of railway operations. These are traditionally reduced by provision of time supplements or “slack” in railway timetables and operating plans. Supplement allocation policies must trade off reliability in the service commitments...... Denmark (the Danish infrastructure manager). The statistical analysis of the data identifies the minimum running times and the scheduled running time supplements and investigates the evolution of train delays along given train paths. An improved allocation of time supplements would result in smaller...

Performance of LTE in High Speed Railway Scenarios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2013-01-01

GSM-Railways (GSM-R) is an obsolete mobile technology with a number of shortcomings in terms of capacity and capability. These shortcomings become a major issue for railways as GSM-R may limit the number of running trains in some areas and it cannot support advanced data services. Hence...

In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway developments in interwar Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anastasiadou, E.

2009-01-01

Most conventional histories that address the creation and development of railway networks start from national developments. Recent scholarship on this topic, however, has stressed the importance of formulating a transnational perspective on technological developments and infrastructural developments

Subcontracting Railway Maintenance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thommesen, Jacob

2010-01-01

railway infrastructure manager (InfraMan), whichis subcontracting maintenance tasks to other companies. InfraMan has implemented various central elements in managing their subcontractors. The latter are required to present a safety plan as part of their bid, they must be approved if they are to be awarded...

Accessing leaking underground storage tank case studies and publications through the EPA's Computerized On-Line Information System (COLIS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hillger, R.; Tibay, P.

1991-01-01

The US EPA's regulations for underground storage tanks (USTs) require corrective action to be taken in response to leaking USTs. Recent developments of UST programs nationwide as well as the introduction of new technologies to clean up UST sites have increased the diversity of experience levels among personnel involved with this type of work. The EPA's Computerized On-Line Information System (COLIS) has been developed to facilitate technology transfer among the personnel involved in UST cleanup. The system allows for the quick and simple retrieval of data relating to UST incidents, as well as other hazardous waste-related information. The system has been used by response personnel at all levels of government, academia, and private industry. Although it has been in existence for many years, users are just now realizing the potential wealth of information stored in this system. COLIS access can be accomplished via telephone lines utilizing a personal computer and a modem

NEW POSSIBILITIES OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lionginas LIUDVINAVIČIUS

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the train traffic control systems in 1435 mm and 1520 mm gauge railways. The article analyses the aspects of train traffic control and locomotive energy saving by using the coordinates of track profile change that have been received from GPS. In the article, achievements of Lithuanian railways (LG in the area of train traffic control optimisation are presented.

Develop railway engineering modules in UTK civil engineering undergraduate and graduate courses.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-31

The importance of railway transport has long been recognized. However, no railway : engineering courses have been provided in the UTK civil engineering curricula. The : objective of this education project is to develop some railway engineering module...

Dynamic Response of Railway Bridges Subjected to Passing Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moravčík Milan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses some issues related to dynamic effects in railway bridges focussed on the dynamic behaviour of the small and medium span simply supported railway bridges subjected to a series of moving vehicle. Presented parametric study is focused on the dynamic deflection of the simply supported railway bridge of the span Lb = 38 m, due to the series moving loads representing a conventional train with the IC-coaches, with the impact to the speed up to 160 km/h applied in Slovakia.

The principle of measuring unusual change of underground mass by optical astrometric instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jiancheng

2012-11-01

In this study, we estimate the deflection angle of the plumb line on a ground site, and give a relation between the angle, abnormal mass and site distance (depth and horizontal distance. Then we derive the abnormality of underground material density using the plumb lines measured at different sites, and study the earthquake gestation, development and occurrence. Using the deflection angles of plumb lines observed at two sites, we give a method to calculate the mass and the center of gravity of underground materials. We also estimate the abnormal masses of latent seismic zones with different energy, using thermodynamic relations, and introduce a new optical astrometric instrument we had developed.

ECONOMIC EFFECT OF INTRODUCTION OF MODULAR TECHNOLOGY IN RAILWAY INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artem Bilous

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is to explore the current state of the railway engineering industry in the world, the problems of its development prospects, especially the introduction of the modular process technology and economic impact of its introduction. Methodology. The research is based on statistical information from public sources, which is used to confirm the veracity of the thesis put forward about the feasibility of further implementation of the principle of modularity in the railway engineering sector. Data was also obtained from the websites of manufacturers of railway equipment. Also, in the study of the issue, analytical articles on the economic development of the sector of railway engineering in the world were used. Results of the research showed that today, in transport engineering industry, in particular – in the railway engineering, there is a problem of inefficient implementation and use of technological developments, which are used in the manufacture of railway rolling stock. Many technical solutions are duplicated, leading to more time and financial costs. At the same time, there is no free access to information about existing technical solutions, which significantly slows down the development of rail transport. One of the main solutions to the problem is the use of modular technology in the design and manufacture of rolling stock. Leading global manufacturers have already begun to use the modules in the production of their rolling stock, but the technology is not yet sufficiently developed and finds its realization only in reducing the costs of production of rolling stock by specific manufacturers. The full benefits of the new technology have not yet been obtained by producers and operators. Thus, there is a considerable margin for the implementation of modular technology in the production of railway vehicles, which will result in further reducing both production costs and the costs of maintenance, operation and repair of

Research on the Special Railway Intelligence Transportation Hierarchy and System Integration Methodology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng-Jie WANG

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Following the rapid development of information technology in the field of railway transportation, the problems of establishing a digital, integrated and intelligent special railway system need to be solved immediately. This paper designs and implements the intelligent transportation information system based on the unique pattern of transportation organization, the characteristics of transportation operations and the workflow of special railway. Through the detailed analysis of system architecture and framework design, the main subsystems and the internal comprehensive integrated principle, business system from a system integration perspective of the special railway is optimized, which can be able to realize the integration of all kinds of information resources. The implementation of integration and the special railway intelligent system is a great change in terms of maximizing transportation capacity, improving efficiency and guaranteeing the safety of special railway transportation.

Railway clearance intrusion detection method with binocular stereo vision

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xingfang; Guo, Baoqing; Wei, Wei

2018-03-01

In the stage of railway construction and operation, objects intruding railway clearance greatly threaten the safety of railway operation. Real-time intrusion detection is of great importance. For the shortcomings of depth insensitive and shadow interference of single image method, an intrusion detection method with binocular stereo vision is proposed to reconstruct the 3D scene for locating the objects and judging clearance intrusion. The binocular cameras are calibrated with Zhang Zhengyou's method. In order to improve the 3D reconstruction speed, a suspicious region is firstly determined by background difference method of a single camera's image sequences. The image rectification, stereo matching and 3D reconstruction process are only executed when there is a suspicious region. A transformation matrix from Camera Coordinate System(CCS) to Track Coordinate System(TCS) is computed with gauge constant and used to transfer the 3D point clouds into the TCS, then the 3D point clouds are used to calculate the object position and intrusion in TCS. The experiments in railway scene show that the position precision is better than 10mm. It is an effective way for clearance intrusion detection and can satisfy the requirement of railway application.

Storage Space Allocation of Inbound Container in Railway Container Terminal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Efficient storage strategy of railway container terminals is important in balancing resource utilization, reducing waiting time, and improving handling efficiency. In this paper, we consider the formulation and solution algorithm for storage space allocation problem of inbound containers in railway container terminal. The problem is formulated as two-stage optimization models, whose objectives are balancing the workload of inbound containers and reducing the overlapping amounts. An algorithm implement process based on rolling horizon approach is designed to solve the proposed models. Computational experiments on an actual railway container terminal show that the proposed approach is effective to solve space allocation problem of inbound container and is significant for the operation and organization of railway container terminals.

An Improved Walk Model for Train Movement on Railway Network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Keping; Mao Bohua; Gao Ziyou

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose an improved walk model for simulating the train movement on railway network. In the proposed method, walkers represent trains. The improved walk model is a kind of the network-based simulation analysis model. Using some management rules for walker movement, walker can dynamically determine its departure and arrival times at stations. In order to test the proposed method, we simulate the train movement on a part of railway network. The numerical simulation and analytical results demonstrate that the improved model is an effective tool for simulating the train movement on railway network. Moreover, it can well capture the characteristic behaviors of train scheduling in railway traffic. (general)

DOMAINS OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, WHICH NEED THE SAFETY IMPROVEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana Procházková

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the railway accidents sources in the Czech Republic on the basis of knowledge on complex system behaviour. It derives seven categories of sources of railway accidents. The individual categories include the accident sources from the same field domain. These domains are: technical related to rail traffic vehicles; technical related to rail infrastructure and railway station; railway operation control – organizational causes; railway operation control – cyber causes; control of rail traffic vehicles; attack on the train; domain legislative and other. The results show that for railway traffic safety improvement, it is necessary to pay attention to all categories, and especially to these that lead to organizational accidents origination.

Application of lap laser welding technology on stainless steel railway vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hongxiao; Wang, Chunsheng; He, Guangzhong; Li, Wei; Liu, Liguo

2016-10-01

Stainless steel railway vehicles with so many advantages, such as lightweight, antirust, low cost of maintenance and simple manufacturing process, so the production of high level stainless steel railway vehicles has become the development strategy of European, American and other developed nations. The current stainless steel railway vehicles body and structure are usually assembled by resistance spot welding process. The weak points of this process are the poor surface quality and bad airtight due to the pressure of electrodes. In this study, the partial penetration lap laser welding process was investigated to resolve the problems, by controlling the laser to stop at the second plate in the appropriate penetration. The lap laser welding joint of stainless steel railway vehicle car body with partial penetration has higher strength and surface quality than those of resistance spot welding joint. The biggest problem of lap laser welding technology is to find the balance of the strength and surface quality with different penetrations. The mechanism of overlap laser welding of stainless steel, mechanical tests, microstructure analysis, the optimization of welding parameters, analysis of fatigue performance, the design of laser welding stainless steel railway vehicles structure and the development of non-destructive testing technology were systematically studied before lap laser welding process to be applied in manufacture of railway vehicles. The results of the experiments and study show that high-quality surface state and higher fatigue strength can be achieved by the partial penetration overlap laser welding of the side panel structure, and the structure strength of the car body can be higher than the requirements of En12663, the standard of structural requirements of railway vehicles bodies. Our company has produced the stainless steel subway and high way railway vehicles by using overlap laser welding technology. The application of lap laser welding will be a big

Development of the urban space surrounding selected railway stations in Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan Weronika

2017-12-01

Full Text Available At present, many railway stations, in spite of being architecturally valuable, are subject to de-capitalization and degradation, which increasingly leads to demolition including elements or even entire railway stations of historical importance. Therefore, there arises a need to transform these facilities – as well as their nearby surroundings – into service areas not only for railway passengers but also for the consumer or tourist. This article presents an overview of the types of development of functional and spatial areas around a railway station, as well as the building itself, on selected examples in cities of Poland. In past historical periods, the surroundings of railway stations often became the new core of the studied centres, creating new urban structures. Train station forecourts, as well as access roads leading to railway stations, became specific links of railway infrastructure, the main points of which were railway stations, with the original urban layout. Unfortunately, the decline in the importance of rail transport has contributed to the recession and degradation of these spaces, and often to changes in their functions. This article refers to the concept of redevelopment of the railway station area, which emphasizes the creation of hubs integrating various modes of transport on the one hand, and transforming the area around the stations into an area of development of new business activities, on the other. Some of the discussed train stations have undergone a thorough renovation (e.g. Kraków Główny, Katowice and Poznań Główny, frequently in an attempt to allude to global trends in the commercialization of space and transport integration within station squares. However, this poses a problem and a challenge for decision-makers attempting to redevelop such facilities and the spaces associated with them.

Railway capacity and expansion analysis using time discretized paths

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reinhardt, Line Blander; Pisinger, David; Lusby, Richard Martin

2017-01-01

of railway freight transportation on a long term strategic level. The model uses an hourly time discretization and analyses the impact of railway network expansions based on future demand forecasts. It provides an optimal macroscopic freight train schedule and can indicate the time and place of any...... variable penalties for the different passenger busy time slots. As part of a European Union project, all models are applied to a realistic case study that focuses on analyzing the capacity of railway network, in Denmark and Southern Sweden using demand forecasts for 2030. Results suggest that informative...

Research on Price of Railway Freight Based on Low-Carbon Economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fenling Feng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Transportation is one of the major energy consumption and carbon emission industries. Railway transport is a typical low-carbon transport. To accelerate the green low-carbon transportation development and improve the railway market share, this paper defines the concept of carbon saving profit to study the price of railway freight after the government functions were separated from railway enterprise management. First, taking full account of market factors and on the principle of utility maximization and maximum likelihood method, the sharing ratio model of transportation modes is established. Then consideration is given to both the profit of railway enterprises and social benefits, and income maximization model of railway freight based on low-carbon economy is established. The model can scientifically guide the transportation users who prefer to use resource-saving and environmental-friendly transportation modes, optimize transportation structure, and comprehensively improve the efficiency of transportation system. Finally, case analysis is conducted to verify the rationality and validity of the model, and reference for the rail freight pricing is provided.

Modelling of a Double-Track Railway Contact System Electric Field Intensity

Science.gov (United States)

Belinsky, Stanislav; Khanzhina, Olga; Sidorov, Alexander

2017-12-01

Working conditions of personnel that serves contact system (CS) are affected by factors including health and safety, security and working hours (danger of rolling stock accidents, danger of electric shock strokes, work at height, severity and tension of work, increased noise level, etc.) Low frequency electromagnetic fields as part of both electric and magnetic fields are among of the most dangerous and harmful factors. These factors can affect not only the working personnel, but also a lot of people, who do not work with the contact system itself, but could be influenced by electromagnetic field as the result of their professional activity. People, who use public transport or live not far from the electrified lines, are endangered by these factors as well. There are results of the theoretical researches in which low frequency electric fields of railway contact system were designed with the use of mathematical and computer modelling. Significant features of electric field distribution near double-track railway in presence or absence of human body were established. The studies showed the dependence of low frequency electric field parameters on the distance to the track axis, height, and presence or absence of human body. The obtained data were compared with permissible standards established in the Russian Federation and other countries with advanced electrified railway system. Evaluation of low frequency electric fields harmful effect on personnel is the main result of this work. It is also established, that location of personnel, voltage and current level, amount of tracks and other factors influence electric fields of contact systems.

Development of a Comprehensive Programme to Prevent and Reduce the Negative Impact of Railway Fatalities, Injuries and Close Calls on Railway Employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Bardon, Cécile; Mishara, Brian L

2015-09-01

This article presents a strategy to prevent trauma, support and care for railway personnel who experience critical incidents (CI) on the job, usually fatalities by accident or suicide. We reviewed all publications on CI management, support and care practices in the railway industry, as well as practices in place in Canada (unpublished protocols). Semi structured interviews were conducted with 40 train engineers and conductors involved in CIs and the content was coded and analysed quantitatively. Employees' satisfaction with the help received after the incident varies according to the behaviour of the local manager, company officers and police, the level of compliance with existing company protocols to help them, the presence of unmet expectations for support and care, their perceived competency of clinicians they consulted and the level of trust toward their employers. On the basis of the interview results, the review of existing railway practices and discussions with railway stakeholders, a model protocol was developed for a comprehensive workplace prevention, support and care protocol to reduce the negative impact of railway critical incidents on employees. This protocol includes preventive actions before traumatic events occur, immediate responses at the site of incident, interventions within the first few days after the incident and longer term support and interventions provided by the company and by outsourced experts.

Disruption Management of Rolling Stock in Passenger Railway Transportation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.K. Nielsen (Lars Kjaer); G. Maróti (Gábor)

2009-01-01

textabstractThis paper deals with real-time disruption management of rolling stock in passenger railway transportation. We present a generic framework for modeling disruptions in railway rolling stock schedules. The framework is presented as an online combinatorial decision problem where the

Efficient Development and Verification of Safe Railway Control Software

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth; Peleska, Jan

2013-01-01

the monitoring process; hydraulic absorbers as dampers to dissipate the energy of oscillations in railway electric equipment; development of train fare calculation and adjustment systems using VDM++; efficient development and verification of safe railway control software; and evolution of the connectivity...

Passenger oriented railway disruption management by adapting timetables and rolling stock schedules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veelenturf, L.P.; Kroon, L.G.; Maróti, G.

2017-01-01

In passenger railway operations, unforeseen events require railway operators to adjust their timetable and their resource schedules. The passengers will also adapt their routes to their destinations. When determining the new timetable and rolling stock schedule, the railway operator has to take

Automatic Rail Extraction and Celarance Check with a Point Cloud Captured by Mls in a Railway

Science.gov (United States)

Niina, Y.; Honma, R.; Honma, Y.; Kondo, K.; Tsuji, K.; Hiramatsu, T.; Oketani, E.

2018-05-01

Recently, MLS (Mobile Laser Scanning) has been successfully used in a road maintenance. In this paper, we present the application of MLS for the inspection of clearance along railway tracks of West Japan Railway Company. Point clouds around the track are captured by MLS mounted on a bogie and rail position can be determined by matching the shape of the ideal rail head with respect to the point cloud by ICP algorithm. A clearance check is executed automatically with virtual clearance model laid along the extracted rail. As a result of evaluation, the accuracy of extracting rail positions is less than 3 mm. With respect to the automatic clearance check, the objects inside the clearance and the ones related to a contact line is successfully detected by visual confirmation.

Electromagnetic compatibility in railways. Analysis and management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ogunsola, Ade [Parsons Group International, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Mariscotti, Andrea [Genoa Univ. (Italy)

2013-07-01

Recent research on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) applied to railway systems. Focuses on the principles and application of EMC concepts to railway signalling, communications, power/traction and rolling stocks. Written by leading experts in the field. A railway is a complex distributed engineering system: the construction of a new railway or the modernisation of a existing one requires a deep understanding of the constitutive components and their interaction, inside the system itself and towards the outside world. The former covers the various subsystems (featuring a complex mix of high power sources, sensitive safety critical systems, intentional transmitters, etc.) and their interaction, including the specific functions and their relevance to safety. The latter represents all the additional possible external victims and sources of electromagnetic interaction. EMC thus starts from a comprehension of the emissions and immunity characteristics and the interactions between sources and victims, with a strong relationship to electromagnetics and to system modeling. On the other hand, the said functions are achieved and preserved and their relevance for safety is adequately handled, if the related requirements are well posed and managed throughout the process from the beginning. The link is represented by standards and their correct application, as a support to analysis, testing and demonstration.

Lateral dynamic features of a railway vehicle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, Xue-jun; True, Hans; Li, Ying-hui

2016-01-01

The lateral dynamic features of a railway vehicle are investigated using two similar wheel/rail contact models: the Vermeulen-Johnson and the Shen-Hedrick-Elkins models. The symmetric/asymmetric bifurcation behaviour and chaotic motions of the railway vehicle are investigated in great detail......, resulting in problems for safe operation of the vehicle. Therefore, it should be avoided in everyday operation. Furthermore, the creation of multiple solution branches suggests that the critical speed of a vehicle should be determined from a comprehensive analysis of the various kinds of possible...... by varying the speed and using the resultant bifurcation diagram' method. It is found that multiple solution branches exist and they can lead to more steady states in the dynamic behaviour of the railway vehicle. The coexistence of multiple steady states can lead to jumps in the amplitude of oscillations...

Nondestructive tests for railway monitoring. European Experience in COST Action TU1208

Science.gov (United States)

Fontul, Simona; Solla, Mercedes; Loizos, Andreas

2016-04-01

The railway monitoring is an important issue for a proper maintenance planning. With the increase in loads and travel speed, it is important to be able to diagnose the track defects and to plan the proper maintenance without interfering with the users. Traditionally, the maintenance actions are planned based on the geometric level parameters assessed without contact with the line, at traffic speed, by dedicated inspection vehicles. Nevertheless, the geometric condition of the line does not provide information on the defects causes. In order to complements the information on the causes, geophysics measurements can be performed in a nondestructive way. Among these later methods, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a quick and effective technique to evaluate infrastructure condition in a continuous manner, replacing or reducing the use of traditional drilling method. GPR application to railways infrastructures, during construction and monitoring phase, is relatively recent. It is based on the measuring of layers thicknesses and detection of structural changes. It also enables the assessment of materials properties that constitute the infrastructure and the evaluation of the different types of defects such as ballast pockets, fouled ballast, poor drainage, subgrade settlement and transitions problems. These deteriorations are generally the causes of vertical deviations in track geometry. Moreover, the development of new GPR systems with higher antenna frequencies, better data acquisition systems, more user friendly software and new algorithms for calculation of materials properties can lead to a regular use of GPR. A resume of the European experience in COST Action TU1208 of the application of GPR for railway monitoring and the measurement interpretation is presented in this paper. Also complementary nondestructive tests and other geophysical methods are referred, together with case studies of their application. The main troubleshooting and the needs for data analysis

High speed railway track dynamics models, algorithms and applications

CERN Document Server

Lei, Xiaoyan

2017-01-01

This book systematically summarizes the latest research findings on high-speed railway track dynamics, made by the author and his research team over the past decade. It explores cutting-edge issues concerning the basic theory of high-speed railways, covering the dynamic theories, models, algorithms and engineering applications of the high-speed train and track coupling system. Presenting original concepts, systematic theories and advanced algorithms, the book places great emphasis on the precision and completeness of its content. The chapters are interrelated yet largely self-contained, allowing readers to either read through the book as a whole or focus on specific topics. It also combines theories with practice to effectively introduce readers to the latest research findings and developments in high-speed railway track dynamics. It offers a valuable resource for researchers, postgraduates and engineers in the fields of civil engineering, transportation, highway & railway engineering.

Energy efficient solutions for the complete railway system; Energieeffiziente Loesungen fuer das Gesamtsystem Bahn

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meinert, M.; Rechenberg, K.; Hein, G. [Siemens AG, Erlangen (Germany)

2007-07-01

Innovative technologies for the power supply of electric railway vehicles by stationary and mobile devices allow to operate the complete railway system in an energy efficient manner and therefore reduce the energy consumption considerably. So it is necessary to examine the power supply of the railway network as well as the railway vehicles and their own operational behaviour within the railway network. A complete tramway system was choosen as one example. (orig.)

30 CFR 75.705-1 - Work on high-voltage lines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Work on high-voltage lines. 75.705-1 Section 75... AND HEALTH MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Grounding § 75.705-1 Work on high-voltage lines. (a) Section 75.705 specifically prohibits work on energized high-voltage lines underground; (b...

Dynamic modelling of high speed ballasted railway trakcs: Analysis of the behaviour

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallego, I.; Rivas, A.; Sanchez-Cambronero, S.; Lajara, J.

2016-07-01

The aim of the paper is to present a numerical model for a ballasted railway track that includes the dynamic effect of a moving train load and predicts the values of the vertical stiffness of the infrastructure. This model is therefore deemed to be a tool for the evaluation of the state of the track during service situations as well as a predictive model of the behaviour of the system. Consequently, it will be very useful when sizing the cross section of a new railway line is required.The main modelling tool is the finite element method. In regard to this, the application of damping elements to avoid the elastic wave reflection on the boundaries of the numerical domain will be studied. The proposed dynamic analysis consider the change in time of the value of the train load, but not the change in position along the tracks.In the end, a set of suggestions for the numerical model with moving loads will be summarize aiming for the mitigation of the unusual behaviour of the contact surface between the ballast and the sleepers. (Author)

THE RESULTS OF THE DEFECT PLACES INVESTIGATION OF DONETSK RAILWAY ROAD BED BY GROUND PENETRATING RADAR COMPLEX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. D. Petrenko

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Defective places definition of road bed at ground penetrating radar is examined. Methodology. For achievement of this goal the experimental research on ground penetrating radar inspection of road bed defective places of the Donetsk Railway, which are caused by a complex of various reasons of geotechnical and constructive character, were conducted. Findings. According to these diagnostic results of road bed on the three districts of the Donetsk Railway is revealed the main causes which lead to the defects appearance, deformities and injuries in it, there is abuse of process parameters and modify its physic mechanical soil properties of natural and technology-related factors. As it is established, the use of ground penetrating radar of series “Losa” on the railways of Ukraine allows searching ballast tank in the body of road bed, defining damp places in soil road bed and foundations, to find arrangement of foreign matter in the soil road bed and work search heterogeneity and places weakening soil. In addition, the use of ground penetrating radar provides rapid detection of defects, deformation and damage of railway track, especially in areas the most dangerous for rolling stock that creates the high level security at the main and auxiliary lines of Ukrzaliznytsia. In conducting the research was justified the high level of reliability and performance with autonomous use of ground penetrating radar. Originality. In modern conditions of defects determination, deformations and damages by traditional methods with application of engineering-geological investigations, it is impossible in connection with their insufficient efficiency. Therefore the using of highly effective methodology of expeditious tool identification of defective places allows reducing significantly the periods of repair of a railway track which is very important for introduction of the high-speed movement on the Ukrainian Railways. Practical value. On the basis of the

Investigating High-Speed Railways In Terms Of The Economy For Our Country and The Region

OpenAIRE

Şahin, Onur; Altan, Mehmet Fatih

2018-01-01

High-speed railways have a history of more than 40 years. Railways continued to be popular especially in variousparts of Eastern Europe and Asia until the end of the 1980s. As of today, we can talk about a high-speed railway thatcontinues to develop in the continents of Africa, Asia and the Americas around the world. At this point, one of themost significant factors in railways, in particular high-speed railways, is planning. Planning determines the effect ofthe railway on the economy, as wel...

Testing the quality of underground transport in Bucharest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Statescu Alexandru

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In a city with overcrowded traffic, a component of the common transport is Bucharest transportation of metro (subway passenger transport on the railway network underground and surface and is the core activity of METROREX S.A. The company aims each year a greater number of passengers according to the charts of the movement of subway trains to ensure adequate transport capacity as required and optimal conditions of comfort and safety. Each year, the company aims to find out the opinion of passengers on the transport conditions and, in this respect, organize a survey with the aim of testing the quality of underground transport in Bucharest in 16 subway stations considered to be representative. In this paper I intend to do an analysis using statistical research methods, of the quality of underground transport in Bucharest, using data from the survey conducted in the year 2014. Data collection in the stations was realized through 32 operators, by 2 in each station (one in each direction of travel by completing questionnaires (using interview technique or face to face technique, using a sample considered representative of 2,400 travelers with a margin of error of ± 2% on a 95% probability level. Data collection was made during the period when passenger traffic is large enough to provide a good representation of data and cover the entire program running underground. The questionnaire contains eight questions that have allowed those who responded to the survey to fit in the time between trains in circulation. In 2016, the structure of the questionnaire was modified, questions were modified for a more effective assessment of characteristics of observation. The answers to the questions contained in the questionnaire were collected by operators in the 16 subway stations: Piața Unirii 1 and 2, Piața Victoriei 1 and 2, Dristor 2, Nicolae Grigorescu, Universitate, Piața Sudului, Pipera, Eroilor, Gara de Nord 1, Obor, Crângași, Pantelimon, Parc Bazilescu

Railway track circuit fault diagnosis using recurrent neural networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Bruin, T.D.; Verbert, K.A.J.; Babuska, R.

2017-01-01

Timely detection and identification of faults in railway track circuits are crucial for the safety and availability of railway networks. In this paper, the use of the long-short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network is proposed to accomplish these tasks based on the commonly available

Improving Punctuality and Transfer Reliability by Railway Timetable Optimization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goverde, R.M.P.

1999-01-01

The Dutch railway network is operated close to capacity with the current safety system. This leaves little space for control by process operators by which a delayed train can cause severe delay propagation. The NS currently invest a large amount in punctuality improvement of the railway operations.

A Domain-Specific Language for Railway Interlocking Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vu, Linh Hong; Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth; Peleska, Jan

2014-01-01

). Furthermore, the paper describes an interlocking table generator (ITG) that generates automatically a well-formed interlocking table from a well-formed railway network layout. Experiments with the DSL and ITG using the RAISE tools and the C++ implementation show that the use of the DSL and ITG can increase...... the productivity and significantly reduce errors in the specifications of railway interlocking systems....

Modeling of coupled thermodynamic and geomechanical performance of underground compressed air energy storage in lined rock caverns

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rutqvist, Jonny; Kim, Hyung-Mok; Ryu, Dong-Woo; Synn, Joong-Ho; Song, Won-Kyong

2012-06-01

We applied coupled nonisothermal, multiphase fluid flow and geomechanical numerical modeling to study the coupled thermodynamic and geomechanical performance of underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) in concrete-lined rock caverns. The paper focuses on CAES in lined caverns at relatively shallow depth (e.g., 100 m depth) in which a typical CAES operational pressure of 5 to 8 MPa is significantly higher than both ambient fluid pressure and in situ stress. We simulated a storage operation that included cyclic compression and decompression of air in the cavern, and investigated how pressure, temperature and stress evolve over several months of operation. We analyzed two different lining options, both with a 50 cm thick low permeability concrete lining, but in one case with an internal synthetic seal such as steel or rubber. For our simulated CAES system, the thermodynamic analysis showed that 96.7% of the energy injected during compression could be recovered during subsequent decompression, while 3.3% of the energy was lost by heat conduction to the surrounding media. Our geomechanical analysis showed that tensile effective stresses as high as 8 MPa could develop in the lining as a result of the air pressure exerted on the inner surface of the lining, whereas thermal stresses were relatively smaller and compressive. With the option of an internal synthetic seal, the maximum effective tensile stress was reduced from 8 to 5 MPa, but was still in substantial tension. We performed one simulation in which the tensile tangential stresses resulted in radial cracks and air leakage though the lining. This air leakage, however, was minor (about 0.16% of the air mass loss from one daily compression) in terms of CAES operational efficiency, and did not significantly impact the overall energy balance of the system. However, despite being minor in terms of energy balance, the air leakage resulted in a distinct pressure increase in the surrounding rock that could be

Modeling track access charge to enhance railway industry performance

Science.gov (United States)

Berawi, Mohammed Ali; Miraj, Perdana; Berawi, Abdur Rohim Boy; Susantono, Bambang; Leviakangas, Pekka; Radiansyah, Hendra

2017-11-01

Indonesia attempts to improve nation's competitiveness by increasing the quality and the availability of railway network. However, the infrastructure improperly managed by the operator in terms of the technical issue. One of the reasons for this problem is an unbalanced value of infrastructure charge. In 2000's track access charge and infrastructure maintenance and operation for Indonesia railways are equal and despite current formula of the infrastructure charge, issues of transparency and accountability still in question. This research aims to produce an alternative scheme of track access charge by considering marginal cost plus markup (MC+) approach. The research combines qualitative and quantitative method through an in-depth interview and financial analysis. The result will generate alternative formula of infrastructure charge in Indonesia's railway industry. The simulation also conducted to estimate track access charge for the operator and to forecast government support in terms of subsidy. The result is expected to enhance railway industry performance and competitiveness.

The liberalisation of the railways in Europe

OpenAIRE

Trampus, Francesca

2000-01-01

It is certainly high time to talk about policy for the railways not only in the Russian Federation but also in Europe, where the railways are vital part of the Community transport sector and need to be promoted and revitalized, especially considering the increasing air-traffic and railroad congestion, the environmental problems, the traffic noise, the accidents and the growing opposition to the unchecked development of the new road infrastructure. Railtrack’s business is supported by state-fu...

11th International Workshop on Railway Noise

CERN Document Server

Anderson, David; Gautier, Pierre-Etienne; Iida, Masanobu; Nelson, James; Thompson, David; Tielkes, Thorsten; Towers, David; Vos, Paul

2015-01-01

The book reports on the 11th International Workshop on Railway Noise, held on 9 – 13 September, 2013, in Uddevalla, Sweden. The event, which was jointly organized by the Competence Centre Chalmers Railway Mechanics (CHARMEC) and the Departments of Applied Mechanics and Applied Acoustics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, covered a broad range of topics in the field of railway noise and vibration, including: prospects, legal regulations and perceptions; wheel and rail noise; prediction, measurements and monitoring; ground-borne vibration; squeal noise and structure-borne noise; and aerodynamic noise generated by high-speed trains. Further topics included: resilient track forms; grinding, corrugation and roughness; and interior noise and sound barriers. This book, which consists of a collection of peer-reviewed papers originally submitted to the workshop, not only provides readers with an overview of the latest developments in the field, but also offers scientists and engineers essent...

Traffic control on a railway crossing with elements of utility theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abramova L.S.

2016-08-01

Full Text Available An approach to the management of vehicles at a railway crossing in order to improve the road safety is considered. To do this, it is suggested to introduce the dynamic motion control modes on the road, which consist in reducing the speed at a certain distance from the railway crossing and depends on its condition. The value of the recommended speed is displayed on the managed road signs and is calculated in real-time traffic controller at the railway crossing control point. The mark location is determined based on traffic intensity equalization that affects both the traffic intensity of the railway crossing and the road section on the approach to it. To analyze such events directed to improve the traffic on level crossings it is suggested to use the elements of utility theory to further develop the traffic control algorithm. For this purpose there was built a decision tree for the existing conditions at the railway crossing and at the introduction of the dynamic management, which indicates the result of decision taken by the change in the selected criteria of efficiency of traffic management at the railway crossing. Such an approach can reduce the number of road accidents and to increase the capacity of vehicular traffic at a particular road section to the technical means of attracting the driver's attention to the complex road by forced reduction in speed not only before the railway crossing, but also in at the approach to it.

Railway station structures designed for densely populated urban areas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vákár, L.I.; Snijder, H.H.

2001-01-01

Recently, the interest in public transit increased because of its contribution in solving the problem in mobility. This resulted in a worldwide need for building new railway stations and expanding existing ones. A railway station forms no longer a building on its own, but part of a larger complex.

[Scale effect of Li-Xiang Railway construction impact on landscape pattern and its ecological risk].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, De-zhi; Qiu, Peng-hua; Fang, Yuan-min

2015-08-01

As a large corridor project, plateau railway has multiple points and passes various sensitive environments along the railway. The determination of the scope of impact on ecological environment from railway construction is often controversial in ecological impact assessment work. Taking the Tangbu-Jiantang section of Li-Xiang Railway as study object, and using present land use map (1:10000) in 2012 and DEM as data sources, corridor cutting degree index ( CCI) and cumulative effect index of corridor (CCEI) were established by topology, buffer zone and landscape metrics methods. Besides, the ecological risk index used for railway construction was improved. By quantitative analysis of characteristics of the spatio-temporal change of landscape pattern and its evolution style at different spatial scales before and after railway construction, the most appropriate evaluation scale of the railway was obtained. Then the characteristics of the spatio-temporal variation of ecological risk within this scale before and after railway construction were analyzed. The results indicated that the cutting model and degree of railway corridor to various landscape types could be effectively reflected by CCI, and the exposure and harm relations between risk sources and risk receptors of railway can be measured by CCEI. After the railway construction, the railway corridor would cause a great deal of middle cutting effect on the landscape along the railroad, which would influence wood land and grassland landscape most greatly, while would cause less effect of edge cutting and internal cutting. Landscape indices within the 600 m buffer zone demonstrated the most obvious scale effect, therefore, the 600 m zone of the railway was set as the most suitable range of ecological impact assessment. Before railway construction, the low ecological risk level covered the biggest part of the 600 m assessment zone. However, after the railway construction, the ecological risk increased significantly, and

Traffic and transport technology-road, railway, and water-borne transportation

Science.gov (United States)

1990-01-01

This is "Part 2: Case Studies - Chapter 9" of the book, "The Japanese Experience in Technology", and includes the following subsections: Modernization and the railway; The transportation network; Issues in railway policy; Original design and producti...

Smart current collector—fibre optic hit detection system for improved security on railway tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schröder, Kerstin; Ecke, Wolfgang; Kautz, Michael; Rothhardt, Manfred; Willett, Simon; Unterwaditzer, Hansjörg; Bosselmann, Thomas

2013-01-01

In a deregulated EU railway market, monitoring the vehicle and infrastructure interfaces is mandatory for the enhanced availability of operation and for reducing costs. Therefore, infrastructure managers need monitoring tools on overhead contact lines (OCLs). We know from earlier investigations that a measurement of contact forces alone is not sufficient (Schröder et al 2013 Opt. Lasers Eng. 51 172–9). In this study, we introduce a system which is fast enough to detect short disturbances and which can be used with regular trains. It is based on fibre optic sensors integrated with conventional current collectors (CCs). The system is designed to monitor hard and soft hits on the CC in horizontal (driving) and vertical (contact) direction. It was systematically tested in the laboratory as well as in test runs on commercial railways in several countries. With its help, a variety of minor as well as serious defects have been discovered and repaired at the CC–OCL interface. (paper)

A Bayesian Network methodology for railway risk, safety and decision support

OpenAIRE

Mahboob, Qamar

2014-01-01

For railways, risk analysis is carried out to identify hazardous situations and their consequences. Until recently, classical methods such as Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) were applied in modelling the linear and logically deterministic aspects of railway risks, safety and reliability. However, it has been proven that modern railway systems are rather complex, involving multi-dependencies between system variables and uncertainties about these dependencies. For train ...

ANALYSIS OF RAILWAY USER TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS OF DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takamasa AKIYAMA

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there have been requirments for a transport environment that will foster the development of safe, comfortable townships. The study of urban activities amid an aging society and effective use of public transport modes in addressing environmental problems have become particularly important issues. This study analyzes travel behaviour patterns of varying age groups using urban railways in order to examine the relationship between urban public transport use and urban activities. specifically, it analyzes the composition of urban activity and travel behaviour patterns among urban railway users in the Keihanshin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. This paper looks at urban activities within aging societies and identifies the differences in travel behaviour of railway users by separating them into young, middle aged and senior citizen age groups. Analysis makes particular use of the Railway station Database, which is a compilation of existing studies into attributes of railway stations and their surroundings, and results of person trip surveys. Rail use behaviour characteristics have been sorted by age group because mobility via urban railway systems is varied by age group. As a result, differences in railway usage patterns (travel objectives, distance and time, and number of transfers, etc. have been identified and so too have differences in urban activity patterns related to free activities (shopping, recreation. Furthermore, the study developed a travel behaviour pattern estimation model which is capable of categorizing specific transport behaviour patterns and estimating rail users and transport behaviour patterns from the relationship with areas surrounding railway stations to ensure future mobility by public transport for older age groups. The results make it possible to put forward proposals for urban rail services that will facilitate urban activities for the different age groups. Eventually, it will be possible to understand

Network effects in railways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landex, Alex

2012-01-01

Railway operation is often affected by network effects as a change in one part of the network can influence other parts of the network. Network effects occur because the train runs may be quite long and since the railway system has a high degree of interdependencies as trains cannot cross....../overtake each other everywhere in the network. First this paper describes network effects in general (section 1). In section 2 the network effects for trains and how they can be measured by scheduled waiting time is described. When the trains are affected by network effects the passengers are also affected....... Therefore, sections 3 and 4 describe the network effects for passengers and how they can be measured using passenger delay models. Before the concluding remarks in section 6, section 5 discusses how the operation can be improved by examining network effects in the planning process. © 2012 WIT Press....

Enrichment and Bioavailability of Trace Elements in Soil in Vicinity of Railways in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhen; Watanabe, Izumi; Ozaki, Hirozaku; Zhang, Jianqiang

2018-01-01

This study focuses on the concentrations, distribution, pollution levels, and bioavailability of 12 trace elements in soils along 6 different railways in Japan. Three diesel powered railways and three electricity powered railways were chosen as target. Surface soils (railways for analysis. Digestion and extraction were performed before concentration and bioavailability analysis. Enrichment factor was applied to investigate contamination levels of selected elements. The mean concentrations of Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sn, and Pb in soil samples were higher than soil background value in Japan. Concentrations of trace elements in soils along different railway had different characteristics. Horizontal distribution of Cu, Zn, Cd, Sn, and Pb in soil samples showed obviously downtrend with distance along railways with high frequency. Concentrations of V, Mn, Fe, and Co were higher in soils along railways which pass through city center. According to principal component analysis and cluster analysis, concentrations of Cu, Zn, Sn, and Pb could be considered as the indicators of soil contamination level along electricity powered trains, whereas indicators along diesel powered trains were not clear. Enrichment factor analysis proved that operation of freight trains had impact on pollution level of Cr, Ni, and Cd. Bioavailability of Mn, Co, Zn, and Cd in soil along electricity-powered railways were higher, and bioavailability of Pb in railways located in countryside was lower. Thus, enrichment and bioavailability of trace elements can be indicators of railway-originated trace elements pollution in soil.

Combined Effects of High-Speed Railway Noise and Ground Vibrations on Annoyance.

Science.gov (United States)

Yokoshima, Shigenori; Morihara, Takashi; Sato, Tetsumi; Yano, Takashi

2017-07-27

The Shinkansen super-express railway system in Japan has greatly increased its capacity and has expanded nationwide. However, many inhabitants in areas along the railways have been disturbed by noise and ground vibration from the trains. Additionally, the Shinkansen railway emits a higher level of ground vibration than conventional railways at the same noise level. These findings imply that building vibrations affect living environments as significantly as the associated noise. Therefore, it is imperative to quantify the effects of noise and vibration exposures on each annoyance under simultaneous exposure. We performed a secondary analysis using individual datasets of exposure and community response associated with Shinkansen railway noise and vibration. The data consisted of six socio-acoustic surveys, which were conducted separately over the last 20 years in Japan. Applying a logistic regression analysis to the datasets, we confirmed the combined effects of vibration/noise exposure on noise/vibration annoyance. Moreover, we proposed a representative relationship between noise and vibration exposures, and the prevalence of each annoyance associated with the Shinkansen railway.

Existing Steel Railway Bridges Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Vičan, Josef; Gocál, Jozef; Odrobiňák, Jaroslav; Koteš, Peter

2016-12-01

The article describes general principles and basis of evaluation of existing railway bridges based on the concept of load-carrying capacity determination. Compared to the design of a new bridge, the modified reliability level for existing bridges evaluation should be considered due to implementation of the additional data related to bridge condition and behaviour obtained from regular inspections. Based on those data respecting the bridge remaining lifetime, a modification of partial safety factors for actions and materials could be respected in the bridge evaluation process. A great attention is also paid to the specific problems of determination of load-caring capacity of steel railway bridges in service. Recommendation for global analysis and methodology for existing steel bridge superstructure load-carrying capacity determination are described too.

Management of low adhesion on railway tracks in European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thommesen, Jacob; Duijm, Nijs Jan; Andersen, Henning Boje

with purely technical aspects of e.g. braking and WSP systems, but focus on the implied requirements for organisations and drivers. The report is largely based on literature describing measures taken by existing railway organisations, comprising, besides a few journal article, largely reports by railway...... incident in 2011 in Denmark and the braking ability of a specific type of train (Havarikommissionen 2012), but since expanded to encompass general problems with low adhesion (Nielsen et al. 2012). This report thus addresses problems that are already well‐known to Danish railway organisations...

Multi-Range Conditional Random Field for Classifying Railway Electrification System Objects Using Mobile Laser Scanning Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaewook Jung

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Railways have been used as one of the most crucial means of transportation in public mobility and economic development. For safe railway operation, the electrification system in the railway infrastructure, which supplies electric power to trains, is an essential facility for stable train operation. Due to its important role, the electrification system needs to be rigorously and regularly inspected and managed. This paper presents a supervised learning method to classify Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS data into ten target classes representing overhead wires, movable brackets and poles, which are key objects in the electrification system. In general, the layout of the railway electrification system shows strong spatial regularity relations among object classes. The proposed classifier is developed based on Conditional Random Field (CRF, which characterizes not only labeling homogeneity at short range, but also the layout compatibility between different object classes at long range in the probabilistic graphical model. This multi-range CRF model consists of a unary term and three pairwise contextual terms. In order to gain computational efficiency, MLS point clouds are converted into a set of line segments to which the labeling process is applied. Support Vector Machine (SVM is used as a local classifier considering only node features for producing the unary potentials of the CRF model. As the short-range pairwise contextual term, the Potts model is applied to enforce a local smoothness in the short-range graph; while long-range pairwise potentials are designed to enhance the spatial regularities of both horizontal and vertical layouts among railway objects. We formulate two long-range pairwise potentials as the log posterior probability obtained by the naive Bayes classifier. The directional layout compatibilities are characterized in probability look-up tables, which represent the co-occurrence rate of spatial relations in the horizontal and vertical

The Ginghai-Tibet railway and Tibet tourism: travelers' perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Ming Ming Su; Geoffrey Wall

2009-01-01

The Qinghai-Tibet railway opened in July 2006 and boosted Tibetan tourism markedly by increasing the accessibility and affordability of travel from China to Tibet. This study evaluates the railway's impacts on tourists' travel decisions and experiences in Tibet. The relative importance of the train journey in comparison with the destination experience in...

The Penarroya mining railway; El Ferrocaril minero de Penarroya

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grado Contreras, J. I. de

2009-07-01

The French Society Miniere et Metallurgique de Panarroya mining railway, 241 km long, was the second largest private narrow gauge railway in Spain. Located in the inland. linked the coal and galena mines with foundries and also with the national railroads grid, to transport the minerals to national and foreign markets. (Author)

UNDERGROUND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1993-11-15

Full text: Cossetted deep underground, sheltered from cosmic ray noise, has always been a favourite haunt of neutrino physicists. Already in the 1930s, significant limits were obtained by taking a geiger counter down in Holborn 'tube' station, one of the deepest in London's underground system. Since then, neutrino physicists have popped up in many unlikely places - gold mines, salt mines, and road tunnels deep under mountain chains. Two such locations - the 1MB (Irvine/ Michigan/Brookhaven) detector 600 metres below ground in an Ohio salt mine, and the Kamiokande apparatus 1000m underground 300 km west of Tokyo - picked up neutrinos on 23 February 1987 from the famous 1987A supernova. Purpose-built underground laboratories have made life easier, notably the Italian Gran Sasso Laboratory near Rome, 1.4 kilometres below the surface, and the Russian Baksan Neutrino Observatory under Mount Andyrchi in the Caucasus range. Gran Sasso houses ICARUS (April, page 15), Gallex, Borexino, Macro and the LVD Large Volume Detector, while Baksan is the home of the SAGE gallium-based solar neutrino experiment. Elsewhere, important ongoing underground neutrino experiments include Soudan II in the US (April, page 16), the Canadian Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with its heavy water target (January 1990, page 23), and Superkamiokande in Japan (May 1991, page 8)

Vibration Monitoring of a Large Scale Heavy Haul Railway Viaduct

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Busatta Fulvio

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In South Africa, heavy haul railway transport was introduced in the mid-1970s for the Iron Ore and the Coal Export lines. In recent decades, the expansion of existing mines, new markets and the competition of iron ore- and coal-exporting countries have led owners and operators to progressively increase the capacity of the export lines. On the one hand, operational efficiencies have been improved; on the other hand, a significant increase of the rail traffic has been experienced. Thus, bridges along the export lines are now crossed by heavier and longer trains with more frequent train passages than in the past. Increasing train loading might lead to significant consequences on structures such as dynamic amplifications and reduction of service life due to fatigue. Hence dynamic assessment and monitoring of the structural condition of bridges under actual train loading are becoming more relevant to support decision making processes. The paper presents the investigations carried out on the Olifants River Viaduct, a critical structure along the Iron Ore Export Line, in order to implement a state-of-the-art vibration monitoring system.

ESCORT enhanced diversity and space coding for underground metro and railway transmission - IST 1999-20006 - D2021 report - Final user needs report amendments

OpenAIRE

BERBINEAU, M; GOMEZ, V; GAVIGAN, P

2002-01-01

The D2021 report has presented the final user needs definition of the RATP underground (France) and of the Bilbao (Spain). These two underground operators have merged in a same approach the final users needs in wireless communications concerning the track to train communications (voice and data services), the requirements for ground staff (maintenance personnel, garage and station personnel, administration and management personnel) but also the future needs concerning the passenger informatio...

Contact wire positions and contact forces. Measurements at high-speed lines in China; Fahrdrahtlage und Kontaktkraefte. Messungen an Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecken in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heland, Joerg; Rick, Frank; Sarnes, Bernhard [DB Systemtechnik GmbH, Muenchen (Germany); Puschmann, Rainer [Siemens AG, Erlangen (Germany). Infrastructure and Cities

2012-07-15

The reliable energy transmission from overhead contact line to pantograph of traction units without interruption decides on the successful operation of high-speed railway lines. Measurements of contact wire position and contact forces are suited to assess interaction of overhead contact line and pantograph. Chinese Railways actually implement the biggest electrification program for high-speed lines worldwide. For these projects contact wire position and contact forces are monitored by procedures developed in Germany. The experience confirms that keeping the contact wire position within the specified limits lead to a superior energy transmission up to 350 km/h. (orig.)

Proposal of an intelligent wayside monitoring system for detection of critical ice accumulations on railway vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Michelberger, Frank; Wagner, Adrian; Ostermann, Michael; Maly, Thomas

2017-09-01

At railway lines with ballasted tracks, under unfavourable conditions, the so-called flying ballast can occur predominantly for trains driving at high speeds. Especially in wintertime, it is highly likely that the causes are adhered snow or ice deposits, which are falling off the vehicle. Due to the high kinetic energy, the impact can lead to the removal of ballast stones from the structure of the ballasted track. If the stones reach the height of vehicles underside, they may be accelerated significantly due to the collision with the vehicle or may detach further ice blocks. In the worst case, a reinforcing effect occurs, which can lead to considerable damage to railway vehicles (under-floor-area, vehicle exteriors, etc.) and infrastructure (signal masts, noise barriers, etc.). Additionally the flying gravel is a significant danger to people in the nearby area of the tracks. With this feasibility study the applicability and meaningfulness of an intelligent monitoring system for identification of the critical ice accumulation to prevent the ballast fly induced by ice dropping was examined. The key findings of the research are that the detection of ice on railway vehicles and the development of an intelligent monitoring seem to be possible with existing technologies, but a proof of concept in terms of field tests is necessary.

Historical flora of Moscow’s Railway Junction (until 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinogradova Yulia Konstantinovna

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article touches upon the biodiversity at the railways. The list of species found within the Moscow Railways (≈300 km from 1851 until today has been compiled based on herbarium data [MHA, MW, LE] and personal observations conducted in 1980-2016. The list of “railways’ flora” includes 1087 taxa from 447 genera of 94 families – this is significantly higher than what is known for the railroads of other regions. A brief comparative analysis with the “railways’ flora” in other regions of the world in respect of the species number, taxonomy and life form spectrum has been performed. The therophytes absolutely prevail in the life-form spectrum (46 percent. The role of the railways as a pathway for alien species has been confirmed. Around 54 percent of all alien plants recorded for the Moscow Region (Moscow and Moscow Region grow along the railways. Several species new for the former USSR territory was found there, as well as many species new for the Moscow Region. The Railways are not only “donors/sources” of alien species, they also act as a refugee area for “the escapees”: over 30 years, Asclepias syriaca has been growing within the section of the Kursk-Moscow railway located near the All-Russian Research Institute of Medical and Aromatic Plants. Galega officinalis, a specie that forms a 200 m2 area of tangled vegetation, was found there, too. A trend when plants fall out of cultivation was established, this is how Sedum hispanicum and S. album emerged. The article also marks the role of the rail slopes as a refugium of rare and endangered plants of the natural flora: some 35 species included in the Red Book of Moscow were found within the area.

Evaluation of ETCS performance with LTE as alternative railway communication network using OPNET

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2013-01-01

GSM-Railways (GSM-R) is a communication mobile network designed to fulfill specific communication needs of railways. GSM-R is being widely deployed across Europe and other countries around the world for providing railway voice and train control services (ETCS). Despite that, GSM-R already shows...

Sweden goes in for railways - an example to Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Killingland, Tore

2004-01-01

It is a sad fact that in their 150th anniversary, with very few exceptions, the Norwegian railways still use the first generation network, which dates back to the late 1800s. Off course, this puts the train at a serious disadvantage in the competition with cars and buses, which run on a third or four generation network of roads. The Norwegian Parliament has cut down on the fuel tax for the road traffic. They might have used this tax to provide much more environmentally friendly transport facilities. Green taxes are a proper means of adapting society to a sustainable way of using energy. The article contrasts the Norwegian policy with the Swedish one. The Swedes are preparing to invest twice as much in railways as in roads for the period of 2004 - 2015, while in Norway three times as much money will be spent on roads as on railways. Politicians in Norway essentially agree to concentrate on the railway, but they do not do it. Conservationists expect a clear change of course in the communications policy, with Sweden as a model

The Railway Transport Cabinet of the Kyiv Commercial Institute: educational activities and library

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afanasievа Z.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the article the history of foundation and activities of the Railway Transport Cabinet of the Kyiv Commercial Institute are recreated and an attempt is made to trace the way of its library book fonds which "has been lost" during the institute numerous transformations.The Railway Transport Cabinet was established as a supportive educational subdivision of the Merchandising Museum of the Kyiv Commercial Institute. Its purpose was to gather materials on railway science from the improved models of railway transport to the rich collection of specialized literature in foreign languages. In this regard a library was organized in a cabinet; it consisted of professional books and documents covering the railway science, railroads organization and operation, various manuals, diagrams etc. The novelty of the publication lies in the disclosure of the history of the Kyiv Commercial Institute Railway Transport Cabinet library, which has not yet been an object of a special book science research.

Railway Crossing Risk Area Detection Using Linear Regression and Terrain Drop Compensation Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wen-Yuan; Wang, Mei; Fu, Zhou-Xing

2014-01-01

Most railway accidents happen at railway crossings. Therefore, how to detect humans or objects present in the risk area of a railway crossing and thus prevent accidents are important tasks. In this paper, three strategies are used to detect the risk area of a railway crossing: (1) we use a terrain drop compensation (TDC) technique to solve the problem of the concavity of railway crossings; (2) we use a linear regression technique to predict the position and length of an object from image processing; (3) we have developed a novel strategy called calculating local maximum Y-coordinate object points (CLMYOP) to obtain the ground points of the object. In addition, image preprocessing is also applied to filter out the noise and successfully improve the object detection. From the experimental results, it is demonstrated that our scheme is an effective and corrective method for the detection of railway crossing risk areas. PMID:24936948

Railway Crossing Risk Area Detection Using Linear Regression and Terrain Drop Compensation Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Yuan Chen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Most railway accidents happen at railway crossings. Therefore, how to detect humans or objects present in the risk area of a railway crossing and thus prevent accidents are important tasks. In this paper, three strategies are used to detect the risk area of a railway crossing: (1 we use a terrain drop compensation (TDC technique to solve the problem of the concavity of railway crossings; (2 we use a linear regression technique to predict the position and length of an object from image processing; (3 we have developed a novel strategy called calculating local maximum Y-coordinate object points (CLMYOP to obtain the ground points of the object. In addition, image preprocessing is also applied to filter out the noise and successfully improve the object detection. From the experimental results, it is demonstrated that our scheme is an effective and corrective method for the detection of railway crossing risk areas.

Developing a Service Improvement System for the National Dutch Railways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhoef, Peter C.; Heijnsbroek, Martin; Bosma, Joost

2017-01-01

Customer satisfaction is essential for public and railway services, because firms in these industries have contracts with governments requiring them to achieve specific customer satisfaction targets. In this paper, we describe a National Dutch Railways project in which we identify the major

WAYS OF IMPROVEMENT RAILWAY TRANSPORT IN OVERPASS ECONOMIC CRISIS CONDITIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. H. Deineka

2010-05-01

Full Text Available In the article a problem of adapting the railway transport to market requirements is presented and the ways of improving its competitiveness are investigated. Some measures and reserves of improving the operation efficiency for the railway transport are offered.

Big data for risk analysis: The future of safe railways

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Figueres Esteban, M.

2016-07-01

New technology brings ever more data to support decision-making for intelligent transport systems. Big Data is no longer a futuristic challenge, it is happening right now: modern railway systems have countless sources of data providing a massive quantity of diverse information on every aspect of operations such as train position and speed, brake applications, passenger numbers, status of the signaling system or reported incidents.The traditional approaches to safety management on the railways have relied on static data sources to populate traditional safety tools such as bow-tie models and fault trees. The Big Data Risk Analysis (BDRA) program for Railways at the University of Huddersfield is investigating how the many Big Data sources from the railway can be combined in a meaningful way to provide a better understanding about the GB railway systems and the environment within which they operate.Moving to BDRA is not simply a matter of scaling-up existing analysis techniques. BDRA has to coordinate and combine a wide range of sources with different types of data and accuracy, and that is not straight-forward. BDRA is structured around three components: data, ontology and visualisation. Each of these components is critical to support the overall framework. This paper describes how these three components are used to get safety knowledge from two data sources by means of ontologies from text documents. This is a part of the ongoing BDRA research that is looking at integrating many large and varied data sources to support railway safety and decision-makers. (Author)

The effects of 10 years Railway investment in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Sten A.

1998-01-01

The paper retrives the impacts of the last 10 years of investment in railway infrastructure in Denmark and ooncludes, that traveltimes and frequency is large unchanged during that period.......The paper retrives the impacts of the last 10 years of investment in railway infrastructure in Denmark and ooncludes, that traveltimes and frequency is large unchanged during that period....

WASTAGE OF UNDERGROUND WATER - STEPS TOWARDS A TRAP?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shibabrata Pattanayak

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Underground water is used indiscriminately for the purposes like agriculture, serving purposes of urban people, cold drink and mineral water manufacturing etc. As a matter of policy, the rural areas are supplied with underground water in India without considering the factors like actual requirement of water in a particular area, season of scarcity of water etc. It is very common to see the ever open taps of water supplying lines in rural India thronging water continuously and nobody is there to use it. The discharge rate of underground water is far more than the charging rate. This may lead to a very serious condition of water scarcity in near future. Various steps like holding of rain water in the water bodies, selection of crop with requirement of lesser amount of water during the dry months as well as use of Forward Osmosis (FO technology for Cold drinks or Bottled Drinking Water manufacturing from the sea water are advocated.

Railway bogie vibration analysis by mathematical simulation model and a scaled four-wheel railway bogie set

Science.gov (United States)

Visayataksin, Noppharat; Sooklamai, Manon

2018-01-01

The bogie is the part that connects and transfers all the load from the vehicle body onto the railway track; interestingly the interaction between wheels and rails is the critical point for derailment of the rail vehicles. However, observing or experimenting with real bogies on rail vehicles is impossible due to the operational rules and safety concerns. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a vibration analysis set for a four-wheel railway bogie by constructing a four-wheel bogie with scale of 1:4.5. The bogie structures, including wheels and axles, were made from an aluminium alloy, equipped with springs and dampers. The bogie was driven by an electric motor using 4 round wheels instead of 2 straight rails, with linear velocity between 0 to 11.22 m/s. The data collected from the vibration analysis set was compared to the mathematical simulation model to investigate the vibration behavior of the bogie, especially the hunting motion. The results showed that vibration behavior from a scaled four-wheel railway bogie set significantly agreed with the mathematical simulation model in terms of displacement and hunting frequency. The critical speed of the wheelset was found by executing the mathematical simulation model at 13 m/s.

Existing Steel Railway Bridges Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vičan Josef

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article describes general principles and basis of evaluation of existing railway bridges based on the concept of load-carrying capacity determination. Compared to the design of a new bridge, the modified reliability level for existing bridges evaluation should be considered due to implementation of the additional data related to bridge condition and behaviour obtained from regular inspections. Based on those data respecting the bridge remaining lifetime, a modification of partial safety factors for actions and materials could be respected in the bridge evaluation process. A great attention is also paid to the specific problems of determination of load-caring capacity of steel railway bridges in service. Recommendation for global analysis and methodology for existing steel bridge superstructure load-carrying capacity determination are described too.

GIS-Based Railway Route Selection for the Proposed Kenya-Sudan ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper describes a procedure developed for automated railway feasibility analysis based on GIS and Multi-Criteria analysis. Good engineering railway alignment requirements are assessed and suitable factors and constraints for feasibility analysis derived. Relevant digital map layers are then prepared and reclassified ...

Power System Unbalance due to Railway Electrification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stamatopoulos, Athanasios; Vikelgaard, Henrik; Silva, Filipe Miguel Faria da

2016-01-01

The decision to electrify the main part of the Danish railway at the same time where the supply and generation of electrical power in Denmark moves to a more decentralized structure, raises concerns regarding the balanced and secure operation of the power grid. Adverse effects include, among others......, the lifetime reduction of rotating machines and the malfunction of HVDC converters. Toward this direction, this paper aims to review the challenges and mitigation solutions with respect to voltage unbalance, focusing on the conditions relevant to the electrification of the Danish railway....

UNDERGROUND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Full text: Cossetted deep underground, sheltered from cosmic ray noise, has always been a favourite haunt of neutrino physicists. Already in the 1930s, significant limits were obtained by taking a geiger counter down in Holborn 'tube' station, one of the deepest in London's underground system. Since then, neutrino physicists have popped up in many unlikely places - gold mines, salt mines, and road tunnels deep under mountain chains. Two such locations - the 1MB (Irvine/ Michigan/Brookhaven) detector 600 metres below ground in an Ohio salt mine, and the Kamiokande apparatus 1000m underground 300 km west of Tokyo - picked up neutrinos on 23 February 1987 from the famous 1987A supernova. Purpose-built underground laboratories have made life easier, notably the Italian Gran Sasso Laboratory near Rome, 1.4 kilometres below the surface, and the Russian Baksan Neutrino Observatory under Mount Andyrchi in the Caucasus range. Gran Sasso houses ICARUS (April, page 15), Gallex, Borexino, Macro and the LVD Large Volume Detector, while Baksan is the home of the SAGE gallium-based solar neutrino experiment. Elsewhere, important ongoing underground neutrino experiments include Soudan II in the US (April, page 16), the Canadian Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with its heavy water target (January 1990, page 23), and Superkamiokande in Japan (May 1991, page 8)

78 FR 41993 - Ann Arbor Railroad, Inc.-Lease Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-12

... number of carloads interchanged with NSR in a given year.\\1\\ AARR states that the interchange commitment..., Canadian National Railway Company (CN), CSX Transportation, Inc., and Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in Toledo; the Indiana and Ohio Railway and CN in Diann, Mich.; NSR in Milan, Mich.; and Great Lakes Central...

SOLUTION FOR AN EQUIPMENT OF RAILWAY BRIDGE MONITORING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liviu Mihai SIMA

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a solution for the railway bridges monitoring based on the use of already existing equipments in the railway installations and some new equipments based on photo-elements, as well. This kind of equipments can function in continue and discontinuous regime, means of them tracking down if the bridge piles suffered movements by different reasons. This aspect can put in danger the safety of the circulation on that bridge.

Dataset Documentation for the ERTMS-Oriented Signalling Maintenance in the Danish Railway System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

M. Pour, Shahrzad

2017-01-01

This documentation provides information about the dataset generated as part of a PhD thesis (Towards Signalling Maintenance Scheduling Problem for European Railway Traffic Management System ) for the signaling maintenance of the Danish railway system . The data instances (M.Pour 2018a; M.Pour 2018b......) have been created for the purpose of adaptation to the newest railway signalling standard which is so called European Railway Traffic Management System(ERTMS). The chapter provides explanation of the different types of maintenance tasks in the ERTMS, followed by data definition. Furthermore...

Research of noise emission sources in railway transport and effective ways of their reduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zvolenský Peter

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the EU conditions attention is systematically paid to noise reduction on the railways. Because TSI rules systematically tighten limits for noise emissions from railway vehicles, noise research must be addressed by all Member States, as the main technical solutions for railway vehicles and construction technological aspects of railway operations can result in lower noise exposure of affected areas or objects. The paper focuses on theoretical investigation of sources and paths of sound propagation, possibilities of noise reduction both on vehicles and by infrastructure and experimental measurements of the situation in transport practice. Methodology for reducing railway noise around tracks has been presented, too.

Automatic Verification of Railway Interlocking Systems: A Case Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Jakob Lyng

1998-01-01

This paper presents experiences in applying formal verification to a large industrial piece of software. The are of application is railway interlocking systems. We try to prove requirements of the program controlling the Swedish railway Station Alingsås by using the decision procedure which...... express thoughts on what is needed in order to be able to successfully verify large real-life systems....

APPRAISAL OF USED WOODEN RAILWAY SLEEPER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SITI HAWA HAMZAH

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Replacement of wooden sleepers to prestressed concrete sleepers has marked as advancement in the railway sleepers industry in Malaysia. Despite superiority of these man-made composite sleepers, wooden sleepers still lead in terms of track performance qualities in particular on its natural elasticity. An initiative to investigate the degree of degradation of used wooden sleepers and the possibility of reusing them on low capacity railway track in Malaysia as a means of reducing the overall track rehabilitation cost was undertaken. Used wooden sleepers were tested according to Australian Standard, Railway Track Material, Prestressed Concrete Sleepers (AS 1085:14:2003 on Rail Seat Vertical Load Test and Centre Positive Bending Moment Test. Six wooden sleeper samples were tested under the static load until failure. Benchmarking was carried on high strength prestressed concrete sleeper, tested according to AS 1085:14:2003: Rail Seat - Positive Moment Test. The results obtained showed the maximum load that the used wooden sleepers can carry surpassed the design load of KTMB specifications and it is about 58% of high strength prestressed concrete sleeper.The maximum deflection produced by all used wooden sleepers is 20 mm showing that the sleepers maintained their elastic behaviour. Modulus of Elasticity ranging from 21 to 27 kN/mm2 of which within the standard value, indicating weathering process does not so much affect their stiffness. Most sleepers showed crack patterns propagated in the longitudinal direction. Toughness value is almost one half of the high strength prestressed concrete sleeper. This study indicates that there is a potential of reusing the wooden sleepers for light loading of the railway track. Hence, an extensive study is recommended to be carried out under fatigue loading condition.

Integrating robust timetabling in line plan optimization for railway systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burggraeve, Sofie; Bull, Simon Henry; Lusby, Richard Martin

The line planning problem in rail is to select a number of lines froma potential pool which provides sufficient passenger capacity and meetsoperational requirements, with some objective measure of solution linequality. We model the problem of minimizing the average passenger systemtime, including...... frequency-dependent estimates for switching between lines,working with the Danish rail operator DSB and data for Copenhagen commuters.We present a multi-commodity flow formulation for the problemof freely routing passengers, coupled to discrete line-frequency decisionsselecting lines from a predefined pool...

Third symposium on underground mining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1977-01-01

The Third Symposium on Underground Mining was held at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, Louisville, KY, October 18--20, 1977. Thirty-one papers have been entered individually into EDB and ERA. The topics covered include mining system (longwall, shortwall, room and pillar, etc.), mining equipment (continuous miners, longwall equipment, supports, roof bolters, shaft excavation equipment, monitoring and control systems. Maintenance and rebuilding facilities, lighting systems, etc.), ventilation, noise abatement, economics, accidents (cost), dust control and on-line computer systems. (LTN)

DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMAL CAPITAL INVESTMENTS TO ENSURE THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILWAY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. I. Kharchenko

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Every year more attention is paid for the theoretical and practical issue of sustainable development of railway transport. But today the mechanisms of financial support of this development are poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this article is to determine the optimal investment allocation to ensure sustainable development of the railway transport on the example of State Enterprise «Prydniprovsk Railway» and the creation of preconditions for the mathematical model development. Methodology. The ensuring task for sustainable development of railway transport is solved on the basis of the integral indicator of sustainable development effectiveness and defined as the maximization of this criterion. The optimization of measures technological and technical characters are proposed to carry out for increasing values of the integral performance measure components. To the optimization activities of technological nature that enhance the performance criteria belongs: optimization of the number of train and shunting locomotives, optimization of power handling mechanisms at the stations, optimization of routes of train flows. The activities related to the technical nature include: modernization of railways in the direction of their electrification and modernization of the running gear and coupler drawbars of rolling stock, as well as means of separators mechanization at stations to reduce noise impacts on the environment. Findings. The work resulted in the optimal allocation of investments to ensure the sustainable development of railway transportation of State Enterprise «Prydniprovsk Railway». This allows providing such kind of railway development when functioning of State Enterprise «Prydniprovsk Railway» is characterized by a maximum value of the integral indicator of efficiency. Originality. The work was reviewed and the new approach was proposed to determine the optimal allocation of capital investments to ensure sustainable

The political economy of railway construction in Nigeria: the Bornu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The political economy of railway construction in Nigeria: the Bornu railway extension. ... One key strategy employed was to side with the faction of the Nigerian petty bourgeoisie whose political, economic and class interests were in agreement with ... The 400-mile extension was eventually constructed and opened in 1964.

FORMATION OF ESTIMATED CONDITIONS FOR LIFE CYCLE OF DEFORMATION WORK OF THE RAILWAY TRACK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Bondarenko

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose.The purpose of this research is to substantiate the technical limits of the railway track (under reliability status for the formation the regulatory framework for reliability and functional safety of the railway track in Ukraine. Methodology.In order to achieve the goal of research analysis methods of the technical states of elements and trackforms that are typical of operation conditions of the railways in Ukraine were used. Findings.Technical states accordance of elements and trackforms to reliability status under existing regulations was defined. These conditions are based on the track assessments in accordance with the dimensional tape results. The status of each element of the track design affects its deformation work, but the rules are still absent that would connect state of track elements with the state of the track by estimation of the dimensional tape. The reasons on which the limits are not set were established. It was found out which researches are necessary to conduct for their installation. Originality. The classification of the reliability state of a railway track for permitted deviation at the track laying and maintenance was developed. The regulation importance the technical states of ballast section and subgrade for the developed classification was established. Practical value. Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ is a founding member of the Council for Railway Transport of the Commonwealth. This body issued interstate standard State Standard 32192-2013 «Reliability of railway equipment. Basic concepts, terms and definitions». On this basis developed a new interstate standard «Security functional of railway equipment. Terms and definitions». At the same time UZ is a member of the cooperation of railways in International Union of Railway Transport where rules with reliable and safe operation of railways are established in all transport branches. This study will help implement these standards on the railways of Ukraine, improve the

Kronecker Algebra-based Deadlock Analysis for Railway Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Mittermayr

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Deadlock analysis for railway systems differs in several aspects from deadlock analysis in computer science. While the problem of deadlock analysis for standard computer systems is well-understood, multi-threaded embedded computer systems pose new challenges. A novel approach in this area can easily be applied to deadlock analysis in the domain of railway systems. The approach is based on Kronecker algebra. A lazy implementation of the matrix operations even allows analysing exponentially sized systems in a very efficient manner. The running time of the algorithm does not depend on the problem size but on the size of the solution. While other approaches suffer from the fact that additional constraints make the problem and its solution harder, our approach delivers its results faster if constraints are added. In addition, our approach is complete and sound for railway systems, i.e., it generates neither false positives nor false negatives.

Estimating Emissions from Railway Traffic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Morten W.; Sorenson, Spencer C.

1998-01-01

Several parameters of importance for estimating emissions from railway traffic are discussed, and typical results presented. Typical emissions factors from diesel engines and electrical power generation are presented, and the effect of differences in national electrical generation sources...

A current review of high speed railways experiences in Asia and Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Purba, Aleksander; Nakamura, Fumihiko; Dwsbu, Chatarina Niken; Jafri, Muhammad; Pratomo, Priyo

2017-11-01

High-Speed Railways (HSR) is currently regarded as one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in passenger transportation developed in the second half of the 20th century. At the beginning of 2008, there were about 10,000 kilometers of new high-speed lines in operation in Asia and Europe regions to provide high-speed services to passengers willing to pay for lower travel time and quality improvement in rail transport. And since 2010, HSR itself has received a great deal of attention in Indonesia. Some transportation analysts contend that Indonesia, particularly Java and Sumatera islands need a high-speed rail network to be economically competitive with countries in Asia and Europe. On April 2016, Indonesia-China consortium Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) signed an engineering, procurement, and construction contract to build the HSR with a consortium of seven companies called the High-Speed Railway Contractor Consortium. The HSR is expected to debut by May 2019, offering a 45-minute trip covering a roughly 150 km route. However, building, maintaining and operating HSR line is expensive; it involves a significant amount of sunk costs and may substantially compromise both the transport policy of a country and the development of its transport sector for decades. The main objective of this paper is to discuss some characteristics of the HSR services from an economic viewpoint, while simultaneously developing an empirical framework that should help us to understand, in more detail, the factors determining the success of the HSR as transport alternative based on current experiences of selected Asian and European countries.

Safety motion increase of trains by improvement diagnostics process devices of railway automation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B.M.Bondarenko

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The complex use of methods of nondestructive check for the automated diagnostics electromagnetic relays of railway automation the first class reliability is offered. The methods determination of their mechanical parameters are resulted, that allows to exclude a human factor from the control, promote reliability of devices railway automation and safety motion of railway transport.

The effects of the Qinghai–Tibet railway on heavy metals enrichment in soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Hua; Wang, Zhaofeng; Zhang, Yili; Hu, Zhongjun

2012-01-01

The impact of land transportation on local soil environments is an important topic in environmental and ecological sciences. The rapid development of transportation infrastructure lends increasing importance to studies that identify and evaluate related heavy metal pollution. This paper discusses the effects of railways on soil heavy metal enrichments in the Tibetan plateau. At a representative area along the Haergai–Delingha railway, lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, chromium, nickel, cobalt, and vanadium were measured in 127 topsoil samples (0–10 cm depth). The results indicate that railway transport has a significant effect on the concentration of Zn, Cd and Pb in the soil, with levels of enrichment ranging from no pollution to significant pollution. The affected area was within 20 m of the railway. The soil at Delingha was the most contaminated soil with heavy metals, and the enrichment level of Cd in the soil was the highest along the Qinghai–Tibet railway. The horizontal distributions of the three heavy metals present different characteristics at different sampling sites, which may be due to discrepancies in terrain and vegetation types. Alkaline soils and guardrails along the railway might reduce the effect of soil pollution on local people and animals. -- Highlights: ► Levels of Zn, Cd and Pb in soils are affected by railway transportation. ► Cadmium enrichment is especially high. ► The affected area for these pollutants was within 20 m of the railway. ► The distributions of metal presented different characteristics in different sites.

The effects of the Qinghai-Tibet railway on heavy metals enrichment in soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Hua [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR), CAS, Beijing 100101 (China); Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing (China); Wang, Zhaofeng [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR), CAS, Beijing 100101 (China); Zhang, Yili, E-mail: zhangyl@igsnrr.ac.cn [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR), CAS, Beijing 100101 (China); Hu, Zhongjun [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research (IGSNRR), CAS, Beijing 100101 (China); Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing (China)

2012-11-15

The impact of land transportation on local soil environments is an important topic in environmental and ecological sciences. The rapid development of transportation infrastructure lends increasing importance to studies that identify and evaluate related heavy metal pollution. This paper discusses the effects of railways on soil heavy metal enrichments in the Tibetan plateau. At a representative area along the Haergai-Delingha railway, lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, chromium, nickel, cobalt, and vanadium were measured in 127 topsoil samples (0-10 cm depth). The results indicate that railway transport has a significant effect on the concentration of Zn, Cd and Pb in the soil, with levels of enrichment ranging from no pollution to significant pollution. The affected area was within 20 m of the railway. The soil at Delingha was the most contaminated soil with heavy metals, and the enrichment level of Cd in the soil was the highest along the Qinghai-Tibet railway. The horizontal distributions of the three heavy metals present different characteristics at different sampling sites, which may be due to discrepancies in terrain and vegetation types. Alkaline soils and guardrails along the railway might reduce the effect of soil pollution on local people and animals. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Levels of Zn, Cd and Pb in soils are affected by railway transportation. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Cadmium enrichment is especially high. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The affected area for these pollutants was within 20 m of the railway. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The distributions of metal presented different characteristics in different sites.

Price Analysis of Railway Freight Transport under Marketing Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Ying; Fang, Xiaoping; Chen, Zhiya

Regarding the problems in the reform of the railway tariff system and the pricing of the transport, by means of assaying the influence of the price elasticity on the artifice used for price, this article proposed multiple regressive model which analyzed price elasticity quantitatively. This model conclude multi-factors which influences on the price elasticity, such as the averagely railway freight charge, the averagely freight haulage of proximate supersede transportation mode, the GDP per capita in the point of origin, and a series of dummy variable which can reflect the features of some productive and consume demesne. It can calculate the price elasticity of different classes in different domains, and predict the freight traffic volume on different rate levels. It can calculate confidence-level, and evaluate the relevance of each parameter to get rid of irrelevant or little relevant variables. It supplied a good theoretical basis for directing the pricing of transport enterprises in market economic conditions, which is suitable for railway freight, passenger traffic and other transportation manner as well. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) software was used to calculate and analysis the example. This article realized the calculation by HYFX system(Ministry of Railways fund).

Underground pipeline corrosion

CERN Document Server

Orazem, Mark

2014-01-01

Underground pipelines transporting liquid petroleum products and natural gas are critical components of civil infrastructure, making corrosion prevention an essential part of asset-protection strategy. Underground Pipeline Corrosion provides a basic understanding of the problems associated with corrosion detection and mitigation, and of the state of the art in corrosion prevention. The topics covered in part one include: basic principles for corrosion in underground pipelines, AC-induced corrosion of underground pipelines, significance of corrosion in onshore oil and gas pipelines, n

A Statistical Approach to Planning Reserved Electric Power for Railway Infrastructure Administration

OpenAIRE

Brabec, M. (Marek); Pelikán, E. (Emil); Konár, O. (Ondřej); Kasanický, I. (Ivan); Juruš, P. (Pavel); Sadil, J.; Blažek, P.

2013-01-01

One of the requirements on railway infrastructure administration is to provide electricity for day-to-day operation of railways. We propose a statistically based approach for the estimation of maximum 15-minute power within a calendar month for a given region. This quantity serves as a basis of contracts between railway infrastructure administration and electricity distribution system operator. We show that optimization of the prediction is possible, based on underlying loss function deriv...

An innovative localisation algorithm for railway vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Allotta, B.; D'Adamio, P.; Malvezzi, M.; Pugi, L.; Ridolfi, A.; Rindi, A.; Vettori, G.

2014-11-01

In modern railway automatic train protection and automatic train control systems, odometry is a safety relevant on-board subsystem which estimates the instantaneous speed and the travelled distance of the train; a high reliability of the odometry estimate is fundamental, since an error on the train position may lead to a potentially dangerous overestimation of the distance available for braking. To improve the odometry estimate accuracy, data fusion of different inputs coming from a redundant sensor layout may be used. The aim of this work has been developing an innovative localisation algorithm for railway vehicles able to enhance the performances, in terms of speed and position estimation accuracy, of the classical odometry algorithms, such as the Italian Sistema Controllo Marcia Treno (SCMT). The proposed strategy consists of a sensor fusion between the information coming from a tachometer and an Inertial Measurements Unit (IMU). The sensor outputs have been simulated through a 3D multibody model of a railway vehicle. The work has provided the development of a custom IMU, designed by ECM S.p.a, in order to meet their industrial and business requirements. The industrial requirements have to be compliant with the European Train Control System (ETCS) standards: the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), a project developed by the European Union to improve the interoperability among different countries, in particular as regards the train control and command systems, fixes some standard values for the odometric (ODO) performance, in terms of speed and travelled distance estimation. The reliability of the ODO estimation has to be taken into account basing on the allowed speed profiles. The results of the currently used ODO algorithms can be improved, especially in case of degraded adhesion conditions; it has been verified in the simulation environment that the results of the proposed localisation algorithm are always compliant with the ERTMS requirements

Dual voltage EMU ALLEGRA of Rhetian Railways. Pt. 1; Zweisystemfaehige Triebzuege ALLEGRA der Rhaetischen Bahn. T. 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buechi, Hans [Stadler Bussnang AG, Bussnang (Switzerland); Wiesent, Niclas; Enzler, Roger [Stadler Altenrhein AG, Altenrhein (Switzerland); Gysin, Pascal [ABB Schweiz AG, Turgi (Switzerland)

2010-06-15

Just right to the 100 year anniversary of the Bernina Line, Rhetian Railways receive 15 new dual voltage EMU trains capable for AC 11 kV 16,7 Hz and DC 1 000 V called ALLEGRA. These highperformance trains will change the since 1910 used transportation practices on the Bernina Line significantly. Until today trains that are drawn by two four-axled power cars in double traction formed the services. The ALLEGRA among other things now for example allows the Bernina-Express to run direct services between Chur and Tirano without the up to now required vehicle exchange in Pontresina. (orig.)

Dual voltage EMU ALLEGRA of Rhetian Railways. Pt. 2; Zweisystemfaehige Triebzuege ALLEGRA der Rhaetischen Bahn. T. 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buechi, Hans [Stadler Bussnang AG, Bussnang (Switzerland); Wiesent, Niclas; Enzler, Roger [Stadler Altenrhein AG, Altenrhein (Switzerland); Gysin, Pascal [ABB Schweiz AG, Turgi (Switzerland)

2010-08-15

Just right to the 100 year anniversary of the Bernina Line, Rhetian Railways receive 15 new dual voltage EMU trains capable for AC 11 kV 16,7 Hz and DC 1 000 V called ALLEGRA. These highperformance trains will change the since 1910 used transportation practices on the Bernina Line significantly. Until today trains that are drawn by two four-axled power cars in double traction formed the services. The ALLEGRA among other things now for example allows the Bernina-Express to run direct services between Chur and Tirano without the up to now required vehicle exchange in Pontresina. (orig.)

Finance-economical indexes of efficiency of development of railway transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Chekhovska

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Because of formation of public joint-stock company of railway transport of the common use, by an author it is suggested to carry out the analysis of efficiency of subsequent development of railway transport, leaning against indexes which represent the finance-economical constituent of results of activity of corporate enterprises.

A cascading failure model for analyzing railway accident causation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jin-Tao; Li, Ke-Ping

2018-01-01

In this paper, a new cascading failure model is proposed for quantitatively analyzing the railway accident causation. In the model, the loads of nodes are redistributed according to the strength of the causal relationships between the nodes. By analyzing the actual situation of the existing prevention measures, a critical threshold of the load parameter in the model is obtained. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed cascading model, simulation experiments of a train collision accident are performed. The results show that the cascading failure model can describe the cascading process of the railway accident more accurately than the previous models, and can quantitatively analyze the sensitivities and the influence of the causes. In conclusion, this model can assist us to reveal the latent rules of accident causation to reduce the occurrence of railway accidents.

Underground transportation and handling system for Pollux-casks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schrimpf, C.

1988-01-01

The concept for the underground transportation and handling system for Pollux-casks was optimized in a first phase by dividing the process in the repository up into the several transportation and manipulation steps. For each step, the possibilities were described and evaluated by means of a list of criteria (technical, safety and economical criteria). The following concept for the transportation and handling was developed: The casks are transported to the unloading area of the surface facilities by railway or truck. After removal of the transport protection, the entry control is performed. The cask is lifted from the vehicle and placed on a railbound transportation vehicle. This transport unit is transferred to the shaft and placed there ready for shaft hoisting. With the hoisting cage protruding, the transport unit is placed on the hoisting cage by means of a pushing-on device, locked, and then conveyed underground. After arrival on the emplacement level, the transport unit is pulled-off from the hoisting cage and taken over by a mine locomotive and transferred through the transportation and access drifts as far as to the emplacement site. There the locomotive pushed the rail transport vehicle into the emplacement drift, as far as to the designated emplacement position. At the emplacement position, the cask is again lifted by means of hoisting equipment. The rail transport vehicle is pulled out of the emplacement drift and returned to the surface for reloading. After deposition of the cask on the drift floor, the emplacement equipment is pulled back in order to give the operation space free for the slinger backfill truck. Within preceding tests two different backfilling techniques were investigated under realistic conditions: pneumatic backfilling and slinger backfilling. The slinger truck was found to be the most suitable for the designated purpose

Risk assessment and economic appraisal of protection methods for the Tarascon-Arles railway embankment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheetham Mark

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The coordination of flood management practices and the reduction of flood risk as proposed under the Plan Rhône project has led to a vast program of flood defence modernization and construction in the lower Rhône valley. One key element of the project involves the construction of a new 9km levee structure parallel to an existing railway line between the towns of Tarascon and Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône, France on the left bank of the Rhône, which has historically been an obstacle to the propagation of flood flows. The new levee is designed to protect the towns of Arles and Tarascon up to the 10−2 annual probability flood event, after which floodwater will flow over a 5km spillway which will be integrated into the structure. In case of overtopping of the spillway via a spillway structure, floodwater is collected in the space between the two embankments and will subsequently flow towards one of ten newly constructed flood discharge structures, spaced at regular intervals in the railway embankment. The levee will form part of a global system of defence which is designed against flooding on the Rhône with an annual probability of occurrence of 10−3. In the event of overtopping of the levee, the railway embankment will be subjected to hydraulic loading and is at risk of damage from flood flows. During the detailed design phase of the project, options were explored for optimizing the permanent protection for the railway embankment. Using results from 2D and 3D hydraulic numerical modelling, a detailed risk assessment of the railway embankment was undertaken to evaluate its vulnerability under different hydraulic loading conditions and for different failure mechanisms using various parameters including water depth, hydraulic load, the duration of flood exposure and flow velocity. A comprehensive understanding of the main mechanisms of embankment damage under hydraulic loading (internal/ external erosion, overtopping, rotational failure etc

RISK MANAGEMENT IN A LARGE-SCALE NEW RAILWAY TRANSPORT SYSTEM PROJECT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunduck D. SUH, Ph.D., P.E.

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Risk management experiences of the Korean Seoul-Pusan high-speed railway (KTX project since the planning stage are evaluated. One can clearly see the interplay of engineering and construction risks, financial risks and political risks in the development of the KTX project, which is the peculiarity of large-scale new railway system projects. A brief description on evaluation methodology and overview of the project is followed by detailed evaluations on key differences in risks between conventional railway system and high-speed railway system, social and political risks, engineering and construction risks, and financial risks. Risks involved in system procurement process, such as proposal solicitation, evaluation, selection, and scope of solicitation are separated out and evaluated in depth. Detailed events resulting from these issues are discussed along with their possible impact on system risk. Lessons learned and further possible refinements are also discussed.

Waiting experience in railway environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Hagen, M.; Galetzka, Mirjam; Pruyn, Adriaan T.H.

2014-01-01

At railway stations, waiting time is usually an unavoidable aspect of the journey for train passengers. According to the attentional model of time, pleasant surroundings and other forms of distraction reduce perceived waiting time. Not every individual reacts identically in the same surroundings.

The Preventive Signaling Maintenance Crew Scheduling Problem for European Railway Traffic Management system (ERTMS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

M. Pour, Shahrzad; Stidsen, Thomas Jacob Riis; Rasmussen, Kourosh Marjani

, the western part of Denmark. This case is particularly interesting, since the entire railway signalling system is currently being upgraded to the new European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) standard. The new signals need continuous maintenance and in this article we plan the distribution of crew......A railway system is a large and complex infrastructure, which requires continuous maintenance in order to function correctly. Proper maintenance is critical but can also be costly. In this paper we consider the practical case of planning the preventive maintenance of railway signals in Jutland...

Synthesis of railway-signaling plans using reachability games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kasting, Patrick Frederik Soelmark; Hansen, Michael Reichhardt; Vester, Steen

2016-01-01

(the control system) controls signals and points and the universal player (the antagonistic environment) controls movement of trains. A winning strategy for the existential player provides a signaling plan that will safely guide trains through the network. The concepts from the railway network model......In this work, we show the feasibility of using functional programming (more specifically F#) in connection with gamebased methods for synthesis of correct-by-construction controllers (also called signaling plans) for railway networks. This is a massively resource-demanding application. A model...

Robustness indicators and capacity models for railway networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lars Wittrup

In a world continuous striving for higher mobility and the use of more sustainable modes of transport, there is a constant pressure on utilising railway capacity better and, at the same time, obtaining a high robustness against delays. During the planning of railway operations and infrastructure ....... This has motivated the research conducted and described in this thesis, where the objective has been to develop and improve existing methods to achieve timetable and infrastructure plans with robust capacity utilisation aimed at the strategic and early tactical planning phases....

Formal Methods and Safety Certification: Challenges in the Railways Domain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fantechi, Alessandro; Ferrari, Alessio; Gnesi, Stefania

2016-01-01

The railway signalling sector has historically been a source of success stories about the adoption of formal methods in the certification of software safety of computer-based control equipment.......The railway signalling sector has historically been a source of success stories about the adoption of formal methods in the certification of software safety of computer-based control equipment....

Application of unconventional geoelectrical methods to the hydrogeological examination of the Mt. S. Croce rock formations (Umbria, Italy involved in a railway tunnel project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Patella

1994-06-01

Full Text Available he project of doubling and developing of the railway line Orte-Falconara, committed by the Italian State Railway Company to the COMAVI Consortium (Rome, Italy, envisaged building the Mt. S. Croce tunnel, about 3200 m long between the stations of Narni and Nera Montoro (Umbria, ltaly. During the last phase of the feasibility project, a geophysical research based on geoelectrical prospecting methods was carried out to complement other geognostic investigations with the following goals: a to outline the complex geotectonic model of the rock system, which will be affected by the new railway layout; b to gain information on the hydrogeologic features of the survey area, in relation to the existing geologic situation and the consequent effects on the digging conditions of the tunnel and on the operation conditions of the railway layout. The geophysical work was thus organized according to the following scheme: a execution of dipole electrical sounding pro-files, to depict a series of significant tomographic pseudosections, both across and along the new railway layout; b execution of self-potential measurements, to draw an anomaly map over the whole hydrogeological network system in the survey area. The research provided information which has helped to improve the geological-structural model of the area and disclosed the hydrogelogic network, conforming to the classified field surface manifestations. At present, further detailed field investigations are being carried out, which confirm all the results obtained by the geoelectrical survey.

The Canfranc Underground Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amare, J.; Beltran, B.; Carmona, J.M.; Cebrian, S.; Garcia, E.; Irastorza, I.G.; Gomez, H.; Luzon, G.; Martinez, M.; Morales, J.; Ortiz de Solorzano, A.; Pobes, C.; Puimedon, J.; Rodriguez, A.; Ruz, J.; Sarsa, M.L.; Torres, L.; Villar, J.A.

2005-01-01

This paper describes the forthcoming enlargement of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) which will allow to host new international Astroparticle Physics experiments and therefore to broaden the European underground research area. The new Canfranc Underground Laboratory will operate in coordination (through the ILIAS Project) with the Gran Sasso (Italy), Modane (France) and Boulby (UK) underground laboratories

Analysis of the monitoring data of geomagnetic storm interference in the electrification system of a high-speed railway

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lianguang; Ge, Xiaoning; Zong, Wei; Zhou, You; Liu, Mingguang

2016-10-01

To study the impact of geomagnetic storm on the equipment of traction electrification system in the high-speed railway, geomagnetically induced current (GIC) monitoring devices were installed in the Hebi East traction power supply substation of the Beijing-Hong Kong Dedicated Passenger Line in January 2015, and GICs were captured during the two geomagnetic storms on 17 March and 23 June 2015. In order to investigate the GIC flow path, both in the track circuit and in the traction network adopting the autotransformer feeding system, a GIC monitor plan was proposed for the electrical system in the Hebi East traction power supply substation. This paper analyzes the correlation between the GIC captured on 17 March and the geomagnetic data obtained from the Malingshan Geomagnetic Observatory and presents a regression analysis between the measured GIC and the calculated geoelectric fields on 23 June in the high-speed railway. The maximum GICs measured in the track circuit are 1.08 A and 1.74 A during the two geomagnetic storms. We find that it is necessary to pay attention on the throttle transformers and track circuits, as the most sensitive elements responding to the extreme geomagnetic storms in the high-speed railway.

ECONOMIC REASONING MAXIMUM SLOPE IN DESIGN HIGH-SPEED LINES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHERNYSHOVA O. S.

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Raising of problem The worldwide design standards high-speed lines are somewhat different. This is due to several reasons: different levels of design speed, differences of characteristics of rolling stock and, in particular, the features of the design plan and longitudinal profile, that are associated primarily with the conditions of the relief. In the design of high-speed railways in Ukraine should take into account these features and determine what the maximum slope values can be used in difficult conditions, as well as how it will affect the operational and capital costs. Purpose. To determine the optimal design parameters of the longitudinal profile. Conclusion. The results are based not only on technical, but also economic indicators and allow the assessment of the necessary capital expenditures and expected cost of the railway in the future. Analytical dependences, to predict the expected operating costs of the railway, depending on the maximum slope, its length and the total length of the section.

H∞ control of railway vehicle suspension with MR damper using scaled roller rig

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Yu-Jeong; You, Won-Hee; Hur, Hyun-Moo; Park, Joon-Hyuk

2014-01-01

In this paper, a magneto-rheological (MR) damper was applied to the secondary suspension to reduce the vibration of a car body. The control performance of the MR damper was verified by numerical analysis with a 1/5 scale railway vehicle model in accordance with the similarity law. The analysis results were then validated in tests. In particular, the objective of the study was to understand how the control performance affected the dynamic characteristics of a railway vehicle and to systematically analyze the relationship between control performance and dynamic characteristics depending on various running speeds. To achieve this, experimental results for the dynamic characteristics of the scaled MR damper designed for the 1/5 scale railway vehicle model were applied to the railway vehicle model. The H ∞ control method was applied to the controller. The means of designing the railway vehicle body vibration controller and the effectiveness of its results were studied. (paper)

Influence of vertical holes on creep and shrinkage of railway prestressed concrete sleepers

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dan; Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

2017-09-01

Railway prestressed concrete sleepers (or railroad ties) must successfully perform two critical duties: first, to carry wheel loads from the rails to the ground; and second, to secure rail gauge for dynamic safe movements of trains. The second duty is often fouled by inappropriate design of the time-dependent behaviors due to their creep, shrinkage and elastic shortening responses of the materials. In addition, the concrete sleepers are often modified on construction sites to fit in other systems such as cables, signalling gears, drainage pipes, etc. Accordingly, this study is the world first to investigate creep and shrinkage effects on the railway prestressed concrete sleepers with vertical holes. This paper will highlight constitutive models of concrete materials within the railway sleepers under different environmental conditions over time. It will present a comparative investigation using a variety of methods to evaluate shortening effects in railway prestressed concrete sleepers. The outcome of this study will improve material design, which is very critical to the durability of railway track components.

The Railway and the River: Conduits of Dickens’s Imaginary City

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moore, B.; Murail, E.; Thornton, S.

2017-01-01

This chapter analyses the railway and the river as two key conduits of Dickens’ imaginary city, arguing that each simultaneously connects and fractures the modern urban world that he depicts. Focusing on Dombey and Son and Our Mutual Friend, the chapter explores how railway and river combine

Railway projects prioritisation for investment : application of goal programming

OpenAIRE

Ahern, Aoife; Anandarajah, Gabrial

2007-01-01

This research develops a weighted integer goal-programming model for prioritising railway projects for investment. The goal of the model is to prioritise the identified projects for investment while maximising the objectives and meeting the budget limit for capital investment. The model minimises the goal deviations of the objectives. The objectives of the model include quantitative and qualitative attributes. The model is applied to prioritise the new railway projects, which have a total cos...

Study on high reliability safety valve for railway vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xuan; Chen, Ruikun; Zhang, Shixi; Xu, BuDu

2017-09-01

Now, the realization of most of the functions of the railway vehicles rely on compressed air, so the demand for compressed air is growing higher and higher. This safety valve is a protection device for pressure limitation and pressure relief in an air supply system of railway vehicles. I am going to introduce the structure, operating principle, research and development process of the safety valve designed by our company in this document.

Design study of underground facility of the Underground Research Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hibiya, Keisuke; Akiyoshi, Kenji; Ishizuka, Mineo; Anezaki, Susumu

1998-03-01

Geoscientific research program to study deep geological environment has been performed by Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC). This research is supported by 'Long-Term Program for Research, Development and Utilization of Nuclear Energy'. An Underground Research Laboratory is planned to be constructed at Shoma-sama Hora in the research area belonging to PNC. A wide range of geoscientific research and development activities which have been previously studied at the Tono Area is planned in the laboratory. The Underground Research Laboratory is consisted of Surface Laboratory and Underground Research Facility located from the surface down to depth between several hundreds and 1,000 meters. Based on the results of design study in last year, the design study performed in this year is to investigate the followings in advance of studies for basic design and practical design: concept, design procedure, design flow and total layout. As a study for the concept of the underground facility, items required for the facility are investigated and factors to design the primary form of the underground facility are extracted. Continuously, design methods for the vault and the underground facility are summarized. Furthermore, design procedures of the extracted factors are summarized and total layout is studied considering the results to be obtained from the laboratory. (author)

Carbon Dioxide Mitigation Benefit of High-Speed Railway in Terms of Carbon Tax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fu Yanbing

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper calculates the carbon dioxide mitigation benefit of high-speed railway based on the carbon dioxide tax policy. We define the carbon dioxide emission system boundary for high-speed railway in its whole life cycle and estimate the life cycle carbon dioxide inventories during its construction, application, and recovery stages. And then we establish a theoretical model to calculate the life cycle carbon dioxide mitigation quantity for high-speed railway when compared with road transport and then calculate its carbon dioxide mitigation benefit. The numerical example shows that the carbon dioxide mitigation benefit of high-speed railway is better than that of road transport from the whole life cycle perspective.

The Video Collaborative Localization of a Miner's Lamp Based on Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks for Underground Coal Mines.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Kaiming; Yang, Wei; Han, Ruisong

2015-09-29

Based on wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) deployed in an underground coal mine, a miner's lamp video collaborative localization algorithm was proposed to locate miners in the scene of insufficient illumination and bifurcated structures of underground tunnels. In bifurcation area, several camera nodes are deployed along the longitudinal direction of tunnels, forming a collaborative cluster in wireless way to monitor and locate miners in underground tunnels. Cap-lamps are regarded as the feature of miners in the scene of insufficient illumination of underground tunnels, which means that miners can be identified by detecting their cap-lamps. A miner's lamp will project mapping points on the imaging plane of collaborative cameras and the coordinates of mapping points are calculated by collaborative cameras. Then, multiple straight lines between the positions of collaborative cameras and their corresponding mapping points are established. To find the three-dimension (3D) coordinate location of the miner's lamp a least square method is proposed to get the optimal intersection of the multiple straight lines. Tests were carried out both in a corridor and a realistic scenario of underground tunnel, which show that the proposed miner's lamp video collaborative localization algorithm has good effectiveness, robustness and localization accuracy in real world conditions of underground tunnels.

Intelligent control for braking-induced longitudinal vibration responses of floating-type railway bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Wei-Lian; Qin, Shun-Quan; Tu, Jian-Weia; Liu, Jia; Zhou, Qiang; Cheng, Haibin; Pi, Yong-Lin

2009-12-01

This paper presents an intelligent control method and its engineering application in the control of braking-induced longitudinal vibration of floating-type railway bridges. Equations of motion for the controlled floating-type railway bridges have been established based on the analysis of the longitudinal vibration responses of floating-type railway bridges to train braking and axle-loads of moving trains. For engineering applications of the developed theory, a full-scale 500 kN smart magnetorheologic (MR) damper has been designed, fabricated and used to carry out experiments on the intelligent control of braking-induced longitudinal vibration. The procedure for using the developed intelligent method in conjunction with the full-scale 500 kN MR dampers has been proposed and used to control the longitudinal vibration responses of the deck of floating-type railway bridges induced by train braking and axle-loads of moving trains. This procedure has been applied to the longitudinal vibration control of the Tian Xingzhou highway and railway cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River in China. The simulated results have shown that the intelligent control system using the smart MR dampers can effectively control the longitudinal response of the floating-type railway bridge under excitations of braking and axle-loads of moving trains.

Intelligent control for braking-induced longitudinal vibration responses of floating-type railway bridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qu, Wei-Lian; Tu, Jian-Weia; Liu, Jia; Zhou, Qiang; Qin, Shun-Quan; Cheng, Haibin; Pi, Yong-Lin

2009-01-01

This paper presents an intelligent control method and its engineering application in the control of braking-induced longitudinal vibration of floating-type railway bridges. Equations of motion for the controlled floating-type railway bridges have been established based on the analysis of the longitudinal vibration responses of floating-type railway bridges to train braking and axle-loads of moving trains. For engineering applications of the developed theory, a full-scale 500 kN smart magnetorheologic (MR) damper has been designed, fabricated and used to carry out experiments on the intelligent control of braking-induced longitudinal vibration. The procedure for using the developed intelligent method in conjunction with the full-scale 500 kN MR dampers has been proposed and used to control the longitudinal vibration responses of the deck of floating-type railway bridges induced by train braking and axle-loads of moving trains. This procedure has been applied to the longitudinal vibration control of the Tian Xingzhou highway and railway cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River in China. The simulated results have shown that the intelligent control system using the smart MR dampers can effectively control the longitudinal response of the floating-type railway bridge under excitations of braking and axle-loads of moving trains

The role of the railways in the future of air transport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Givoni, M.; Banister, D.

2007-01-01

The role of the railways in the air transport industry is usually limited to provision of access to airports. However, the development of high-speed rail networks and the congestion and environmental problems faced by the air transport industry suggest the railways could have a greater role in

Impact Capacity Reduction in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers with Surface Abrasions

Science.gov (United States)

Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Li, Dan; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

2017-10-01

Railway sleepers (also called ‘railroad tie’ in North America) embedded in ballasted railway tracks are a main part of railway track structures. Its important role is to transfer the loads evenly from the rails to a wider area of ballast bed and to secure rail gauge and enable safe passages of rolling stocks. By nature, railway infrastructure is nonlinear, evidenced by its behaviours, geometry and alignment, wheel-rail contact and operational parameters such as tractive efforts. Based on our critical review, the dynamic behaviour of railway sleepers has not been fully investigated, especially when the sleepers are deteriorated by excessive wears. In fact, the ballast angularity causes differential abrasions on the soffit or bottom surface of sleepers (especially at railseat zone). Furthermore, in sharp curves and rapid gradient change, longitudinal and lateral dynamics of rails increase the likelihood of railseat abrasions in concrete sleepers due to the unbalanced loading conditions. This paper presents a structural capacity of concrete sleepers under dynamic transient loading. The modified compression field theory for ultimate strength design of concrete sleepers under impact loading will be highlighted in this study. The influences of surface abrasions, including surface abrasion and soffit abrasion, on the dynamic behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers, are firstly highlighted. The outcome of this study will improve the rail maintenance and inspection criteria in order to establish appropriate and sensible remote track condition monitoring network in practice. Moreover, this study will also improve the understanding of the fundamental dynamic behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers with surface abrasions. The insight into these behaviours will not only improve safety and reliability of railway infrastructure but will enhance the structural safety of other concrete structures.

DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY TOURISM IN UKRAINE AS MEANS OF AVAILABLE REST ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. V. Martseniuk

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose. In highly developed countries, railway tourism is very popular, through it the tourists can comfortably and within their financial capacity to travel all around the world. Ukraine has faced with the problem of significant reduction of the tourist volume flows, aging of fixed assets, lack of investments on their renewal, reduction in passenger traffic and a sharp drop in people income. The purpose of the article is to justify the development of railway tourism in Ukraine. Methodology. Theoretical and methodological basis of the research is built on analysis of problems to ensure the competitiveness of the tourism industry in the area of passenger transportation, theoretical principles of economic science in the field of railway tourism efficiency and management of tourist flows. The authors suggest the development of railway tourism in Ukraine. In particular it concerns the introduction of new services in the field of tourism, management of tourist flows and others. The attention is focused on the development of the internal railway tourism. Findings. As a result of the assigned tasks the following results should be achieved: improving the image of Ukrainian railways; creation of an attractive investment climate for the greater involvement of investments into the tourism, engineering, transport and municipal infrastructures; improving the safety of tourists; ensuring effective protection of their rights, legitimate interests and property maintenance. Originality. The authors justified the need and potential of rail tourism on the territory of Ukraine taking into account the experience of foreign developed countries. Рractical value. Researchers presented theoretical generalization and new solution of scientific tasks. It manifests itself in the development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the development of railway tourism. Rationally applied measures of proposed by the authors ways of tourist flow management will

Efficiency and Robustness in Railway Operations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bull, Simon Henry; Pisinger, David

reliability. Offering these services presents a challenging sequence of planning problems for operators. These range from problems considered on a daily basis to planning for years in the future, with different problems interacting and influencing each other. Operations research methods can be used...... to effectively model, investigate, and solve railway planning problems. Despite advances in computational power these large problems are still challenging to solve, especially as more modelling detail is sought. Within a Danish context this thesis seeks to apply operations research methods to different planning...... problems beyond past approaches, and where applicable, investigate solution methods that place more focus on the passenger and passenger experience. To cater to the growing demand for rail transport, and compete with different modes of transport, Danish railway operators must offer a consistent, reliable...

In situ monitoring of primary roofbolts at underground coal mines in the USA

OpenAIRE

Spearing, A.J.S.; Hyett, A.

2014-01-01

Primary roof support represents the first line of defence against rock-related falls of ground in underground mines, and improper utilization or misunderstanding of the applicability and behaviour of primary support can be costly from a safety standpoint. This is a major concern for underground mines, as roof support is the single most costly expense from a mining operational perspective. This is further backed by the evidence that, in the USA, hundreds of injuries and fatalities still occur ...

Surface Analysis of Railway Buffers Heads Covered with Bronze Using Laser Cladding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sitarz M.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Railway buffers during the operation are staying in almost permanent contact with each other, creating friction node in the point of contact of two railway buffer heads. In consequence of overcoming track curves, turnouts and unevenness of track, the railway buffer heads moves relative to each other causing friction, which results in its wear. When the wear is excessive, it might be a reason to withdrawn vehicle from service, it causes flattening of buffer head, and in consequence its abnormal cooperation. To avoid this phenomenon the buffer heads should be covered with graphitized grease, but this method has many disadvantages. Accordingly, it was found that it would be beneficial to cover the buffer head with bronze using laser cladding. In this article the metallographic and mechanical analysis of the newly created top layer of railway buffer head are presented. In article the results from tribological tests conducted on Amsler test bench are also presented. Based on test results described in article concluded that the layer of bronze coat on working surface of railway buffer head can be beneficial from operational point of view.

Past and future of a regional railway network in Mezohegyes (Hungary area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brigitta ZSOTER

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The role of railway network in the internal passenger and heavy traffic is continuously decreasing. Regarding the number of passengers, proportion of the railway out of the internal passenger transport was more than 20% less in 2000. The railway passenger transportation suffered a setback in shorter distances in the last decades. In case of railway transportation of goods both the carriage distance and the quantity of goods have decreased. Content of the load has changed, too. Comparing to the previous one, quantity of the transported building materials, metal waste, ores and coal etc. lessened. In contrast with it proportion of agricultural products, machines has increased. It is worth examining the changes in connection with the passenger and heavy traffic in the last few years not only in country level but in the level of several settlements, as well. In settlements’ life a transportation route of the infrastructural sphere plays an important role. In this essay it is aiming to examine the changes in railway traffic of town Mezohegyes, a settlement on the Southern part of the Hungarian Plain, between 1990 and 2006. Research work of this kind has been carried out about town Mezohegyes earlier.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE RAILWAY CONNECTION ACCESS AT JAKARTA SOEKARNO HATTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayu Aprilischa

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Traveling between the center of Jakarta and Soekarno Hatta International Airport (SHIA is further constrained by the limited number of main routes available which likely cannot be accommodated in the future by road based transport modes alone. Hence, the airport needs to develop airport surface access to accommodate its network. The aim of this research is to analyze the railway access system for developing the system of SHIA using multi criteria analysis in the selection of alternative route alignment of the railway line and a qualitative study in data collection within the research design. Development of the criteria includes technical, economic, environmental and spatial aspect. Three alternatives have been proposed in this analysis, i.e. through West Jakarta, through North and West Jakarta and through North and Central Jakarta. The results show that alternative 3 (through North and Central Jakarta can give implications to the airport users, i.e. providing a high standard of the rail link in a well-timed manner and a cost-effective public transport link. Improving the multi-modal access to the airport will improve the supply of employment to business, lead to urban regeneration around station locations, and improve Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Area regional competitiveness.

Probabilistic Safety Analysis of High Speed and Conventional Lines Using Bayesian Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grande Andrade, Z.; Castillo Ron, E.; O' Connor, A.; Nogal, M.

2016-07-01

A Bayesian network approach is presented for probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) of railway lines. The idea consists of identifying and reproducing all the elements that the train encounters when circulating along a railway line, such as light and speed limit signals, tunnel or viaduct entries or exits, cuttings and embankments, acoustic sounds received in the cabin, curves, switches, etc. In addition, since the human error is very relevant for safety evaluation, the automatic train protection (ATP) systems and the driver behavior and its time evolution are modelled and taken into account to determine the probabilities of human errors. The nodes of the Bayesian network, their links and the associated probability tables are automatically constructed based on the line data that need to be carefully given. The conditional probability tables are reproduced by closed formulas, which facilitate the modelling and the sensitivity analysis. A sorted list of the most dangerous elements in the line is obtained, which permits making decisions about the line safety and programming maintenance operations in order to optimize them and reduce the maintenance costs substantially. The proposed methodology is illustrated by its application to several cases that include real lines such as the Palencia-Santander and the Dublin-Belfast lines. (Author)

Evaluation of the Favourable Ecological Impact of the Railway on the Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jasna Golubić

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The railway has advantages over other branches of longdistancetransportation from the ecological, economic, safety,and technological point of view.The paper gives an evaluation of the favourable influenceof railway traffic on the environment reflected in the rationalenergy consumption, significantly reduced need of physicalspace, and reduced air pollution.Having these data in mind, the railway is considered tohave a negligible influence on environmental pollution. However,studying even such small amounts plays a significant rolein the traffic safety and in the lives of people and nature itself

Railway noise reduction by the application of CHFC material on the rail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brigita ALTENBAHER

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Traffic is the most widespread source of environmental noise. Railway noise has become increasingly common in urban areas in the past few decades. Therefore environmental requirements for railway operations regarding noise are becoming very strict and will become even tighter in future. In the present paper we present actual track-based field test performed on Slovenian Railways. The significant noise reduction (up to 30dBA was achieved by the application of CHFC material on the rail using CL-E1 top anti noise system.

Perspectives of transport logistics in the railway transport enterprises

OpenAIRE

Elagin, Yu; Obruch, A.

2014-01-01

In this paper, the authors study the main directions of development of transport logistics. Identified as the main types of general transport logistics, as well as the rail sector, in which logistics acquires a dominant role in terms of reform. Also highlights the main features of transport logistics for railway transport enterprises and proved the importance of integrating function in modern conditions of development. The authors noted that to ensure the effective development of railway tran...

Capacity gain with an alternative LTE railway communication network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2014-01-01

, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE). T his paper describe s how to adapt the reversible multi - chain/channel queuing system to model an LTE cell serving ETCS - equipped trains . It is proposed to use the multiple user chains available in the model to represent varying bitrate in LTE radio access network....... Usin g this model , LTE and GSM - R are compare d in terms of capacity on an example at Copenhagen Main Train Station . The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the benefits that railway operators and infrastructure managers can expect from the introduc tion of LTE , as a telecommunication technology...... Control System (ETCS) signaling , the capacity of GSM - R turns out to be insufficient . GSM - R cannot ful fill the railway requirements , in terms of the number of simultaneous ETCS connections . This is why , alternative , more efficient communication technologies should be considered by railways...

Study of Drivers’ Behaviour at a Passive Railway Crossing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Kasalica

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Problem: The number of killed and injured persons in incidents at railway level crossings is generally increasing on the Serbian Railways, particularly at passive crossings. In this paper we researched the direct behaviour of road traffic participants at a conventional railway passive crossing. Method: Direct observational study of drivers’ behaviour at a level crossing. Results: Sixty-one road vehicle drivers were observed in the moments of train approach. The probability of crossing varies depending on the train distance and the time the driver has to cross the crossing. The drivers who have limited visibility cannot estimate the speed of the approaching train well and make more risky decisions. Conclusion: This study shows that the number of “risky crossings” is worrying as the result of such crossings is a large number of accidents with fatal consequences at the passive crossings in Serbia.

Seismic impact of the railway on the geotechnical constructions

Science.gov (United States)

Stolárik, Martin; Pinka, Miroslav

2017-09-01

Nowadays, the focus on more ecological means of material and persons transport is still higher. Big loads can be transported on railways more effectively and with lower environment impact than on roads. The geotechnical structures are inherent parts of railway infrastructure, such as embankments, sides of notches and, of course, tunnels, foundation constructions of buildings or pillars of bridges and the others geotechnical constructions (e.g. retaining walls, culverts, transition area of bridges). By train pass, vibrations are caused and these vibrations are relayed to the soil. These vibrations can make adverse impact to surrounding objects and to technologies placed in. This so far uncared-for influence gets into the foreground by current trend of everyday life technical equipment increasing. The article introduces different kinds of geotechnical structures and the influence of by-passing railway transport on their constructions and surroundings. The data are evaluated in the amplitude and frequency domain.

Optimal Path Choice in Railway Passenger Travel Network Based on Residual Train Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Dou

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Passenger’s optimal path choice is one of the prominent research topics in the field of railway passenger transport organization. More and more different train types are available, increasing path choices from departure to destination for travelers are unstoppable. However, travelers cannot avoid being confused when they hope to choose a perfect travel plan based on various travel time and cost constraints before departure. In this study, railway passenger travel network is constructed based on train timetable. Both the generalized cost function we developed and the residual train capacity are considered to be the foundation of path searching procedure. The railway passenger travel network topology is analyzed based on residual train capacity. Considering the total travel time, the total travel cost, and the total number of passengers, we propose an optimal path searching algorithm based on residual train capacity in railway passenger travel network. Finally, the rationale of the railway passenger travel network and the optimal path generation algorithm are verified positively by case study.

Life cycle assessment of a railway bridge: comparison of two superstructure designs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Guangli; Karoumi, Raid

2013-01-01

Railway bridges currently encounter the challenges of increasing the load capacity while the environmental sustainability should be achieved. However, it has been realised that the environmental assessment of railway bridges has not been integrated into the decision-making process, the standard g...

Road Traffic and Railway Noise Exposures and Adiposity in Adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Jeppe S; Raaschou-Nielsen, Ole; Tjønneland, Anne

2016-01-01

and railway noise and adiposity. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study of 57,053 middle-aged people, height, weight, waist circumference, and bioelectrical impedance were measured at enrollment (1993-1997). Body mass index (BMI), body fat mass index (BFMI), and lean body mass index (LBMI) were calculated....... Residential exposure to road and railway traffic noise exposure was calculated using the Nordic prediction method. Associations between traffic noise and anthropometric measures at enrollment were analyzed using general linear models and logistic regression adjusted for demographic and lifestyle factors......, significant increases were also found for BFMI and LBMI. All associations followed linear exposure-response relationships. Exposure to railway noise was not linearly associated with adiposity measures. However, exposure > 60 dB was associated with a 0.71-cm wider waist circumference (95% CI: 0.23, 1...

The Impact of Delays of Freight Trains in JIT System on Example One Track Line

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dlugoš Matúš

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper describes the problem between freight trains operated by Metrans Danube, a.s. and passenger trains operated by Regiojet, a.s on the line Bratislava – Dunajská Streda - Komárno. It is very important to emphasize this problem because, nowadays, mostly freight trains across the Europe drive in just in time system, it means, that shipments are delivered at exact time and place on time. At this line there are many problems not only this track line is single track, so it is necessary to cross the trains very often in traffic points which maximum 2 traffic tracks but also organizing of transport is more complicated which is provided by Railway infrastructure manager – this case is very important example when railway traffic technology slows down all processes in the logistic chain.

High Speed Railway Environment Safety Evaluation Based on Measurement Attribute Recognition Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qizhou Hu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In order to rationally evaluate the high speed railway operation safety level, the environmental safety evaluation index system of high speed railway should be well established by means of analyzing the impact mechanism of severe weather such as raining, thundering, lightning, earthquake, winding, and snowing. In addition to that, the attribute recognition will be identified to determine the similarity between samples and their corresponding attribute classes on the multidimensional space, which is on the basis of the Mahalanobis distance measurement function in terms of Mahalanobis distance with the characteristics of noncorrelation and nondimensionless influence. On top of the assumption, the high speed railway of China environment safety situation will be well elaborated by the suggested methods. The results from the detailed analysis show that the evaluation is basically matched up with the actual situation and could lay a scientific foundation for the high speed railway operation safety.

The Video Collaborative Localization of a Miner’s Lamp Based on Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks for Underground Coal Mines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaiming You

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Based on wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs deployed in an underground coal mine, a miner’s lamp video collaborative localization algorithm was proposed to locate miners in the scene of insufficient illumination and bifurcated structures of underground tunnels. In bifurcation area, several camera nodes are deployed along the longitudinal direction of tunnels, forming a collaborative cluster in wireless way to monitor and locate miners in underground tunnels. Cap-lamps are regarded as the feature of miners in the scene of insufficient illumination of underground tunnels, which means that miners can be identified by detecting their cap-lamps. A miner’s lamp will project mapping points on the imaging plane of collaborative cameras and the coordinates of mapping points are calculated by collaborative cameras. Then, multiple straight lines between the positions of collaborative cameras and their corresponding mapping points are established. To find the three-dimension (3D coordinate location of the miner’s lamp a least square method is proposed to get the optimal intersection of the multiple straight lines. Tests were carried out both in a corridor and a realistic scenario of underground tunnel, which show that the proposed miner’s lamp video collaborative localization algorithm has good effectiveness, robustness and localization accuracy in real world conditions of underground tunnels.

The Video Collaborative Localization of a Miner’s Lamp Based on Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks for Underground Coal Mines

Science.gov (United States)

You, Kaiming; Yang, Wei; Han, Ruisong

2015-01-01

Based on wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) deployed in an underground coal mine, a miner’s lamp video collaborative localization algorithm was proposed to locate miners in the scene of insufficient illumination and bifurcated structures of underground tunnels. In bifurcation area, several camera nodes are deployed along the longitudinal direction of tunnels, forming a collaborative cluster in wireless way to monitor and locate miners in underground tunnels. Cap-lamps are regarded as the feature of miners in the scene of insufficient illumination of underground tunnels, which means that miners can be identified by detecting their cap-lamps. A miner’s lamp will project mapping points on the imaging plane of collaborative cameras and the coordinates of mapping points are calculated by collaborative cameras. Then, multiple straight lines between the positions of collaborative cameras and their corresponding mapping points are established. To find the three-dimension (3D) coordinate location of the miner’s lamp a least square method is proposed to get the optimal intersection of the multiple straight lines. Tests were carried out both in a corridor and a realistic scenario of underground tunnel, which show that the proposed miner’s lamp video collaborative localization algorithm has good effectiveness, robustness and localization accuracy in real world conditions of underground tunnels. PMID:26426023

New version of VDE 0118 Installation of electrical equipment in underground mining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gebhardt, L

1981-10-22

Preparatory work for the new version of VDE 0188 is reviewed. The major modifications in parts 1 and 2 are mentioned in particular the changes in operating conditions which have been considered and the modified definitions of clean rooms, earthing, underground protective wire system, and mobile operating equipment. Part 2 discusses operating equipment such as motors, inductive voltage transformers, transformers, condensers, lines, lighting units and underground short circuit protection. Part 3 - intrinsically safe electrical equipment, auxiliary circuits, telecommunication systems - will be discussed in a sequel article in Glueckauf.

Arrangement for underground storage of materials of every kind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marek, O.; Seisenbacher, H.; Toth, L.

1982-01-01

Construction of a spheroidal tank, made of two sheets of concrete, used for underground storage. Space between inner and outer sheet is filled with a vibration absorbing material. The bottom of the outer sheet is made of material with lower rigidness, which allows the line of fault in cases of tectonic motions to slide off. (J.K.) [de

Towards the Internet of Smart Trains: A Review on Industrial IoT-Connected Railways.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraga-Lamas, Paula; Fernández-Caramés, Tiago M; Castedo, Luis

2017-06-21

Nowadays, the railway industry is in a position where it is able to exploit the opportunities created by the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and enabling communication technologies under the paradigm of Internet of Trains. This review details the evolution of communication technologies since the deployment of GSM-R, describing the main alternatives and how railway requirements, specifications and recommendations have evolved over time. The advantages of the latest generation of broadband communication systems (e.g., LTE, 5G, IEEE 802.11ad) and the emergence of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for the railway environment are also explained together with the strategic roadmap to ensure a smooth migration from GSM-R. Furthermore, this survey focuses on providing a holistic approach, identifying scenarios and architectures where railways could leverage better commercial IIoT capabilities. After reviewing the main industrial developments, short and medium-term IIoT-enabled services for smart railways are evaluated. Then, it is analyzed the latest research on predictive maintenance, smart infrastructure, advanced monitoring of assets, video surveillance systems, railway operations, Passenger and Freight Information Systems (PIS/FIS), train control systems, safety assurance, signaling systems, cyber security and energy efficiency. Overall, it can be stated that the aim of this article is to provide a detailed examination of the state-of-the-art of different technologies and services that will revolutionize the railway industry and will allow for confronting today challenges.

Towards the Internet of Smart Trains: A Review on Industrial IoT-Connected Railways

Science.gov (United States)

Fraga-Lamas, Paula; Fernández-Caramés, Tiago M.; Castedo, Luis

2017-01-01

Nowadays, the railway industry is in a position where it is able to exploit the opportunities created by the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and enabling communication technologies under the paradigm of Internet of Trains. This review details the evolution of communication technologies since the deployment of GSM-R, describing the main alternatives and how railway requirements, specifications and recommendations have evolved over time. The advantages of the latest generation of broadband communication systems (e.g., LTE, 5G, IEEE 802.11ad) and the emergence of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for the railway environment are also explained together with the strategic roadmap to ensure a smooth migration from GSM-R. Furthermore, this survey focuses on providing a holistic approach, identifying scenarios and architectures where railways could leverage better commercial IIoT capabilities. After reviewing the main industrial developments, short and medium-term IIoT-enabled services for smart railways are evaluated. Then, it is analyzed the latest research on predictive maintenance, smart infrastructure, advanced monitoring of assets, video surveillance systems, railway operations, Passenger and Freight Information Systems (PIS/FIS), train control systems, safety assurance, signaling systems, cyber security and energy efficiency. Overall, it can be stated that the aim of this article is to provide a detailed examination of the state-of-the-art of different technologies and services that will revolutionize the railway industry and will allow for confronting today challenges. PMID:28635672

77 FR 69929 - Western Carolina Railway Service Corporation, Steven C. Hawkins and Cheryl R. Hawkins-Continuance...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-21

... Railway Service Corporation, Steven C. Hawkins and Cheryl R. Hawkins--Continuance in Control Exemption--Aiken Railway Company, LLC Western Carolina Railway Service Corporation (WCRS) and Steven C. Hawkins and Cheryl R. Hawkins (the Hawkins) (collectively, Applicants) have filed a verified notice of exemption...

Examining nocturnal railway noise and aircraft noise in the field: sleep, psychomotor performance, and annoyance.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmenhorst, Eva-Maria; Pennig, Sibylle; Rolny, Vinzent; Quehl, Julia; Mueller, Uwe; Maaß, Hartmut; Basner, Mathias

2012-05-01

Traffic noise is interfering during day- and nighttime causing distress and adverse physiological reactions in large parts of the population. Railway noise proved less annoying than aircraft noise in surveys which were the bases for a so called 5 dB railway bonus regarding noise protection in many European countries. The present field study investigated railway noise-induced awakenings during sleep, nighttime annoyance and the impact on performance the following day. Comparing these results with those from a field study on aircraft noise allowed for a ranking of traffic modes concerning physiological and psychological reactions. 33 participants (mean age 36.2 years ± 10.3 (SD); 22 females) living alongside railway tracks around Cologne/Bonn (Germany) were polysomnographically investigated. These data were pooled with data from a field study on aircraft noise (61 subjects) directly comparing the effects of railway and aircraft noise in one random subject effects logistic regression model. Annoyance was rated in the morning evaluating the previous night. Probability of sleep stage changes to wake/S1 from railway noise increased significantly from 6.5% at 35 dB(A) to 20.5% at 80 dB(A) LAFmax. Rise time of noise events had a significant impact on awakening probability. Nocturnal railway noise led to significantly higher awakening probabilities than aircraft noise, partly explained by the different rise times, whereas the order was inversed for annoyance. Freight train noise compared to passenger train noise proved to have the most impact on awakening probability. Nocturnal railway noise had no effect on psychomotor vigilance. Nocturnal freight train noise exposure in Germany was associated with increased awakening probabilities exceeding those for aircraft noise and contrasting the findings of many annoyance surveys and annoyance ratings of our study. During nighttime a bonus for railway noise seems not appropriate. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Earthquake behavior at deep underground observed by three-dimensional array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komada, Hiroya; Sawada, Yoshihiro; Aoyama, Shigeo.

1989-01-01

The earthquake observation has been carried out using an eight point three-dimensional array between on-ground and the depth of about 400 m at Hosokura Mine in Miyagi prefecture, for the purpose of obtaining the basic datum on the characteristics of the seismic waves for the earthquake resistance design of the deep underground disposal facility of high level waste. The following results ware obtained. (1) The maximum accelerations at the underground are damped to about 60 % of those at on-ground horizontal and to about 70 % vertical. (2) Although the frequency characteristics of the seismic waves varies for each earthquake, the transfer characteristics of seismic waves from deep underground to on-ground is the same for each earthquake. (3) The horizontal dirrections of seismic wave incidence are similar to the directions from epicenters of each earthquake. The vertical directions of seismic wave incidence are in the range of about 3deg to 35deg from vertical line. (author)

Distributed optical fiber sensors for integrated monitoring of railway infrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Minardo, Aldo; Coscetta, Agnese; Porcaro, Giuseppe; Giannetta, Daniele; Bernini, Romeo; Zeni, Luigi

2014-05-01

We propose the application of a distributed optical fiber sensor based on stimulated Brillouin scattering, as an integrated system for safety monitoring of railway infrastructures. The strain distribution was measured dynamically along a 60 meters length of rail track, as well as along a 3-m stone arch bridge. The results indicate that distributed sensing technology is able to provide useful information in railway traffic and safety monitoring.

Environment Of Underground Water And Pollution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Jeong Sang

1998-02-15

This book deals with environment of underground water and pollution, which introduces the role of underground water in hydrology, definition of related study of under water, the history of hydro-geology, basic conception of underground water such as origin of water, and hydrogeologic characteristic of aquifers, movement of underground water, hydrography of underground water and aquifer test analysis, change of an underground water level, and water balance analysis and development of underground water.

Noise-induced hearing loss in a longitudinal study of Norwegian railway workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lie, Arve; Skogstad, Marit; Johnsen, Torstein Seip; Engdahl, Bo; Tambs, Kristian

2016-09-02

The aim of this study was to analyse longitudinal data to assess the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in Norwegian railway workers. Longitudinal. A major Norwegian railway company. We examined data from the first and last audiograms for the period 1991-2014, from 9640 railway workers with varying occupational noise exposure and with an average observation period of 10 years. The course of hearing acuity in seven groups of railway workers (train drivers, conductors, bus drivers, traffic controllers, train maintenance workers, track maintenance workers and others) were compared with each other and with ISO standards (ISO 1999). The change in hearing threshold during the observation period was 2-3 dB in the 0.5-4 kHz range and 6-7 dB in the 3-6 kHz range adjusted for age and sex, for all occupational groups, which is slightly less than expected (8 dB) according to ISO 1999. The risk of NIHL in Norwegian railway workers during the period 1991-2014 has been negligible. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Potential applications for energy from renewable sources in the railway sector; Anwendungsmoeglichkeiten erneuerbarer Energiequellen im Bahnsektor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldenberg, Philipp; Goldenberg, Vladimir; Reppich, Marcus [Hochschule Augsburg (Germany)

2012-07-01

Making use of energy from renewable sources has strategic and security-policy relevance. Since DB AG is a major energy consumer, the use of energy from renewable sources in railway operations will make economic sense in the long run. The railways depend on a very high security of energy supply nationwide. Efficient energy management can help enhance the security of supply to the railways. In addition, there are large potential energy savings to be made in railway operations. Major efforts are required to reach this objective. Using energy from renewable sources and increasing energy efficiency are two indispensable prerequisites for a sustainable energy supply to the railways as well as for increasing their attractiveness. (orig.)

Fatal accidents at railway level crossings in Great Britain 1946-2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Andrew W

2011-09-01

This paper investigates fatal accidents and fatalities at level crossings in Great Britain over the 64-year period 1946-2009. The numbers of fatal accidents and fatalities per year fell by about 65% in the first half of that period, but since then have remained more or less constant at about 11 fatal accidents and 12 fatalities per year. At the same time other types of railway fatalities have fallen, so level crossings represent a growing proportion of the total. Nevertheless, Britain's level crossing safety performance remains good by international standards. The paper classifies level crossings into three types: railway-controlled, automatic, and passive. The safety performance of the three types of crossings has been very different. Railway-controlled crossings are the best-performing crossing type, with falling fatal accident rates. Automatic crossings have higher accident rates per crossing than railway controlled or passive crossings, and the accident rates have not decreased. Passive crossings are by far the most numerous, but many have low usage by road users. Their fatal accident rate has remained remarkably constant over the whole period at about 0.9 fatal accidents per 1000 crossings per year. A principal reason why fatal accidents and fatalities have not fallen in the second half of the period as they did in the first half is the increase in the number of automatic crossings, replacing the safer railway controlled crossings on some public roads. However, it does not follow that this replacement was a mistake, because automatic crossings have advantages over controlled crossings in reducing delays to road users and in not needing staff. Based on the trends for each type of crossing and for pedestrian and non-pedestrian accidents separately, in 2009 a mean of about 5% of fatal accidents were at railway controlled crossings, 52% were at automatic crossings, and 43% were at passive crossings. Fatalities had similar proportions. About 60% of fatalities were

AN AUTOMATED RAILWAY STATION TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AN AUTOMATED RAILWAY STATION TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM. ... involve collision with automobiles or other vehicles and collision with other trains. ... the processed signals to control electromagnetic devices through motor drivers.

STUDY OF TRANSMISSION LINES EFFECT ON THE SYSTEM OPERATIONON OF CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CAB SIGNALLING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. O. Hololobova

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To conduct an effect research of the electromagnetic field of high-voltage transmission lines (HVTL (750 kV, 50 Hz on the track circuits and continuous automatic cab signalling (CACS with a signal current of 50 Hz in the areas of convergence and intersection with the transmission lines and to propose possible methods to improve noise immunity of CACS. Methodology. The measurements were performed both by means of car-laboratory and directly on rail lines. During the study the electric field strength in the range of industrial frequency directly under the transmission lines and at the distance from it to the railway lines was measured, as well as the time dependence of CACS codes with signal current frequency of 50 Hz directly under the transmission lines and at a distance from it in the absence of the train and its passing. Findings. The root causes analysis of CACS faults and failures was carried out. The effect of the electromagnetic field of high-voltage transmission lines (750 kV, 50 Hz on the track circuit and CACS with signal current of 50 Hz in the areas of convergence and intersection with the transmission line was investigated. Possible methods to improve noise immunity of CACS were considered. Originality. The effect research of transmission lines (750 kV on the operation of the automatic cab signalling on spans Prishib-Burchatsk and Privolnoye-Yelizarovo, Pridneprovsk railway in places of oblique railroads crossing and transmission lines (750 kV, 50 Hz was conducted. Electric field strength in the range of industrial frequency directly under the transmission lines and at a distance from it to the railway line, as well as the time dependences of ALSN codes with signal current frequency of 50 Hz directly under the transmission lines and at a distance from it in the absence of the train and as its passing were measured. It was found that CACS codes in track circuits under transmission lines are strongly distorted, as strength

Micro-simulation based analysis of railway lines robustness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cerreto, Fabrizio

2015-01-01

train course that can represent the total train delay along the line. Dispatching measures in case of disturbance are excluded by applying First-In First-Out rule in simulations. The benefits of modifications to the track infrastructure, the timetable, and the signaling system, in terms of consecutive...

Efficient Circulation of Railway Rolling Stock

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alfieri, A.; Groot, R.; Kroon, L.G.; Schrijver, A.

2006-01-01

Railway rolling stock (locomotives, carriages, and train units) is one of the most significant cost sources for operatorsof passenger trains, both public and private. Rolling stock costsare due to material acquisition, power supply, and material maintenance. The efficient circulation of rolling

Efficient Circulation of Railway Rolling Stock

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A. Alfieri (Arianna); R. Groot (Rutger); L.G. Kroon (Leo); A. Schrijver (Lex)

2002-01-01

textabstractRailway rolling stock (locomotives, carriages, and train units) is one of the most significant cost sources for operatorsof passenger trains, both public and private. Rolling stock costsare due to material acquisition, power supply, and material maintenance. The efficient circulation of

A codimension two bifurcation in a railway bogie system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Tingting; True, Hans; Dai, Huanyun

2017-01-01

In this paper, a comprehensive analysis is presented to investigate a codimension two bifurcation that exists in a nonlinear railway bogie dynamic system combining theoretical analysis with numerical investigation. By using the running velocity V and the primary longitudinal stiffness (Formula...... coexist in a range of the bifurcation parameters which can lead to jumps in the lateral oscillation amplitude of the railway bogie system. Furthermore, reduce the values of the bifurcation parameters gradually. Firstly, the supercritical Hopf bifurcation turns into a subcritical one with multiple limit...

International ETG-Congress 2007. Special meeting 1: Hybrid drive engineering - power efficient electrical drives. Special meeting 2: Customer benefit by new technologies in railway engineering.. Proceedings; Internationaler ETG-Kongress 2007. Fachtagung 1: Hybridantriebstechnik - Energieeffiziente elektrische Antriebe. Fachtagung 2: Kundennutzen durch neue Technologien in der Bahntechnik. Vortraege

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

The specialist conference customer benefit by new technologies in railway engineering took place as part of the international ETG-Congress 2007 (Congress of the Energietechnische Gesellschaft within VDE) in Karlsruhe. Light rapid transit vehicles, operating on DC-fed urban lines and AC-fed regional main lines as well, the state-of-the-art of energy storage devices and their interaction with the DC railway systems power supply, multi-system traction in the European high-speed and goods services and new drive technologies were reviewed. (orig.)

Geographic distribution of suicide and railway suicide in Belgium, 2008-2013: a principal component analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Strale, Mathieu; Krysinska, Karolina; Overmeiren, Gaëtan Van; Andriessen, Karl

2017-06-01

This study investigated the geographic distribution of suicide and railway suicide in Belgium over 2008--2013 on local (i.e., district or arrondissement) level. There were differences in the regional distribution of suicide and railway suicides in Belgium over the study period. Principal component analysis identified three groups of correlations among population variables and socio-economic indicators, such as population density, unemployment, and age group distribution, on two components that helped explaining the variance of railway suicide at a local (arrondissement) level. This information is of particular importance to prevent suicides in high-risk areas on the Belgian railway network.

Creosote released from railway-ties recycled and the sanitary risks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zicari, Giuseppe; Allegro, Giuseppe; Russo, Domenico; Rivetti, Daniela; Soardo, Vincenzo; Cerrato, Elena

2013-01-01

Through the history of railways, wooden crossties impregnated with potentially hazardous creosote tar, have been used for years. There are six major classes of compounds in the creosote: aromatic hydrocarbons; tar acids/phenolics; tar bases/nitrogen-containing heterocycles; aromatic amines; sulfur-containing heterocycles; and oxygen-containing heterocycles. The creosote molecules applied in railway crossties can be released in the environment and they can bioaccumulate in animals and vegetables. Some constituents (benzo(a)pyrene and phenolics like benzene) are considered as being carcinogenic which renders the entire complex of creosote to be classified as potentially carcinogenic. After several decades of use the railway-ties are been recycled for varies uses like fences, stakes for agriculture and fruit production or bank protection. In this paper are examined some environmental and sanitary risks from wood impregnated with creosote reported in the literature.

Development of a guide for prioritization of railway bridges for repair and replacement.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

The objective of this study was to develop evaluation bases for the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of existing : railway bridges. Considering the importance of bridges to the railway network, the research involved the review and : analysis o...

An investigation of employee motivation at Botswana railways / John Latolang

OpenAIRE

Latolang, John

2011-01-01

Botswana Railways has been facing low employee motivation and productivity for some time. Companies such as Air Botswana which had been experiencing similar issues decided to privatise to increase its efficiency and, as a result, turned things around. Hence, using both quantitative and qualitative investigation at the Headquarters of the Botswana Railways, this study sought to determine the extent of employee motivation and how to enhance it in order to increase employee produc...

[Mental health status in railway female workers and its occupational influencing factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, F L; Liu, Z M; Liu, Z S; Zou, J F; Yu, W L; Li, H M; Li, J; Kong, L M; Jiang, Q

2018-02-20

Objective: To investigate the mental health status of railway female workers and related influencing factors, and to provide a scientific strategy for labor protection regulations in railway female workers. Methods: Cluster sampling was used to select 5033 female workers from Jinan, Nanning, Qinghai-Tibet, and Wuhan railway systems in China from January to August, 2016. A uniform reproductive health questionnaire, as well as the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) , was used to investigate their general information (age, marital status, education level, and family income) , work type (day shift, night shift, or work on shift) , work position, and the presence or absence of exposure to occupational hazardous factors. The score on each factor of SCL-90 and the positive rate of mental health status were calculated. Results: The positive rate of mental health status was 10.6% in railway female workers. The workers exposed to occupational hazardous factors had a significantly higher positive rate of mental health status than those not exposed to occupational hazardous factors (14.20% vs 8.02%, P mental health status between workers with different ages, marital status, education levels, histories of abortion, or annual family income levels ( P mental health problems ( OR =1.797, 95% CI : 1.393-2.318; OR =0.641, 95% CI : 0.498-0.827; OR =0.586, 95% CI : 0.439-0.783; OR =0.580, 95% CI : 0.378-0.890) . Conclusion: Railway female workers have lower levels of mental health than the general population and are under significant occupational stress. Exposure to occupational hazardous factors, night shift, overwork, and carrying heavy objects are associated with the development of mental health problems in railway female workers.

Disruption Management in Passenger Railway Transportation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Groth, Julie Jespersen; Potthoff, Daniel; Clausen, Jens

2009-01-01

This paper deals with disruption management in passenger railway transportation. In the disruption management process, many actors belonging to different organizations play a role. In this paper we therefore describe the process itself and the roles of the different actors. Furthermore, we discuss...

Design study of the underground facilities, the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishizuka, Mineo; Noda, Masaru; Shiogama, Yukihiro; Adachi, Tetsuya

1999-02-01

Geoscientific research on the deep geological environment has been performed by Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). This research is supported by the 'Long-Term Program for Research, Development and Utilization of Nuclear Energy'. The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) is planned to be constructed at the Shobasama-bora site belonging to JNC. A wide range of geoscientific research and development activities which have been previously performed in and around the Tono mine is planned to be expanded in the laboratory. The MIU consisted of surface and underground facilities excavated to a depth of about 1,000 meters. In this design study, the overall layout and basic design of the underground facility and the composition of the overall research program, includes the construction of the underground facility are studied. Based on the concept of the underground facility which have been developed in 1998, the research activities which will be performed in the MIU are selected and the overall research program is revised in this year. The basic construction method and the construction equipment are also estimated. (author)

Design study of underground facility of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishizuka, Mineo; Noda, Masaru; Shiogama, Yukihiro; Adachi, Tetsuya

1999-02-01

Geoscientific research on deep geological environment has been performed by Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). This research is supported by the 'Long-Term Program for Research, Development and Utilization of Nuclear Energy'. The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) is planned to be constructed at Shobasama-bora site belonging to JNC. A wide range of geoscientific research and development activities which have been previously performed in and around the Tono mine is planned to be expanded in the laboratory. The MIU is consisted of surface and underground facilities down to the depth of about 1,000 meters. In this design study, the overall layout and basic design of the underground facility and the composition of the overall research program which includes the construction of the underground facility are studied. Based on the concept of the underground facility which have been developed last year, the research activities which will be performed in the MIU are selected and the overall research program is revised in this year. The basic construction method and the construction equipment are also estimated. (author)

Underground laboratories in Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Shin Ted; Yue, Qian

2015-01-01

Deep underground laboratories in Asia have been making huge progress recently because underground sites provide unique opportunities to explore the rare-event phenomena for the study of dark matter searches, neutrino physics and nuclear astrophysics as well as the multi-disciplinary researches based on the low radioactive environments. The status and perspectives of Kamioda underground observatories in Japan, the existing Y2L and the planned CUP in Korea, India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in India and China JinPing Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in China will be surveyed

Underground laboratories in Asia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Shin Ted, E-mail: linst@mails.phys.sinica.edu.tw [College of Physical Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064 China (China); Yue, Qian, E-mail: yueq@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Particle and Radiation Imaging (Ministry of Education) and Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 China (China)

2015-08-17

Deep underground laboratories in Asia have been making huge progress recently because underground sites provide unique opportunities to explore the rare-event phenomena for the study of dark matter searches, neutrino physics and nuclear astrophysics as well as the multi-disciplinary researches based on the low radioactive environments. The status and perspectives of Kamioda underground observatories in Japan, the existing Y2L and the planned CUP in Korea, India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in India and China JinPing Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in China will be surveyed.

Assess the feasibility of the high-speed railway construction in China by measuring the traffic demand elastic

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Nan; Cao, Yu

2017-05-01

The traffic demand elastic is proposed as a new indicator in this study to measure the feasibility of the high-speed railway construction in a more intuitive way. The Matrix Completion (MC) and Semi-Supervised Support Vector Machine (S3VM) are used to realize the measurement and prediction of this index on the basis of the satisfaction investigation on the 326 inter-city railways in china. It is demonstrated that instead of calculating the economic benefits brought by the construction of high-speed railway, this indicator can find the most urgent railways to be improved by directly evaluate the existing railway facilities from the perspective of transportation service improvement requirements.

Diagnosis diagrams for passing signals on an automatic block signaling railway section

Science.gov (United States)

Spunei, E.; Piroi, I.; Chioncel, C. P.; Piroi, F.

2018-01-01

This work presents a diagnosis method for railway traffic security installations. More specifically, the authors present a series of diagnosis charts for passing signals on a railway block equipped with an automatic block signaling installation. These charts are based on the exploitation electric schemes, and are subsequently used to develop a diagnosis software package. The thus developed software package contributes substantially to a reduction of failure detection and remedy for these types of installation faults. The use of the software package eliminates making wrong decisions in the fault detection process, decisions that may result in longer remedy times and, sometimes, to railway traffic events.

On the Development of Intelligent Railway Information and Safety Systems: An Overview of Current Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dániel Tokody

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The present article focuses on the research and development planning for innovative railway systems. Within such a general framework, the specific objectives of the research have been defined within the framework of a large Intelligent Railway System project in Hungary. Our theoretical research work at the university is combined with practical experience gained at the Hungarian State Railways. In the course of this research work, the development of an intelligent railway system has been investigated by leveraging on the fruitful cooperation between academic and industrial partners, in order to promote the application and integration possibilities of the development results, as well as the introduction of innovative components in the railway system. In such a context, this article discusses the research plan, preliminary and long-term expected results, sharing objectives and experiences with the aim of providing novel views in an extremely current and challenging field of research.

Load management potentials for the railway power system; Potenziale fuer das Lastmanagement im Bahnenergiesystem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bosch, Julius; Aniceto, Josep M. [SBB AG Infrastruktur Energie, Zollikofen (Switzerland)

2013-02-15

The railway power supply system of the Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB) is characterised by major load fluctuations that are expected to increase in the future. The available power that is generated must be kept at absolute load peak level which causes high costs. Simulations show that a load management is a practicable way of noticeably reducing load peaks in the SBB railway power supply system without having an adverse effect on railway operations or the energy demand.

Orpheus in the Underground

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Puskás Dániel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In my study I deal with descents to the underworld and hell in literature in the 20th century and in contemporary literature. I will focus on modem literary reinterpretations of the myth of Orpheus, starting with Rilke’s Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes. In Seamus Heaney’s The Underground. in the Hungarian Istvan Baka’s Descending to the Underground of Moscow and in Czesław Miłosz’s Orpheus and Eurydice underworld appears as underground, similarly to the contemporary Hungarian János Térey’s play entitled Jeramiah. where underground will also be a metaphorical underworld which is populated with the ghosts of the famous deceased people of Debrecen, and finally, in Péter Kárpáti’s Everywoman the grave of the final scene of the medieval Everyman will be replaced with a contemporary underground station. I analyse how an underground station could be parallel with the underworld and I deal with the role of musicality and sounds in the literary works based on the myth of Orpheus.

Underground Layout Configuration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A. Linden

2003-01-01

The purpose of this analysis was to develop an underground layout to support the license application (LA) design effort. In addition, the analysis will be used as the technical basis for the underground layout general arrangement drawings

A PROPOSAL FOR MAKING A RISK MAP OF ROCKFALL BY EVALUATING THE INFLUENCE TO RAILWAY TRACK

Science.gov (United States)

Fukata, Takahiro; Mori, Taiki; Shibuya, Satoru

An incident of rockfall may trigger serious damage to the safety as well as the after-the-event maintenance of railway transportation. In an attempt to minimize such damage caused by rockfall incident, the railway companies regularly in spect the concerned slopes along the railway, and take necessary measures. In the current practice, however, it is very difficult to make a full control of slopes in danger spreading over the wide area due to the limited human and financial resources. Accordingly, it is urgently needed for the railway firms to establish cost-effective as well as reliable system for the slope management. A risk map based on the impact statement of rockfall to railway track is of great use for not only enhancing the efficiency of slope inspection, but also planning the disaster prevention of railway. In this paper, a methodology for establishing a risk map by considering the impact statement to railway truck in a quantitative manner is proposed. In so doing, the rockfall movement on a slope was numerically simulated in match with each categorized type of slopes. The applicability of this proposed method for the slope management practice is examined based on a number of case histories.

Detection of underground water distribution piping system and leakages using ground penetrating radar (GPR)

Science.gov (United States)

Amran, Tengku Sarah Tengku; Ismail, Mohamad Pauzi; Ahmad, Mohamad Ridzuan; Amin, Mohamad Syafiq Mohd; Sani, Suhairy; Masenwat, Noor Azreen; Ismail, Mohd Azmi; Hamid, Shu-Hazri Abdul

2017-01-01

A water pipe is any pipe or tubes designed to transport and deliver water or treated drinking with appropriate quality, quantity and pressure to consumers. The varieties include large diameter main pipes, which supply entire towns, smaller branch lines that supply a street or group of buildings or small diameter pipes located within individual buildings. This distribution system (underground) is used to describe collectively the facilities used to supply water from its source to the point of usage. Therefore, a leaking in the underground water distribution piping system increases the likelihood of safe water leaving the source or treatment facility becoming contaminated before reaching the consumer. Most importantly, leaking can result in wastage of water which is precious natural resources. Furthermore, they create substantial damage to the transportation system and structure within urban and suburban environments. This paper presents a study on the possibility of using ground penetrating radar (GPR) with frequency of 1GHz to detect pipes and leakages in underground water distribution piping system. Series of laboratory experiment was designed to investigate the capability and efficiency of GPR in detecting underground pipes (metal and PVC) and water leakages. The data was divided into two parts: 1. detecting/locating underground water pipe, 2. detecting leakage of underground water pipe. Despite its simplicity, the attained data is proved to generate a satisfactory result indicating GPR is capable and efficient, in which it is able to detect the underground pipe and presence of leak of the underground pipe.

Design of railway obstacle detection prototype

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Xungu, Sipho A

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Survey Inspection Device (SID) test prototype platform to serve as an early warning system for locomotives and was to travel 2km ahead of a locomotive in order to inspect the railway for possible obstacles such as human beings, livestock and collisions...

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Electric railways. 202.13 Section 202.13 Employees' Benefits RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD REGULATIONS UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT EMPLOYERS UNDER... conclusion reached the question will be submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission for determination...

Resolving instability in railway timetabling problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Besinovic, Nikola; Quaglietta, E.; Goverde, R.M.P.

A growth of the railway transportation demand is forecasted in the next decades which needs an increase of network capacity. Where possible, infrastructure upgrading can release extra capacity, although in some cases this is not enough to satisfy the entire transportation demand unless optimised

40 CFR 280.220 - Ownership of an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system or facility or...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... tank or underground storage tank system or facility or property on which an underground storage tank or underground storage tank system is located. 280.220 Section 280.220 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... underground storage tank or underground storage tank system or facility or property on which an underground...

Development of a super high speed railway and ML 100

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Usami, Y

1973-07-01

A history of the development progress is given, followed by a discussion of the propulsion system for a super high speed railway-structure. Induction linear motors and synchronous linear motors are discussed in some detail. The maintenance system is then described (basic test apparatus-rotary type superconductive magnetic force maintenance system, etc.). Experiments using a linear running superconductive magnetic test car are discussed. Developments of super high speed railways in America, France, England, West Germany, etc. are described.

The Place of Railway Transport in Romania’s Transport System

OpenAIRE

Dãneci-Pãtrãu Daniel; Coca Carmen Elena

2012-01-01

The transport activity in all its forms represents one of the most complex sections of an economy, but also an important factor of influence over the quality of life, that is why current preoccupations of international organisms are oriented towards measures meant to develop performing transport systems and compatible with the environment. In the article the main activities and resources of Romania’s railway transport system are presented , the place of the railway transport in the transport ...

Recent advances in the fundamental understanding of railway vehicle dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

True, Hans

2006-01-01

The topic of this article is the calculation of the critical speed for railway vehicles. It is emphasised that it is misleading to formulate the mathematical problem as a stability problem. It must correctly be formulated as a problem of existence of coexisting solutions to the full non-linear dy......The topic of this article is the calculation of the critical speed for railway vehicles. It is emphasised that it is misleading to formulate the mathematical problem as a stability problem. It must correctly be formulated as a problem of existence of coexisting solutions to the full non......-linear dynamical problem. The lowest speed at which there exist more critical speed in road tests. A couple of examples show applications of the method to various dynamical models of railway vehicles. Freight wagons are treated in the end of the article because the dry friction damping with stick-slip and end...

Nonlinear Dynamic Characteristics of the Railway Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Uyulan, Çağlar; Gokasan, Metin

2017-06-01

The nonlinear dynamic characteristics of a railway vehicle are checked into thoroughly by applying two different wheel-rail contact model: a heuristic nonlinear friction creepage model derived by using Kalker 's theory and Polach model including dead-zone clearance. This two models are matched with the quasi-static form of the LuGre model to obtain more realistic wheel-rail contact model. LuGre model parameters are determined using nonlinear optimization method, which it's objective is to minimize the error between the output of the Polach and Kalker model and quasi-static LuGre model for specific operating conditions. The symmetric/asymmetric bifurcation attitude and stable/unstable motion of the railway vehicle in the presence of nonlinearities which are yaw damping forces in the longitudinal suspension system are analyzed in great detail by changing the vehicle speed. Phase portraits of the lateral displacement of the leading wheelset of the railway vehicle are drawn below and on the critical speeds, where sub-critical Hopf bifurcation take place, for two wheel-rail contact model. Asymmetric periodic motions have been observed during the simulation in the lateral displacement of the wheelset under different vehicle speed range. The coexistence of multiple steady states cause bounces in the amplitude of vibrations, resulting instability problems of the railway vehicle. By using Lyapunov's indirect method, the critical hunting speeds are calculated with respect to the radius of the curved track parameter changes. Hunting, which is defined as the oscillation of the lateral displacement of wheelset with a large domain, is described by a limit cycle-type oscillation nature. The evaluated accuracy of the LuGre model adopted from Kalker's model results for prediction of critical speed is higher than the results of the LuGre model adopted from Polach's model. From the results of the analysis, the critical hunting speed must be resolved by investigating the track tests

Methodology for quantification of waste generated in Spanish railway construction works

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guzmán Báez, Ana de; Villoria Sáez, Paola; Río Merino, Mercedes del; García Navarro, Justo

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Two equations for C and D waste estimation in railway construction works are developed. ► Mixed C and D waste is the most generated category during railway construction works. ► Tunnel construction is essential to quantify the waste generated during the works. ► There is a relationship between C and D waste generated and railway functional units. ► The methodology proposed can be used to obtain new constants for other areas. - Abstract: In the last years, the European Union (EU) has been focused on the reduction of construction and demolition (C and D) waste. Specifically, in 2006, Spain generated roughly 47 million tons of C and D waste, of which only 13.6% was recycled. This situation has lead to the drawing up of many regulations on C and D waste during the past years forcing EU countries to include new measures for waste prevention and recycling. Among these measures, the mandatory obligation to quantify the C and D waste expected to be originated during a construction project is mandated. However, limited data is available on civil engineering projects. Therefore, the aim of this research study is to improve C and D waste management in railway projects, by developing a model for C and D waste quantification. For this purpose, we develop two equations which estimate in advance the amount, both in weight and volume, of the C and D waste likely to be generated in railway construction projects, including the category of C and D waste generated for the entire project.

Pipe Lines – External Corrosion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Babor

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Two areas of corrosion occur in pipe lines: corrosion from the medium carried inside the pipes; corrosion attack upon the outside of the pipes (underground corrosion. Electrolytic processes are also involved in underground corrosion. Here the moisture content of the soil acts as an electrolyte, and the ions required to conduct the current are supplied by water-soluble salts (chlorides, sulfates, etc. present in the soil. The nature and amount of these soluble materials can vary within a wide range, which is seen from the varying electrical conductivity and pH (varies between 3 and 10. Therefore the characteristics of a soil will be an important factor in under-ground corrosion.

Probabilistic Fatigue Life Updating for Railway Bridges Based on Local Inspection and Repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Young-Joo; Kim, Robin E; Suh, Wonho; Park, Kiwon

2017-04-24

Railway bridges are exposed to repeated train loads, which may cause fatigue failure. As critical links in a transportation network, railway bridges are expected to survive for a target period of time, but sometimes they fail earlier than expected. To guarantee the target bridge life, bridge maintenance activities such as local inspection and repair should be undertaken properly. However, this is a challenging task because there are various sources of uncertainty associated with aging bridges, train loads, environmental conditions, and maintenance work. Therefore, to perform optimal risk-based maintenance of railway bridges, it is essential to estimate the probabilistic fatigue life of a railway bridge and update the life information based on the results of local inspections and repair. Recently, a system reliability approach was proposed to evaluate the fatigue failure risk of structural systems and update the prior risk information in various inspection scenarios. However, this approach can handle only a constant-amplitude load and has limitations in considering a cyclic load with varying amplitude levels, which is the major loading pattern generated by train traffic. In addition, it is not feasible to update the prior risk information after bridges are repaired. In this research, the system reliability approach is further developed so that it can handle a varying-amplitude load and update the system-level risk of fatigue failure for railway bridges after inspection and repair. The proposed method is applied to a numerical example of an in-service railway bridge, and the effects of inspection and repair on the probabilistic fatigue life are discussed.

Mathematical model of optimal empty rail car distribution at railway transport nodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandr RAKHMANGULOV

2014-09-01

Full Text Available At present there are two trends in the market of rail freight transportation in Russia: freight owners put forward higher demands to the transportation quality (promptness of delivery in an effort to reduce storage costs by means of reducing the size of freight shipment; the structure of railcar traffic volume of the railways of Russia is getting more complex due to the reduction of the average shipment size and due to the transfer of railcar fleet ownership to a large number of operating companies. These trends significantly complicate operational management supervision of railway stations and transport nodes. Application of typical data from the information system about the railcar location at the transportation node is not enough for the dispatchers to make the best decision concerning the car traffic management. The dispatcher traffic control service needs some software-based models of efficient railcar distribution. The article is concerned with the description and development of the mathematical model of empty railcar distribution for loading at the railway transport node; this model will take into account the requirements of railcar owners in terms of their cars application, the operating work level of railroad stations of the transportation node and the possibility of adding the groups of empty railcars to the transfer trains, clean-up trains and industrial railway trains operating on a tight schedule. The developed model and the software package were implemented in the information system of the industrial railway of the major metallurgical enterprise - OJSC «Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Works», which processes up to two thousand of railcars belonging to different owners. This model made it possible to reduce the labour intensity of dispatcher operation planning the empty railcar distribution for loading and reduce the total time the railcars spend in the enterprise railway system.

Underground laboratories in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coccia, E

2006-01-01

The only clear evidence today for physics beyond the standard model comes from underground experiments and the future activity of underground laboratories appears challenging and rich. I review here the existing underground research facilities in Europe. I present briefly the main characteristics, scientific activity and perspectives of these Laboratories and discuss the present coordination actions in the framework of the European Union

Performance communication of the Belgian railway

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gelders, Dave; Verckens, Jan Pieter; Galetzka, Mirjam; Seydel, E.R.

2007-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into performance communication from an important public service, i.e. the Belgian Railway, towards its employees (internal) and stakeholders (external). Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach was taken in the form of

Assessment of railway wagon suspension characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Soukup, Josef; Skočilas, Jan; Skočilasová, Blanka

2017-05-01

The article deals with assessment of railway wagon suspension characteristics. The essential characteristics of a suspension are represented by the stiffness constants of the equivalent springs and the eigen frequencies of the oscillating movements in reference to the main central inertia axes of a vehicle. The premise of the experimental determination of these characteristic is the knowledge of the gravity center position and the knowledge of the main central inertia moments of the vehicle frame. The vehicle frame performs the general spatial movement when the vehicle moves. An analysis of the frame movement generally arises from Euler's equations which are commonly used for the description of the spherical movement. This solution is difficult and it can be simplified by applying the specific assumptions. The eigen frequencies solutions and solutions of the suspension stiffness are presented in the article. The solutions are applied on the railway and road vehicles with the simplifying conditions. A new method which assessed the characteristics is described in the article.

The noise factor in railway locomotives.

Science.gov (United States)

Rotter, T

1982-09-01

This article concerns the problem of acoustic work conditions on railway locomotives. The objective results of sonometric surveys in locomotive cabins are compared with subject data received from locomotive crews obtained by means of a specific questionnaire 'The Subjective Estimation of Noise'. The analysis touched 9 type of locomotives; steam, diesel and electric engines. We asked drivers of different age groups and with varying lengths of professional service for their opinions The aim of the investigation was to determine the following points: 1. to analyse the drivers' subjective estimation of the noise in the locomotive cabins; 2. to define length of time for which the driver remains under the influence of the noise after finishing work; 3. to investigate the question of perception and understanding of sounds and vocal signals used in the locomotive. These problems are a small part of the general plan to improve work conditions on the Polish National Railways.

A határon túli vasútállomások neve a vasúti utastájékoztatásban. [Names for railway stations beyond the borders of Hungary in information services for railway passengers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Perger, Imre

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the problems in identifying the contemporary Hungarian names for railway stations in the Carpathian Basin that formerly were known only by their Hungarian names. The author describes the changes of the names for the relevant settlements as well as those of the names for their railway stations from the time of the official settlement names standardization up to the present (i.e. between 1898 and 2013, which have led to misunderstandings in everyday communication and, especially, in information services for railway passengers. The paper presents the international rules and requirements for naming railway stations, and discusses the relevant regulations by the Hungarian Railways. The author explains why the Hungarian names cannot be used in timetables and why the exclusive use of Hungarian names for railway stations beyond the borders of the present-day Hungary cannot be claimed in information services. The author also discusses the queries on name use posed by the Hungarian Railways to the Hungarian Committee on Geographical Names; and based on the decisions involving an accepted list of railway station names, summarizes the principles to be followed in name use, exploring the professional background of the actual decisions. Because of the lack of unified practice concerning the use of the Hungarian names for settlements beyond the borders of the present-day Hungary, the author initiates the compilation of a standardized historical and administrative gazetteer.

Research on development characteristics of railway logistics specialty under “the Belt and Road” strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhifeng Zhao

2017-06-01

Full Text Available With the proposed “the Belt and Road” strategy in China, the railway logistics specialty becomes one of the important links which draws more attention. Based on this, the paper studies transport route of railway logistics and sets up its model of the optimal route combining with ant colony algorithm. It carries out simulation analysis of each parameter of ant colony algorithm and chooses the optimal region of corresponding parameter. By taking railway logistics in Hubei Province as an example, the optimal transport route plan and its schematic drawing are required through calculation, which provides the important guidance on railway logistics transportation under “the Belt and Road” strategy in China

Electric field analysis of extra high voltage (EHV) underground cables using finite element method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kumar, Mantosh; Bhaskar, Mahajan Sagar; Padmanaban, Sanjeevikumar

2017-01-01

used for the insulator due electrical, thermal or environmental stress. Most of these problems are related to the electric field stress on the insulation of the underground cables. The objective of the electric field analysis by using different numerical techniques is to find electric field stress...... electric field stress and other parameters of EHV underground cables with given boundary conditions using 2-D electric field analysis software package (IES-ELECTRO module) which is based on the finite element method (FEM).......Transmission and Distribution of electric power through underground cables is a viable alternative to overhead lines, particularly in residential or highly populated areas. The electrical stresses are consequences of regular voltages and over voltages and the thermal stresses are related to heat...

Studies on radon concentration in underground water samples in and around Kabini river basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashaswini, T.; Ningappa, C.; Niranjan, R.S.; Sannappa, J.

2017-01-01

Radon is a radioactive inert gas, a decay product of radium, causes environmental health problems like lung cancer. Radium present in the earth crest continuously releases radon into underground water. From the point view of health, the study of radon concentration level in underground water base line data is important. In the present study, radon concentration in underground water have been measured in 40 underground water samples collected in and around Kabini River of Karnataka State by using Emanometry technique. The radon concentration in the study area varies from 21.2 to 168.2Bq.l -1 with a geometrical mean value of 73.3 Bq.l -1 . The physicochemical parameters of water such as chloride, Fluoride, nitrite, sulphate, TDS are measured in the same samples in order to know about the impact of these parameters on radon concentration and their health risks to the general public. The experimental techniques and results obtained are discussed in the presentation. (author)

Environmental risks of high-speed railway in China: Public participation, perception and trust

NARCIS (Netherlands)

He, G.; Mol, A.P.J.; Zhang, L.; Lu, Y.

2015-01-01

Two decades ago China entered an era with rapid expansion of transport infrastructure. In an ambitious plan on high-speed railway development, China plans to have the longest high-speed railway network by 2020. Social concerns and anxiety with the adverse environmental and social risks and impacts

Approaches for reducing structural vibration of the carbody railway vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dumitriu Mădălina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Reducing the weight of the railway vehicles stands as a decisive rule in their design, entailed by higher velocities, the need to consume less energy and lower the manufacturing costs, along with the maximization of the use of loads on the axle. Once complied with this rule, the vehicle flexibility increases and leads to an easy excitation of the structural vibrations in the carbody, with an impact upon the ride comfort in the railway vehicle. For a better ride comfort in lightweight railway vehicles, both vibration isolation approaches and structural damping approaches have been introduced. The paper herein submits a brief review of the main structural damping approaches aiming to reduce the amplitude in the carbody structural vibrations, based on the use of the piezoelectric elements in passive control schemes. The paper outcomes show the potential of the presented methods concerning the reduction of the flexible vibrations in the carbody and the ride comfort improvement.

Underground space planning in Helsinki

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilkka Vähäaho

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper gives insight into the use of underground space in Helsinki, Finland. The city has an underground master plan (UMP for its whole municipal area, not only for certain parts of the city. Further, the decision-making history of the UMP is described step-by-step. Some examples of underground space use in other cities are also given. The focus of this paper is on the sustainability issues related to urban underground space use, including its contribution to an environmentally sustainable and aesthetically acceptable landscape, anticipated structural longevity and maintaining the opportunity for urban development by future generations. Underground planning enhances overall safety and economy efficiency. The need for underground space use in city areas has grown rapidly since the 21st century; at the same time, the necessity to control construction work has also increased. The UMP of Helsinki reserves designated space for public and private utilities in various underground areas of bedrock over the long term. The plan also provides the framework for managing and controlling the city's underground construction work and allows suitable locations to be allocated for underground facilities. Tampere, the third most populated city in Finland and the biggest inland city in the Nordic countries, is also a good example of a city that is taking steps to utilise underground resources. Oulu, the capital city of northern Finland, has also started to ‘go underground’. An example of the possibility to combine two cities by an 80-km subsea tunnel is also discussed. A new fixed link would generate huge potential for the capital areas of Finland and Estonia to become a real Helsinki-Tallinn twin city.

The effects of railway noise on sleep medication intake: Results from the ALPNAP-study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Lercher

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In the 1980s/90s, a number of socio-acoustic surveys and laboratory studies on railway noise effects have observed less reported disturbance/interference with sleep at the same exposure level compared with other modes of transportation. This lower grade of disturbance has received the label "railway bonus", was implemented in noise legislation in a number of European countries and was applied in planning and environmental impact assessments. However, majority of the studies investigating physiological outcomes did not find the bespoke difference. In a telephone survey (N=1643 we investigated the relationship between railway noise and sleep medication intake and the impact of railway noise events on motility parameters during night was assessed with contact-free high resolution actimetry devices. Multiple logistic regression analysis with cubic splines was applied to assess the probability of sleep medication use based on railway sound level and nine covariates. The non-linear exposure-response curve showed a statistically significant leveling off around 60 dB (A, Lden. Age, health status and trauma history were the most important covariates. The results were supported also by a similar analysis based on the indicator "night time noise annoyance". No railway bonus could be observed above 55 dB(A, Lden. In the actimetry study, the slope of rise of train noise events proved to be almost as important a predictor for motility reactions as was the maximum sound pressure level - an observation which confirms similar findings from laboratory experiments and field studies on aircraft noise and sleep disturbance. Legislation using a railway bonus will underestimate the noise impact by about 10 dB (A, Lden under the conditions comparable with those in the survey study. The choice of the noise calculation method may influence the threshold for guideline setting.

The effects of railway noise on sleep medication intake: results from the ALPNAP-study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lercher, P; Brink, M; Rudisser, J; Van Renterghem, T; Botteldooren, D; Baulac, M; Defrance, J

2010-01-01

In the 1980s/90s, a number of socio-acoustic surveys and laboratory studies on railway noise effects have observed less reported disturbance/interference with sleep at the same exposure level compared with other modes of transportation. This lower grade of disturbance has received the label "railway bonus", was implemented in noise legislation in a number of European countries and was applied in planning and environmental impact assessments. However, majority of the studies investigating physiological outcomes did not find the bespoke difference. In a telephone survey (N=1643) we investigated the relationship between railway noise and sleep medication intake and the impact of railway noise events on motility parameters during night was assessed with contact-free high resolution actimetry devices. Multiple logistic regression analysis with cubic splines was applied to assess the probability of sleep medication use based on railway sound level and nine covariates. The non-linear exposure-response curve showed a statistically significant leveling off around 60 dB (A), Lden. Age, health status and trauma history were the most important covariates. The results were supported also by a similar analysis based on the indicator "night time noise annoyance". No railway bonus could be observed above 55 dB(A), Lden. In the actimetry study, the slope of rise of train noise events proved to be almost as important a predictor for motility reactions as was the maximum sound pressure level - an observation which confirms similar findings from laboratory experiments and field studies on aircraft noise and sleep disturbance. Legislation using a railway bonus will underestimate the noise impact by about 10 dB (A), Lden under the conditions comparable with those in the survey study. The choice of the noise calculation method may influence the threshold for guideline setting.

Monitoring Line-Infrastructure With Multisensor SAR Interferometry : Products and Performance Assessment Metrics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chang, L.; Dollevoet, R.P.B.J.; Hanssen, R.F.

2018-01-01

Satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) is an emerging technique to monitor the stability and health of line-infrastructure assets, such as railways, dams, and pipelines. However, InSAR is an opportunistic approach as the location and occurrence of its measurements (coherent scatterers) cannot be

Impact of the traffic load on performance of an alternative LTE railway communication network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2013-01-01

communication infrastructure supporting railway signaling. This work is based on OPNET realistic network simulations, which show the relation between the traffic load (the number of trains transmitting and receiving data in an LTE cell) and the delay performance of the European Train Control System (ETCS......Although many countries only now begin to invest in deployment of GSM-Railways (GSM-R) networks, this technology is already obsolete and reveals its significant shortcomings. The most troublesome one is the insufficient number of communication channels offered by GSM-R. This is a major problem...... obstructing railway operations at big train stations and junctions. Hence, other technologies, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), need to be considered as an alternative to GSM-R. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the capacity increase that railways can expect, from the introduction of LTE as internal...

A Fuzzy Optimization Model for High-Speed Railway Timetable Rescheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A fuzzy optimization model based on improved symmetric tolerance approach is introduced, which allows for rescheduling high-speed railway timetable under unexpected interferences. The model nests different parameters of the soft constraints with uncertainty margin to describe their importance to the optimization purpose and treats the objective in the same manner. Thus a new optimal instrument is expected to achieve a new timetable subject to little slack of constraints. The section between Nanjing and Shanghai, which is the busiest, of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line in China is used as the simulated measurement. The fuzzy optimization model provides an accurate approximation on train running time and headway time, and hence the results suggest that the number of seriously impacted trains and total delay time can be reduced significantly subject to little cost and risk.

Application of Superconducting Power Cables to DC Electric Railway Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ohsaki, Hiroyuki; Lv, Zhen; Sekino, Masaki; Tomita, Masaru

For novel design and efficient operation of next-generation DC electric railway systems, especially for their substantial energy saving, we have studied the feasibility of applying superconducting power cables to them. In this paper it is assumed that a superconducting power cable is applied to connect substations supplying electric power to trains. An analysis model line was described by an electric circuit, which was analyzed with MATLAB-Simulink. From the calculated voltages and currents of the circuit, the regenerative brake and the energy losses were estimated. In addition, assuming the heat loads of superconducting power cables and the cryogenic efficiency, the energy saving of the total system was evaluated. The results show that the introduction of superconducting power cables could achieve the improved use of regenerative brake, the loss reduction, the decreased number of substations, the reduced maintenance, etc.

Fault Detection and Diagnosis of Railway Point Machines by Sound Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jonguk; Choi, Heesu; Park, Daihee; Chung, Yongwha; Kim, Hee-Young; Yoon, Sukhan

2016-01-01

Railway point devices act as actuators that provide different routes to trains by driving switchblades from the current position to the opposite one. Point failure can significantly affect railway operations, with potentially disastrous consequences. Therefore, early detection of anomalies is critical for monitoring and managing the condition of rail infrastructure. We present a data mining solution that utilizes audio data to efficiently detect and diagnose faults in railway condition monitoring systems. The system enables extracting mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCCs) from audio data with reduced feature dimensions using attribute subset selection, and employs support vector machines (SVMs) for early detection and classification of anomalies. Experimental results show that the system enables cost-effective detection and diagnosis of faults using a cheap microphone, with accuracy exceeding 94.1% whether used alone or in combination with other known methods. PMID:27092509

Phase-based Planning for Railway Infrastructure Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Rui

2017-01-01

is important in terms of economy and rail operations. This study presents two types of Phase-based Decision Support System (PDSS), i.e. Functional Phase-Based Planning Approach (F-PBPA) and Process-Oriented Phase-Based Planning Approach (PO-PBPA). They are used for decision support for the planning...... of the railway infrastructure maintenance activities at the strategic planning level. The objective is to achieve better economy, as well as improve cost efficiency. F-PBPA consists of ve main phases: Data Collection, Technical Optimization (TeO), Economic Optimization (EcO), Constrained Optimization (Co...... the costs. Finally, constrained optimization (CoO) includes additional constraints and it allows the railway expert to adjust input parameters, thereby to obtain alternative maintenance plans. PO-PBPA contains another systematic phase based process. With a focus on Life Cycle Cost (LCC), PO-PBPA can guide...

A Survey on Robustness in Railway Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper; Bull, Simon Henry

2018-01-01

Planning problems in passenger railway range from long term strategic decision making to the detailed planning of operations.Operations research methods have played an increasing role in this planning process. However, recently more attention has been given to considerations of robustness...... in the quality of solutions to individual planning problems, and of operations in general. Robustness in general is the capacity for some system to absorb or resist changes. In the context of railway robustness it is often taken to be the capacity for operations to continue at some level when faced...... with a disruption such as delay or failure. This has resulted in more attention given to the inclusion of robustness measures and objectives in individual planning problems, and to the providing of tools to ensure operations continue under disrupted situations. In this paper we survey the literature on robustness...

Nondestructive diagnosis of rotation components of a railway vehicle using infrared thermography and pattern recognitions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Seok Jin; Kim, Min Su; Seo, Jung Won; Kang, Bu Beong

2016-01-01

The faults in railway vehicle components may result in either the stoppage of the service and the derailment of the vehicle. Therefore, it is important to diagnose and monitor the main components of a railway vehicle. The use of temperature is one of the basic methods for the diagnosis of abnormal conditions in the rotational components of a railway vehicle, such as bearings, reduction gears, brake discs, wheels and traction motors. In the present study, the diagnose of the rotational components using infrared thermography and a pattern recognition technique was carried out and a field test was performed. The results show that this method of diagnosis using infrared thermography can be used to identify abnormal conditions in rotational components of a railway vehicle

Nondestructive diagnosis of rotation components of a railway vehicle using infrared thermography and pattern recognitions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Seok Jin; Kim, Min Su; Seo, Jung Won [New Transportation Research Center, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Uiwang (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Bu Beong [Dept. of of Railway Vehicle System Engineering, Woosong University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-08-15

The faults in railway vehicle components may result in either the stoppage of the service and the derailment of the vehicle. Therefore, it is important to diagnose and monitor the main components of a railway vehicle. The use of temperature is one of the basic methods for the diagnosis of abnormal conditions in the rotational components of a railway vehicle, such as bearings, reduction gears, brake discs, wheels and traction motors. In the present study, the diagnose of the rotational components using infrared thermography and a pattern recognition technique was carried out and a field test was performed. The results show that this method of diagnosis using infrared thermography can be used to identify abnormal conditions in rotational components of a railway vehicle.

Hazard connected to railway tunnel construction in karstic area: applied geomorphological and hydrogeological surveys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Casagrande

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In a mature karstic system, the realisation of galleries using the methodology of railway tunnel boring machine (TBM involves particular problems due to the high risk of interference with groundwater (often subject to remarkable level variations and with cavities and/or thick fill deposits. In order to define groundwater features it is necessary to investigate both hydrodynamic and karstification. To define and quantify the karst phenomenon in the epikarst of the Trieste Karst (Italy, an applied geomorphological approach has been experimented with surface and cavity surveys. The surface surveys have contributed to determining the potential karst versus the different outcropping lithologies and to define the structural setting of the rocky mass also through the realisation of geostructural stations and the survey of the main lines thanks to photo-interpretation. Moreover, all the dolines and the cavities present in the area interested by the gallery have been studied by analysing the probable extension of caves and/or of the secondary fill deposits and by evaluating the different genetic models. In an area 900m large and 27km long, which has been studied because of the underground karst, there are 41 dolines having diameters superior to 100m and 93 dolines whose diameters range between 100 and 50m; the dolines whose diameters are inferior to 50m are 282. The entrances of known and registered cavities in the cadastre records are 520. The hypogeal surveys have shown 5 typologies in which it has been possible to group all the cavities present in a hypothetical intersection with the excavation. The comparison between surface and hypogeal structural data and the direction of development of cavities has allowed for the definition of highly karstified discontinuity families, thus having a higher risk. The comparison of the collected data has enabled to identify the lithologies and areas having major risk and thus to quantify the probability of

Hazard connected to railway tunnel construction in karstic area: applied geomorphological and hydrogeological surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Casagrande, G.; Cucchi, F.; Zini, L.

2005-02-01

In a mature karstic system, the realisation of galleries using the methodology of railway tunnel boring machine (TBM) involves particular problems due to the high risk of interference with groundwater (often subject to remarkable level variations) and with cavities and/or thick fill deposits. In order to define groundwater features it is necessary to investigate both hydrodynamic and karstification. To define and quantify the karst phenomenon in the epikarst of the Trieste Karst (Italy), an applied geomorphological approach has been experimented with surface and cavity surveys. The surface surveys have contributed to determining the potential karst versus the different outcropping lithologies and to define the structural setting of the rocky mass also through the realisation of geostructural stations and the survey of the main lines thanks to photo-interpretation. Moreover, all the dolines and the cavities present in the area interested by the gallery have been studied by analysing the probable extension of caves and/or of the secondary fill deposits and by evaluating the different genetic models. In an area 900m large and 27km long, which has been studied because of the underground karst, there are 41 dolines having diameters superior to 100m and 93 dolines whose diameters range between 100 and 50m; the dolines whose diameters are inferior to 50m are 282. The entrances of known and registered cavities in the cadastre records are 520. The hypogeal surveys have shown 5 typologies in which it has been possible to group all the cavities present in a hypothetical intersection with the excavation. The comparison between surface and hypogeal structural data and the direction of development of cavities has allowed for the definition of highly karstified discontinuity families, thus having a higher risk. The comparison of the collected data has enabled to identify the lithologies and areas having major risk and thus to quantify the probability of intersection with the

DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION CONCENTRATION AND STABILITY OF RAILWAY STUDENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOPHYSICAL TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Pichurin

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Some railway professions impose exceptionally high demands on such characteristics of railway students as concentration and stability. One should find out the conditions for effective development of these characteristics in the process of physical training. Methodology. Pedagogical experiment is the main method of research. During this experiment the content of psychological and psychophysical training foundations developed by the author was an independent value. A dependent value was the dynamics performance of the level of development of concentration and stability of railway students’ attention. Findings. It was established, that realization of measure complex (included by the author to the content of foundations of psychological and psychophysical training of railway students during the lessons is the effective direction of the development of the attention concentration and stability. Originality. The effectiveness of using the psychological and psychophysical training of students for development of attention concentration and stability during the lessons was confirmed. Practical value. Realization of the proposed approach during the training of specialists for the railway branch will increase the productivity and safety of railway transportations.

Numerical analysis to determine the impact of land subsidence on high-speed railway routes in Beijing, China

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, C.; Yang, Y.; Tian, F.; Luo, Y.; Zhou, Y.

2015-11-01

More than 10 high-speed railway routes with top speeds of 300 km h-1 are expected to be operational from Beijing by the year 2020. However, the safety of these routes is affected by the occurrence of land subsidence. This paper focuses on the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity High-Speed Railway (BTR), the first high-speed railway in China, to analyze the operational safety of high-speed railway routes by analyzing both regional land subsidence and local differential subsidence caused by groundwater drawing. The Beijing construction stratum is mainly composed of cohesive soil, and the BTR has a maximum accumulative subsidence of > 800 mm and a maximum subsidence rate of > 80 mm a-1. In this paper, finite-element software ABAQUS is used to analyze groundwater drawdown and land subsidence caused by local water drawing, and its effect on the bearing capacity of railway bridge pile foundations and the orbit concrete supporting course. The analysis provides a technical basis for developing prevention and control engineering measures against land subsidence so as to guarantee the safe operation of these high-speed railway routes.

Robustness in Railway Operations (RobustRailS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jens Parbo; Nielsen, Otto Anker

This study considers the problem of enhancing railway timetable robustness without adding slack time, hence increasing the travel time. The approach integrates a transit assignment model to assess how passengers adapt their behaviour whenever operations are changed. First, the approach considers...

Competitiveness of the railway transportation in the conditions of functioning of the infrastructure new organizational-economic mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.I. Mishchenko

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The transport infrastructure of railways of the countries of EU-27 in the conditions of functioning new organizational-economic mechanism, and also dynamics of level of competitiveness of a railway transportation as result of reforming of railways of the countries of EU-27, in the conditions of realisation of the European transport legislation is investigated.

Lifecycle Assessments of Railway Bridge Transitions Exposed to Extreme Climate Events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadudee Setsobhonkul

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Railway track components located at bridge transition zones or approach areas suffer from impact load and vibrations caused by abrupt changes in track stiffness on the bridge and the subgrade. The numerous strategies that can be used to mitigate these abrupt track stiffness changes rely on one of two concepts. The first concept is that of providing a gradual stiffness change, and the second is that of equalizing the track stiffness. A number of such mitigation methods have been developed and implemented over recent decades. Construction activities associated with these methods require various materials, processes, and uses of time, costs, and carbon emissions. In this study, eight of the most common techniques for railway bridge transition mitigation, including under ballast mats (UBMs, soft baseplates, under sleeper pads (USPs, rail pads, embankment treatments, transition slabs, ballast bonding, and wide sleepers, are compared. This study benchmarks the costs and carbon emissions of these eight mitigation techniques over the 50-year lifespan of a railway system subject to identical probabilities of four environmental scenarios: a control case, extremely high temperatures, extremely low temperatures, and flash flooding. This unprecedented study systemically investigates the effectiveness of the mitigation methods while considering the effects of 30 and 100 m bridge span lengths. Our results indicate that railway engineers should adopt different mitigation methods for different scenarios. The soft baseplate is the most appropriate method for a short-span bridge in the control case and the case of flash flooding, while ballast bonding is better for long-span railway bridges. Embankment treatment is recommended for both high- and low-extreme temperatures. However, its applicability is limited when the differential track stiffness is extremely high. Hence, alternatives that are 5–25% more expensive are proposed in parallel. The alternative

An Integrated Risk Index Model Based on Hierarchical Fuzzy Logic for Underground Risk Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Fayaz

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Available space in congested cities is getting scarce due to growing urbanization in the recent past. The utilization of underground space is considered as a solution to the limited space in smart cities. The numbers of underground facilities are growing day by day in the developing world. Typical underground facilities include the transit subway, parking lots, electric lines, water supply and sewer lines. The likelihood of the occurrence of accidents due to underground facilities is a random phenomenon. To avoid any accidental loss, a risk assessment method is required to conduct the continuous risk assessment and report any abnormality before it happens. In this paper, we have proposed a hierarchical fuzzy inference based model for under-ground risk assessment. The proposed hierarchical fuzzy inference architecture reduces the total number of rules from the rule base. Rule reduction is important because the curse of dimensionality damages the transparency and interpretation as it is very tough to understand and justify hundreds or thousands of fuzzy rules. The computation time also increases as rules increase. The proposed model takes 175 rules having eight input parameters to compute the risk index, and the conventional fuzzy logic requires 390,625 rules, having the same number of input parameters to compute risk index. Hence, the proposed model significantly reduces the curse of dimensionality. Rule design for fuzzy logic is also a tedious task. In this paper, we have also introduced new rule schemes, namely maximum rule-based and average rule-based; both schemes can be used interchangeably according to the logic needed for rule design. The experimental results show that the proposed method is a virtuous choice for risk index calculation where the numbers of variables are greater.

Occupational Stress and Hypertension among Railway Loco Pilots and Section Controllers

OpenAIRE

Jayakumar, Devasigamoney

2017-01-01

Introduction: A cross-sectional study on occupational stress was conducted on loco pilots in 2008, in view of loco pilots being one of the high strain jobs in Indian Railways. Subsequently, a comparative cross-sectional study on occupational stress was conducted among section controllers in 2011, which is another high strain job of Indian Railways. Objective: The studies were conducted to analyze and compare occupational stress and hypertension. Setting and Design: A cross-sectional study on ...

Advanced Fade Countermeasures for DVB-S2 Systems in Railway Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niebla CristinaPárraga

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the analysis of advanced fade countermeasures for supporting DVB-S2 reception by mobile terminals mounted on high-speed trains. Recent market studies indicate this as a potential profitable market for satellite communications, provided that integration with wireless terrestrial networks can be implemented to bridge the satellite connectivity inside railway tunnels and large train stations. In turn, the satellite can typically offer the coverage of around 80% of the railway path with existing space infrastructure. This piece of work, representing the first step of a wider study, is focusing on the modifications which may be required in the DVB-S2 standard (to be employed in the forward link in order to achieve reliable reception in a challenging environment such as the railway one. Modifications have been devised trying to minimize the impact on the existing air interface, standardized for fixed terminals.

Advanced Fade Countermeasures for DVB-S2 Systems in Railway Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Párraga Niebla

2007-07-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the analysis of advanced fade countermeasures for supporting DVB-S2 reception by mobile terminals mounted on high-speed trains. Recent market studies indicate this as a potential profitable market for satellite communications, provided that integration with wireless terrestrial networks can be implemented to bridge the satellite connectivity inside railway tunnels and large train stations. In turn, the satellite can typically offer the coverage of around 80% of the railway path with existing space infrastructure. This piece of work, representing the first step of a wider study, is focusing on the modifications which may be required in the DVB-S2 standard (to be employed in the forward link in order to achieve reliable reception in a challenging environment such as the railway one. Modifications have been devised trying to minimize the impact on the existing air interface, standardized for fixed terminals.

Introducing gaming simulation in the Dutch railways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meijer, S.

2012-01-01

Innovation in the Dutch railways in the domain of capacity management and traffic control is increasingly difficult to implement because of the large interconnectedness of all processes and separation into different institutions and organizations. Meanwhile there is a push for quality improvements

Classification of the railway accident in accordance with the requirement of the safety analysis of transporting spent fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Tao

1993-01-01

Based on the analysis of the difference between the accident severity categorization used in the Ministry of Railway and that used in the safety analysis of the transporting spent fuel, a method used for the classification of the railway accident in accordance with the requirement of the safety analysis of transporting spent fuel is suggested. The method classifies the railway accidents into 10 scenarios and make it possible to scale the accident through directly using the data documented by the Ministry of Railway without any additional effort

Global Pursuits: The Underground Railroad

Science.gov (United States)

School Arts: The Art Education Magazine for Teachers, 2004

2004-01-01

This brief article describes Charles T. Webber's oil on canvas painting, "The Underground Railroad, 1893." The subject of this painting is the Underground Railroad, which today has become an American legend. The Underground Railroad was not a systematic means of transportation, but rather a secretive process that allowed fugitive slaves…

Electromagnetic Compatibility in Railways Analysis and Management

CERN Document Server

Ogunsola, Ade

2013-01-01

A railway is a complex distributed engineering system: the construction of a new railway or the modernisation of a existing one requires a deep understanding of the constitutive components and their interaction, inside the system itself and towards the outside world. The former covers the various subsystems (featuring a complex mix of high power sources, sensitive safety critical systems, intentional transmitters, etc.) and their interaction, including the specific functions and their relevance to safety. The latter represents all the additional possible external victims and sources of electromagnetic interaction. EMC thus starts from a comprehension of the emissions and immunity characteristics and the interactions between sources and victims, with a strong relationship to electromagnetics and to system modeling. On the other hand, the said functions are achieved and preserved and their relevance for safety is adequately handled, if the related requirements are well posed and managed throughout the process f...

IMPACT OF SCHEMATIC DESIGNS ON THE COGNITION OF UNDERGROUND TUBE MAPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Liu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Schematic maps have been popularly employed to represent transport networks, particularly underground tube lines (or metro lines, since its adoption by the Official London Underground in early 1930s. Such maps employ straightened lines along horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. Recently, some researchers started to argue that the distortion in such a schematization may cause big distortion and some new designs are proposed. This project aims to make a comparative analysis of such a schematic design with a new design proposed by Mark Noad in 2011, which makes use of lines along 30º and 60º directions instead of the 45º direction. Tasks have been designed for evaluating the effect of schematic designs on route planning by travellers. The participant was asked to choose the route s/he would take among two or three possible route options and then read the name of the selected transfer station. Eye-tracking technique has been employed to track the map recognition process. Total travel time is used as criterion for effectiveness; completion time and mental work cost are used for efficiency evaluation. It has been found that (1 the design of map style has significant impact on users’ travel decision making, especially map distance and transfer station symbol designs, and (2 the design style of a schematic map will have great impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of map recognition.

Bottom to Top Approach for Railway KPI Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Villarejo, Roberto; Johansson, Carl-Anders; Leturiondo, Urko; Simon, Victor; Seneviratne, Dammika; Galar, Diego

2017-09-01

Railway maintenance especially on infrastructure produces a vast amount of data. However, having data is not synonymous with having information; rather, data must be processed to extract information. In railway maintenance, the development of key performance indicators (KPIs) linked to punctuality or capacity can help planned and scheduled maintenance, thus aligning the maintenance department with corporate objectives. There is a need for an improved method to analyse railway data to find the relevant KPIs. The system should support maintainers, answering such questions as what maintenance should be done, where and when. The system should equip the user with the knowledge of the infrastructure's condition and configuration, and the traffic situation so maintenance resources can be targeted to only those areas needing work. The amount of information is vast, so it must be hierarchized and aggregated; users must filter out the useless indicators. Data are fused by compiling several individual indicators into a single index; the resulting composite indicators measure multidimensional concepts which cannot be captured by a single index. The paper describes a method of monitoring a complex entity. In this scenario, a plurality of use indices and weighting values are used to create a composite and aggregated use index from a combination of lower level use indices and weighting values. The resulting composite and aggregated indicators can be a decision-making tool for asset managers at different hierarchical levels.

Analysis of the distribution of temperature fields in the braked railway wheel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suchánek Andrej

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with detection of reduced stress in a braked railway wheel, based on thermal transient analysis on virtual models, which influence the characteristics of the railway wheels. Structural analysis was performed by means of the ANSYS Multiphysics program system package. Thermal transient analysis deals with detection of temperature fields which are a result of braking by brake block. The applied heat flux represents the heat generated by friction of brake block. It is applied to a quarter model of the wheel to speed up the calculation. This analysis simulates two braking processes with subsequent cooling. Distribution of the equivalent stress was detected in the railway wheel cross section, at selected points. The input parameters were taken from the thermal transient analysis. These equivalent stresses result from thermal load.

High speed in Portugal - metamorphosis from planning construction measures to a national railway concept; Hochgeschwindigkeit in Portugal - von der Bauplanung zu einem nationalen Eisenbahnkonzept

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stohler, Werner [Beratungfirma SMA und Partner AG, Zuerich (Switzerland)

2010-03-15

Portugal is planning the construction of two high-speed railway lines (using the UIC gauge of 1435 mm) between Lisbon and Madrid and between Lisbon and Porto. Integration with the country's existing Iberian-gauge network will be achieved in some places by laying three-rail tracks and in other places by running trains with adjustable wheel gauges. The adaptations to the legacy network triggered by the plants for the high-speed lines include, inter alia, a rearrangement of the networks of the regional-express services in and around Lisbon and Porto. (orig.)

Rokibaar Underground = Rock bar Underground

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2008-01-01

Rokibaari Underground (Küütri 7, Tartu) sisekujundus, mis pälvis Eesti Sisearhitektide Liidu 2007. a. eripreemia. Sisearhitekt: Margus Mänd (Tammat OÜ). Margus Männist, tema tähtsamad tööd. Plaan, 5 värv. vaadet, foto M. Männist

PULSim: User-Based Adaptable Simulation Tool for Railway Planning and Operations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Cui

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Simulation methods are widely used in the field of railway planning and operations. Currently, several commercial software tools are available that not only provide functionality for railway simulation but also enable further evaluation and optimisation of the network for scheduling, dispatching, and capacity research. However, the various tools are all lacking with respect to the standards they utilise as well as their published interfaces. For an end-user, the basic mechanism and the assumptions built into a simulation tool are unknown, which means that the true potential of these software tools is limited. One of the most critical issues is the lack of the ability of users to define a sophisticated workflow, integrated in several rounds of simulation with adjustable parameters and settings. This paper develops and describes a user-based, customisable platform. As the preconditions of the platform, the design aspects for modelling the components of a railway system and building the workflow of railway simulation are elaborated in detail. Based on the model and the workflow, an integrated simulation platform with open interfaces is developed. Users and researchers gain the ability to rapidly develop their own algorithms, supported by the tailored simulation process in a flexible manner. The productivity of using simulation tools for further evaluation and optimisation will be significantly improved through the user-adaptable open interfaces.

Design of a bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester for railway monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Jingcheng; Jang, Shinae; Tang, Jiong [Univ. of Connecticut, Connecticut (United States)

2012-12-15

Wireless sensor network is one of prospective methods for railway monitoring due to the long term operation and low maintenance performances. How to supply power to the wireless sensor nodes has drawn much attention recently. In railway monitoring, the idea of converting ambient vibration energy from vibration of railway track induced by passing trains to electric energy has made it a potential way for powering the wireless sensor nodes. In this paper, a bimorph cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester was designed based on a single degree of freedom model. Experimental test was also performed to validate the design. The first natural frequency of the bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester was decreased from 117.1 Hz to 65.2 Hz by adding 4 gram tip mass to the free end of the 8.6 gram energy harvester. In addition, the power generation of the piezoelectric energy harvester with 4 gram tip mass at resonant frequency was increased from 0.14 mW to 0.74 mW from 2.06 m/s{sup 2} base excitation compared to stand alone piezoelectric energy harvester without tip mass.

Risk-informed optimisation of railway tracks inspection and maintenance procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podofillini, Luca; Zio, Enrico; Vatn, Jorn

2006-01-01

Nowadays, efforts are being made by the railway industry for the application of reliability-based and risk-informed approaches to maintenance optimisation of railway infrastructures, with the aim of reducing the operation and maintenance expenditures while still assuring high safety standards. In particular, in this paper, we address the use of ultrasonic inspection cars and develop a methodology for the determination of an optimal strategy for their use. A model is developed to calculate the risks and costs associated with an inspection strategy, giving credit to the realistic issues of the rail failure process and including the actual inspection and maintenance procedures followed by the railway company. A multi-objective optimisation viewpoint is adopted in an effort to optimise inspection and maintenance procedures with respect to both economical and safety-related aspects. More precisely, the objective functions here considered are such to drive the search towards solutions characterized by low expenditures and low derailment probability. The optimisation is performed by means of a genetic algorithm. The work has been carried out within a study of the Norwegian National Rail Administration (Jernbaneverket)

Design of a bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester for railway monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Jingcheng; Jang, Shinae; Tang, Jiong

2012-01-01

Wireless sensor network is one of prospective methods for railway monitoring due to the long term operation and low maintenance performances. How to supply power to the wireless sensor nodes has drawn much attention recently. In railway monitoring, the idea of converting ambient vibration energy from vibration of railway track induced by passing trains to electric energy has made it a potential way for powering the wireless sensor nodes. In this paper, a bimorph cantilever piezoelectric energy harvester was designed based on a single degree of freedom model. Experimental test was also performed to validate the design. The first natural frequency of the bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester was decreased from 117.1 Hz to 65.2 Hz by adding 4 gram tip mass to the free end of the 8.6 gram energy harvester. In addition, the power generation of the piezoelectric energy harvester with 4 gram tip mass at resonant frequency was increased from 0.14 mW to 0.74 mW from 2.06 m/s 2 base excitation compared to stand alone piezoelectric energy harvester without tip mass

Migrations to Ankara by Railway and Settlement Policy (1890-1910

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İhsan Seddar Kaynar

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The Anatolian Railway began running between Ankara and Haydarpaşa in Istanbul via İzmit and Eskişehir in early 1893, making transportation from Istanbul to the interior of Anatolia very easy. In late 1892, before the railroad was opened, policymakers prepared official reports on the resettlement of migrants along the rail route from Eskişehir to Ankara; and made regulations accordingly. This studyexamines the route of this migration, which first run to the port of İzmit by sea and then reached Ankara by rail. This article discusses the politics of resettlement and the conditions of migrants settled on the railway route during the twenty-year period between 1890 and 1910, when the Balkan Wars provoked mass migration to Anatolia from the Balkans. It analyzes the locations of the new settlements, the conditions in newly founded villages, and the habitability of the wasteland along the railway route. Daily rations, state aid for housing, types of production, agricultural styles, and the position of artisans will also be considered.

49 CFR Appendix to Subtitle A - United States Railway Association-Employee Responsibilities and Conduct

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... accident insurance plan or other employee welfare or benefit plan that is maintained by a business or... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false United States Railway Association-Employee... Subtitle A, App. Appendix to Subtitle A—United States Railway Association—Employee Responsibilities and...

The underground economy in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Veronica LITRA

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at covering issues related to the underground economy, activities that compound this phenomenon, its magnitude in Romania and reported to the European average. Underground economy in Romania consists of undeclared work (2/3 from the total and unreported income; it decreased from 33.6% of GDP in 2003 to 28% in 2014, but remained over EU-28 average with about 10 p.p. Among EU-28 countries, only Bulgaria exceeds the size of the underground economy of Romania. The underground economy is a challenge for the leadership of the state which must act simultaneously to stop illegal activities, and to discourage non-declaration of the legal activities. Corruption favours maintaining the underground economy, delays economic development, obstructs democratic processes and affects justice and the law state.

Locating underground uranium deposits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Felice, P.E.

1979-01-01

Underground uranium deposits are located by placing wires of dosimeters each about 5 to 18 mg/cm 2 thick underground in a grid pattern. Each dosimeter contains a phosphor which is capable of storing the energy of alpha particles. In each pair one dosimeter is shielded from alpha particles with more than 18 mg/cm 2 thick opaque material but not gamma and beta rays and the other dosimeter is shielded with less than 1 mg/cm 2 thick opaque material to exclude dust. After a period underground the dosimeters are heated which releases the stored energy as light. The amount of light produced from the heavily shielded dosimeter is subtracted from the amount of light produced from the thinly shielded dosimeter to give an indication of the location and quantity of uranium underground

A Complex Network Model for Analyzing Railway Accidents Based on the Maximal Information Coefficient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao Fu-Bo; Li Ke-Ping

2016-01-01

It is an important issue to identify important influencing factors in railway accident analysis. In this paper, employing the good measure of dependence for two-variable relationships, the maximal information coefficient (MIC), which can capture a wide range of associations, a complex network model for railway accident analysis is designed in which nodes denote factors of railway accidents and edges are generated between two factors of which MIC values are larger than or equal to the dependent criterion. The variety of network structure is studied. As the increasing of the dependent criterion, the network becomes to an approximate scale-free network. Moreover, employing the proposed network, important influencing factors are identified. And we find that the annual track density-gross tonnage factor is an important factor which is a cut vertex when the dependent criterion is equal to 0.3. From the network, it is found that the railway development is unbalanced for different states which is consistent with the fact. (paper)

Do cities deserve more railway stations? The choice of a departure railway station in a multiple-station region

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Givoni, M.; Rietveld, P.

2014-01-01

Promoting the use of rail is an important element in sustainable transport policy. One of the most important decisions to make in planning the railway network is on the number of stations to provide. Stations are the access points to rail services and while each additional station increases rail's

Railway infrastructure monitoring with COSMO/SkyMed imagery and multi-temporal SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Chiaradia, M.; Nutricato, R.; Nitti, D. O.; Bovenga, F.; Guerriero, L.

2012-12-01

stripmap images (pol.: HH; look side: right; pass direction: ascending; beam: H4-03; resolution: 3x3 m2) have been acquired from October 2009 to April 2012, covering the Calabria's Tyrrhenian coast, between the towns of Palmi and Reggio Calabria. The imaged area is of strategic importance since the two towns are connected by a stretch of the Tyrrhenian railway line, a fundamental line (as classified by RFI, the Italian Rail Network) belonging to the TEN-T network, i.e. the trans-european transport network defined since early '90 by the European Commission. Moreover, Calabria region is a challenging area where carrying on an analysis on weathering-related slope movements . In Calabria, on 2009the geo-hydrological crisis was so severe that the Italian Government had to declare the "state of emergency ". This paper concerns the processing of the CSK dataset performed through the SPINUA algorithm a Persistent Scatterers Interferometry technique originally developed with the aim of detection and monitoring of coherent targets in non- or scarcely urbanized areas. The displacement maps derived on the area of interest will be presented and commented with particular attention to the potential impact that such EO-based product can have on the railway networks monitoring. Acknowledgments CSK data provided by ASI in the framework of the project CAR-SLIDE, funded by MIUR (PON01_00536)

EXPANSION OF OBJECTIVES OF THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF TECHNICAL AUDIT AT RAILWAY TRANSPORT ENTERPRISES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. Okorokov

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The work is aimed to study, compare and summarize information on the current state and peculiarities of conducting technical audit in various branches of business in order to obtain the possibility of developing proposals for expanding the objectives of this procedure in railway enterprises. Methodology. In the course of the research there were used the methods of analysis and synthesis to study the content and basic provisions of scientific publications, normative legal acts of Ukraine, and other data on conducting technical audit in the field of industry, construction, gas extraction, electricity, marine and rail transport, followed by their comparison and generalization. Findings. Taking into account the positive experience of the audit carrying out in other sectors the article expands the goals of practical application of technical audit in railway transport enterprises. This envisages assessment of the current technical condition and the residual life of exploited vehicles and equipment of PJSC "Ukrzaliznytsia". As a result, there is an opportunity to detect and activate the reserves for improving the efficiency of railway transport enterprises, estimating and forecasting the costs for repair cycles and modernization, as well as for increasing the train safety level and improving investment attractiveness of the industry. Originality. The obtained results make it possible to broaden the concept of "technical audit" in railway transport, to define the purpose of its carrying out and the list of tasks. Application of the extended technical audit will provide an opportunity to receive objective information on the actual technical condition of the objects of the railway infrastructure, means of transport and equipment, and to use it for the formation of development programs as individual enterprises and the railway as a whole. Practical value. Expanding the goals of practical application of the technical audit at railway enterprises