There are two options for testing the performance of rail vehicles and the application of material to the wheel/rail interface to influence friction, and therefore braking performance, in a low adhesion environment: laboratory work which is not representative of conditions in the field, and expensive track tests using fully instrumented modern vehicles largely using low adhesion simulants that are not representative of those that occur in the real world and usually applied over great lengths of track. This paper presents a third option: low-cost track tests. We determined the minimum of equipment and resources needed to produce low adhesion using a method more representative on Autumn conditions on rail and monitor the performance of rail vehicles when braking on it. This was mainly targeted at use for testing products applied to the wheel/rail interface to enhance traction, hence the need for real low adhesion causes. We present the methodology that we have developed, and some initial results showing that using it we can generate a low adhesion scenario when braking from 10 mph. This can be used to develop mitigation solutions for low adhesion in a more cost effective manner.

在低附着力环境下，有两种方法可用于测试轨道车辆的性能以及将材料施加到轮/轨接口上以影响摩擦，从而影响制动性能：实验室工作不能代表现场条件；使用配备齐全的现代车辆进行的昂贵的轨道测试，很大程度上使用的是低附着力模拟剂，这些模拟剂不能代表现实世界中的模拟物，通常会在较长的轨道上使用。本文提出了第三个选择：低成本跟踪测试。我们使用了一种更具代表性的方法来确定产生低附着力的设备和资源的最低限度，该方法在铁路的秋季条件下具有代表性，并在制动时监控铁路车辆的性能。这主要是针对测试应用于轮/轨界面以增强牵引力的产品，因此需要真正的低附着力。我们介绍了我们开发的方法，并且一些初步结果表明，使用该方法，当以10 mph的速度制动时，我们可以产生低附着力的情况。这可用于以更具成本效益的方式开发针对低附着力的缓解解决方案。