A near-term strategy to reduce emissions from rail vehicles, as a path to full electrification for maximal decarbonisation, is to partially electrify a route, with the remainder of the route requiring an additional self-powered traction option. These rail vehicles are usually powered by a diesel engine when not operating on electrified track and are referred to as bi-mode vehicles. This paper analyses

Hybrid locomotive concepts have been considered as a step towards converting the railway industry into a green transport mode. One of the challenges in integrating a hybrid locomotive in the train consist is that the battery pack in the locomotive needs to be recharged during a long-haul trip which requires stopping of the train. A typical battery pack requires about 1 h to recharge which is unacceptable

The traction motor is the power source of the locomotive. If the surface waviness occurs on the races of the motor bearing, it will cause abnormal vibration and noise, accelerate fatigue and wear, and seriously affect the stability and safety of the traction power transmission. In this paper, an excitation model coupling the time-varying displacement and contact stiffness excitations is adopted to

Electrified railways are becoming a popular transport medium and these consume a large amount of electrical energy. Environmental concerns demand reduction in energy use and peak power demand of railway systems. Furthermore, high transmission losses in DC railway systems make local storage of energy an increasingly attractive option. An optimisation framework based on genetic algorithms is developed

In contrast to the conventional direct current railway electrification system (DC-RES), the medium voltage direct current (MVDC)-RES is considered promising for long-distance high-speed corridors. In the MVDC-RES, traction substations (TSSs) are placed much farther and train loads are much heavier than in the conventional DC-RES. Hence, the MVDC-RES brings a drastic change in catenary voltage, TSS

The central aim of this paper is to provide an up-to-date snapshot of hybrid and hydrogen technology-related developments and activities in the North American heavy haul railway setting, placed in the context of the transportation industry more broadly. An overview of relevant alternative propulsion technologies is provided, including a discussion of applicability to the transportation sector in general

During traction and braking of multiple-unit trains, substantial longitudinal dynamic forces might occur in couplers due to the non-optimal distribution of traction and braking forces generated by self-propelled carriages. These dynamic forces might create shocks affecting the reduction of endurance of the weakest train structural components primarily. Thus, the overall operational safety of the train

The aim of this study is to develop coupled matrix formulations to characterize the dynamic interaction between the vehicle, track, and tunnel. The vehicle–track coupled system is established in light of vehicle–track coupled dynamics theory. The physical characteristics and mechanical behavior of tunnel segments and rings are modeled by the finite element method, while the soil layers of the vehicle–track–tunnel

Nowadays, the interest in hybrid vehicles is constantly increasing, not only in the automotive sector, but also in other transportation systems, to reduce pollution and emissions and to improve the overall efficiency of the vehicles. Although railway vehicles are typically the most eco-friendly transportation system, since commonly their primary energy source is electricity, they can still gain benefits

Rolling stock connection systems are key to running longer and heavier trains as they provide both the connections of vehicles and the damping, providing the longitudinal suspension of the train. This paper focuses on the evolution of both connection and stiffness damping systems. Focus is on freight rolling stock, but passenger draw gears are also examined. It was found that connection systems have

Piled embankments have been extensively used for high-speed rail over soft soils because of their effectiveness in minimizing differential settlement and shortening the construction period. Stress concentration ratio, defined as the ratio of vertical stress carried by pile heads (or pile caps if applicable) to that by adjacent soils, is a fundamental parameter in the design of piled embankments. In

This paper develops a wheel profile fine-tuning system (WPFTS) that comprehensively considers the influence of wheel profile on wheel damage, vehicle stability, vehicle safety, and passenger comfort. WPFTS can recommend one or more optimized wheel profiles according to train operators’ needs, e.g., reducing wheel wear, mitigating the development of wheel out-of-roundness (OOR), improving the shape

The dynamic parameters of a roller rig vary as the adhesion level changes. The change in dynamics parameters needs to be analysed to estimate the adhesion level. One of these parameters is noise emanating from wheel–rail interaction. Most previous wheel–rail noise analysis has been conducted to mitigate those noises. However, in this paper, the noise is analysed to estimate the adhesion condition at

In recent years, with the rapid development of high-speed railways (HSRs), power interruptions or disturbances in traction power supply systems have become increasingly dangerous. However, it is often impossible to detect these faults immediately through single-point monitoring or collecting data after accidents. To coordinate the power quality data of both traction power supply systems (TPSSs) and

Passengers' demands for riding comfort have been getting higher and higher as the high-speed railway develops. Scientific methods to analyze the interior noise of the high-speed train are needed and the operational transfer path analysis (OTPA) method provides a theoretical basis and guidance for the noise control of the train and overcomes the shortcomings of the traditional method, which has high

The aerodynamic performance of high-speed trains passing each other was investigated on a simply supported box girder bridge, with a span of 32 m, under crosswinds. The bridge and train models, modeled at a geometric scale ratio of 1:30, were used to test the aerodynamic forces of the train, with the help of a designed moving test rig in the XNJD-3 wind tunnel. The effects of wind speed, train speed

Practical assessment of subgrade settlement induced by train operation requires developing suitable models capable of describing permanent deformation characteristics of subgrade filling under repeated dynamic loading. In this paper, repeated load triaxial tests were performed on coarse-grained soil (CGS), and the axial permanent strain of CGS under different confining pressures and dynamic stress

Currently, there are two types of defect detection systems used to monitor the health of freight railcar bearings in service: wayside hot-box detection systems and trackside acoustic detection systems. These systems have proven to be inefficient in accurately determining bearing health, especially in the early stages of defect development. To that end, a prototype onboard bearing condition monitoring

Concrete-plate fences have been widely adopted for windblown sand control and mitigation along railways. However, the inclination angles of inserting the concrete plate with respect to the vertical direction, i.e., straight or obliquely inserted concrete plates (SIP or OIP), significantly influence the efficiency of sand-control. This study performs a comparative evaluation of the SIP and OIP sand-control

Broken gap is an extremely dangerous state in the service of high-speed rails, and the violent wheel–rail impact forces will be intensified when a vehicle passes the gap at high speeds, which may cause a secondary fracture to rail and threaten the running safety of the vehicle. To recognize the damage tolerance of rail fracture length, the implicit–explicit sequential approach is adopted to simulate

Due to the fact that ballastless tracks in high-speed railways are not only subjected to repeated train–track dynamic interaction loads, but also suffer from complex environmental loads, the fundamental understanding of mechanical performance of ballastless tracks under sophisticated service conditions is an increasingly demanding and challenging issue in high-speed railway networks. This work aims

Modeling the application of train operation adjustment actions to recover from delays is of great importance to supporting the decision-making of dispatchers. In this study, the effects of two train operation adjustment actions on train delay recovery were explored using train operation records from scheduled and actual train timetables. First, the modeling data were sorted to extract the possible

Anti-slip control systems are essential for railway vehicle systems with traction. In order to propose an effective anti-slip control system, adhesion information between wheel and rail can be useful. However, direct measurement or observation of adhesion condition for a railway vehicle in operation is quite demanding. Therefore, a proportional–integral controller, which operates simultaneously with

This study investigated the fretting wear and fatigue of full-scale railway axles. Fatigue tests were conducted on full-scale railway axles, and the fretting wear and fretting fatigue in the fretted zone of the railway axles were analysed. Three-dimensional finite element models were established based on the experimental results. Then, multi-axial fatigue parameters and a linear elastic fracture mechanics-based

Polygonisation is a common nonuniform wear phenomenon occurring in railway vehicle wheels and has a severe impact on the vehicle–track system, ride comfort, and lineside residents. This paper first summarizes periodic defects of the wheels, including wheel polygonisation and wheel corrugation, occurring in railways worldwide. Thereafter, the effects of wheel polygonisation on the wheel–rail interaction

Cab signaling apparatus is the critical equipment for ground-vehicle communication in electrified railways. With the rapid development of high-speed and heavy-haul railways, the immunity to unbalanced traction current interference for cab signaling apparatus in the onboard train control system is increasingly demanded. This paper analyzes the interference coupling mechanism of the ZPW-2000 track circuit

The response of the train–bridge system has an obvious random behavior. A high traffic density and a long maintenance period of a track will result in a substantial increase in the number of trains running on a bridge, and there is small likelihood that the maximum responses of the train and bridge happen in the total maintenance period of the track. Firstly, the coupling model of train–bridge systems

Motivated by the huge practical engineering demand for the fundamental understanding of mechanical characteristics of high-speed railway infrastructure, a full-scale multi-functional test platform for high-speed railway track–subgrade system is developed in this paper, and its main functions for investigating the mechanical performance of track–subgrade systems are elaborated with three typical experimental

A simple and fast prediction scheme is presented for train-induced ground and building vibrations. Simple models such as (one-dimensional) transfer matrices are used for the vehicle–track–soil interaction and for the building–soil interaction. The wave propagation through layered soils is approximated by a frequency-dependent homogeneous half-space. The prediction is divided into the parts “emission”

To simulate ballast performance accurately and efficiently, the input in discrete element models should be carefully selected, including the contact model and applied particle shape. To study the effects of the contact model and applied particle shape on the ballast performance (shear strength and deformation), the direct shear test (DST) model and the large-scale process simulation test (LPST) model

The deterioration of the sleeper support on the ballasted track begins with the accumulation of sleeper voids. The increased dynamic loading in the voided zone and the ballast contact conditions cause the accelerated growth of the settlements in the voided zones, which results in the appearance of local instabilities like ballast breakdown, white spots, subgrade defects, etc. The recent detection and

Highway–rail grade crossings (HRGCs) are one of the most dangerous segments of the transportation network. Every year numerous accidents are recorded at HRGCs between highway users and trains, between highway users and traffic control devices, and solely between highway users. These accidents cause fatalities, severe injuries, property damage, and release of hazardous materials. Researchers and state

The existing multi-objective wheel profile optimization methods mainly consist of three sub-modules: (1) wheel profile generation, (2) multi-body dynamics simulation, and (3) an optimization algorithm. For the first module, a comparably conservative rotary-scaling fine-tuning (RSFT) method, which introduces two design variables and an empirical formula, is proposed to fine-tune the traditional wheel

In wheel–rail adhesion studies, most of the test rigs used are simplified designs such as a single wheel or wheelset, but the results may not be accurate. Alternatively, representing the complex system by using a full vehicle model provides accurate results but may incur complexity in design. To trade off accuracy over complexity, a bogie model can be the optimum selection. Furthermore, only a real-time

Construction issues of high-speed rail infrastructures have been increasingly concerned worldwide, of which the subgrade settlement in soft soil area becomes a particularly critical problem. Due to the high compressibility and low permeability of soft soil, the post-construction settlement of the subgrade is extremely difficult to control in these regions, which seriously threatens the operation safety

Conventional maintenance mode for the traction power supply system (TPSS) is to perform scheduled regular maintenance activities for power supply equipment, while such maintenance mode may result in undue maintenance tasks and low efficiency due to different degradation processes of different sorts of equipment. To address this problem, this paper introduces a preventive opportunistic maintenance (POM)

The rapid growth in railway infrastructure and the construction of high-speed heavy-haul rail network, especially on ground that is basically unsuitable, poses challenges for geotechnical engineers because a large part of the money invested in the development of railway lines is often spent on track maintenance. In fact around the world, the mud pumping of subgrade fines is one of the common reasons

To explore the influence of spatially varying ground motion on the dynamic behavior of a train passing through a three-tower cable-stayed bridge, a 3D train–track–bridge coupled model is established for accurately simulating the train–bridge interaction under earthquake excitation, which is made up of a vehicle model built by multi-body dynamics, a track–bridge finite element model, and a 3D rolling

Since the concept of active suspensions appeared, its large possible benefits has attracted continuous exploration in the field of railway engineering. With new demands of higher speed, better ride comfort and lower maintenance cost for railway vehicles, active suspensions are very promising technologies. Being the starting point of commercial application of active suspensions in rail vehicles, tilting

The pantograph and its recess on the train roof are major aerodynamic noise sources on high-speed trains. Reducing this noise is particularly important because conventional noise barriers usually do not shield the pantograph. However, less attention has been paid to the pantograph recess compared with the pantograph. In this paper, the flow features and noise contribution of two types of noise reduction

Increasing railway traffic and energy utilization issues prompt electrified railway systems to be more economical, efficient and sustainable. As regenerative braking energy in railway systems has huge potential for optimized utilization, a lot of research has been focusing on how to use the energy efficiently and gain sustainable benefits. The energy storage system is an alternative because it not

This paper aims to clarify the influence of system spatial variability on train–track interaction from perspectives of stochastic analysis and statistics. Considering the spatial randomness of system properties in geometry, physics and mechanics, the primary work is therefore simulating the uncertainties realistically, representatively and efficiently. With regard to the track irregularity simulation

Three-dimensional compressible flow simulations were conducted to develop a Hyperloop pod. The novelty is the usage of Gamma transition model, in which the transition from laminar to turbulent flow can be predicted. First, a mesh dependency study was undertaken, showing second-order convergence with respect to the mesh refinement. Second, an aerodynamic analysis for two designs, short and optimized

Railway train energy simulation is an important and popular research topic. Locomotive traction force simulations are a fundamental part of such research. Conventional energy calculation models are not able to consider locomotive wheel–rail adhesions, traction adhesion control, and locomotive dynamics. This paper has developed two models to fill this research gap. The first model uses a 2D locomotive

This paper presents a novel method to estimate queue length at signalised intersections using connected vehicle (CV) data. The proposed queue length estimation method does not depend on any conventional information such as arrival flow rate and parameters pertaining to traffic signal controllers. The model is applicable for real-time applications when there are sufficient training data available to

In this paper, the use of recycled tire-derived aggregates (TDA) mixed with ballast material is evaluated in order to reduce the train-induced ground-borne vibrations. For this purpose, a series of field vibration measurements has been carried out at an executed pilot track. The prepared ballast layer was mixed with different percentages of TDA in three sections. Moreover, another test section with

Rock avalanche–debris flows triggered by earthquakes commonly take place in mountainous areas. When entering a body of water, due to good fluidity they can move for some time instead of halting in water. In this study, we proposed a method for calculating the surge height of rock avalanche–debris flows based on momentum balance and designed a series of model tests to validate this method. The experimental

This study seeks to investigate the variations associated with lane lateral locations and days of the week in the stochastic and dynamic transition of traffic regimes (DTTR). In the proposed analysis, hierarchical regression models fitted using Bayesian frameworks were used to calibrate the transition probabilities that describe the DTTR. Datasets of two sites on a freeway facility located in Jacksonville

Adverse weather has a considerable impact on the behavior of drivers, which puts vehicles and drivers in hazardous situations that can easily cause traffic accidents. This research examines how drivers’ perceived risk changes during car following under different adverse weather conditions by using driving simulation experiment. An expressway road scenario was built in a driving simulator. Eleven types

Pedestrian level of service (PLOS) is an important measure of performance in the analysis of existing pedestrian crosswalk conditions. Many researchers have developed PLOS models based on pedestrian delay, turning vehicle effect, etc., using the conventional regression method. However, these factors may not effectively reflect the pedestrians’ perception of safety while crossing the crosswalk. The

Travel time reliability (TTR) is an important measure which has been widely used to represent the traffic conditions on freeways. The objective of this study is to develop a systematic approach to analyzing TTR on roadway segments along a corridor. A case study is conducted to illustrate the TTR patterns using vehicle probe data collected on a freeway corridor in Charlotte, North Carolina. A number

Roundabout is a channelized intersection where traffic moves around a central island, clockwise for left-side driving and anti-clockwise for right-side driving. Efficiently designed roundabouts can handle traffic very smoothly without causing any delay. The capacity of roundabouts used to be calculated by the weaving theory in India. However, calculation of the entry capacity in the recent literature

We develop a Kalman filter for predicting traffic flow at urban arterials based on data obtained from connected vehicles. The proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and offers a real-time prediction since it invokes the connected vehicle data just before the prediction period. Moreover, it can predict the traffic flow for various penetration rates of connected vehicles (the ratio of the number

Fault frequency of catenary is related to meteorological conditions. In this work, based on the historical data, catenary fault frequency and weather-related fault rate are introduced to analyse the correlation between catenary faults and meteorological conditions, and further the effect of meteorological conditions on catenary operation. Moreover, machine learning is used for catenary fault prediction

In the original publication the first sentence starting with “The model calibration process…” in Sect. 3.2.3 Model calibration and validation should be amended as,

The focus of this study is to explore the statistical distribution models of high-speed railway (HSR) train delays. Based on actual HSR operational data, the delay causes and their classification, delay frequency, number of affected trains, and space–time delay distributions are discussed. Eleven types of delay events are classified, and a detailed analysis of delay distribution for each classification

This article models a novel driving-day-based tradable credit scheme (DD-TCS) to alleviate urban traffic congestion. In this model, car-using allowances (in terms of the number of days in a month, termed as “credit”) are freely and uniformly allocated to all travellers, who are also allowed to trade them in a market according to his/her travel needs (e.g. driving more or fewer days than the free endowment)

A methodology is proposed to evaluate and rank potential sites for facilities dealing with hazardous materials (HAZMAT). The proposed methodology incorporates HAZMAT route planning into facility siting while considering transportation preferences and challenges. The area of interest is divided into smaller zones representing potential sites for a HAZMAT facility. A multimodal transportation network

In recent years, more and more manufacturers and operators of fleets of mobile systems have been focusing their efforts on studying and developing conditional maintenance, monitoring, and diagnostic strategies to cope with an increasingly competitive, unstable, costly, and unpredictable environment. This paper proposes a case study concerning the application of a novel event management architecture

Traffic barriers are in widespread all around the USA as safety countermeasures for reducing the severity of run-off-road crashes. The effect of traffic barriers’ dimension had been ignored in past real-world crash studies due to the considerable cost and time needed for collecting field data. This paper presented two new analytical models to investigate the effect of different variables on the severity