Detection of damaged supports under railway track based on frequency shift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Longqi; Zhang, Yao; Lie, Seng Tjhen

2017-03-01

In railway transportation systems, the tracks are usually fastened on sleepers which are supported by the ballast. A lot of research has been conducted to guarantee the safety of railway track because of its importance, and more concern is expressed about monitoring of track itself such as railway level and alignment. The ballast and fasteners which provide strong support to the railway track are important as well whereas the detection of loose or missing fasteners and damaged ballast mainly relies on visual inspection. Although it is reliable when the fastener is missing and the damaged ballast is on the surface, it provides less help if the fastener is only loose and the damaged ballast is under the sleepers, which are however frequently observed in practice. This paper proposes an approach based on frequency shift to identify the damaged supports including the loose or missing fasteners and damaged ballast. In this study, the rail-sleeper-ballast system is modeled as an Euler beam evenly supported by a series of springs, the stiffness of which are reduced when the fastener is loose or missing and the ballast under the sleepers is damaged. An auxiliary mass is utilized herein and when it is mounted on the beam, the natural frequencies of the whole system will change with respect to the location of the auxiliary mass. The auxiliary mass induced frequency shift is analyzed and it is found the natural frequencies change periodically when the supports are undamaged, whereas the periodicity will be broken due to damaged supports. In fact, the natural frequencies drop clearly when the auxiliary mass moves over the damaged support. A special damage index only using the information of the damaged states is proposed and both numerical and experimental examples are carried out to validate the proposed method.

Identification of characteristic frequencies of damaged railway tracks using field hammer test measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oregui, M.; Li, Z.; Dollevoet, R.

2015-03-01

In this paper, the feasibility of the Frequency Response Function (FRF)-based statistical method to identify the characteristic frequencies of railway track defects is studied. The method compares a damaged track state to a healthy state based on non-destructive field hammer test measurements. First, a study is carried out to investigate the repeatability of hammer tests in railway tracks. By changing the excitation and measurement locations it is shown that the variability introduced by the test process is negligible. Second, following the concepts of control charts employed in process monitoring, a method to define an approximate healthy state is introduced by using hammer test measurements at locations without visual damage. Then, the feasibility study includes an investigation into squats (i.e. a major type of rail surface defect) of varying severity. The identified frequency ranges related to squats agree with those found in an extensively validated vehicle-borne detection system. Therefore, the FRF-based statistical method in combination with the non-destructive hammer test measurements has the potential to be employed to identify the characteristic frequencies of damaged conditions in railway tracks in the frequency range of 300-3000 Hz.

A Railway Track Geometry Measuring Trolley System Based on Aided INS

PubMed Central

Chen, Qijin; Niu, Xiaoji; Zuo, Lili; Zhang, Tisheng; Xiao, Fuqin; Liu, Yi; Liu, Jingnan

2018-01-01

Accurate measurement of the railway track geometry is a task of fundamental importance to ensure the track quality in both the construction phase and the regular maintenance stage. Conventional track geometry measuring trolleys (TGMTs) in combination with classical geodetic surveying apparatus such as total stations alone cannot meet the requirements of measurement accuracy and surveying efficiency at the same time. Accurate and fast track geometry surveying applications call for an innovative surveying method that can measure all or most of the track geometric parameters in short time without interrupting the railway traffic. We provide a novel solution to this problem by integrating an inertial navigation system (INS) with a geodetic surveying apparatus, and design a modular TGMT system based on aided INS, which can be configured according to different surveying tasks including precise adjustment of slab track, providing tamping measurements, measuring track deformation and irregularities, and determination of the track axis. TGMT based on aided INS can operate in mobile surveying mode to significantly improve the surveying efficiency. Key points in the design of the TGMT’s architecture and the data processing concept and workflow are introduced in details, which should benefit subsequent research and provide a reference for the implementation of this kind of TGMT. The surveying performance of proposed TGMT with different configurations is assessed in the track geometry surveying experiments and actual projects. PMID:29439423

Nonlinear Dynamic of Curved Railway Tracks in Three-Dimensional Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X.; Ngamkhanong, C.; Kaewunruen, S.

2017-12-01

On curved tracks, high-pitch noise pollution can often be a considerable concern of rail asset owners, commuters, and people living or working along the rail corridor. Inevitably, wheel/rail interface can cause a traveling source of sound and vibration, which spread over a long distance of rail network. The sound and vibration can be in various forms and spectra. The undesirable sound and vibration on curves is often called ‘noise,’ includes flanging and squealing noises. This paper focuses on the squeal noise phenomena on curved tracks located in urban environments. It highlights the effect of curve radii on lateral track dynamics. It is important to note that rail freight curve noises, especially for curve squeals, can be observed almost everywhere and every type of track structures. The most pressing noise appears at sharper curved tracks where excessive lateral wheel/rail dynamics resonate with falling friction states, generating a tonal noise problem, so-call ‘squeal’. Many researchers have carried out measurements and simulations to understand the actual root causes of the squeal noise. Most researchers believe that wheel resonance over falling friction is the main cause, whilst a few others think that dynamic mode coupling of wheel and rail may also cause the squeal. Therefore, this paper is devoted to systems thinking the approach and dynamic assessment in resolving railway curve noise problems. The simulations of railway tracks with different curve radii will be carried out to develop state-of-the-art understanding into lateral track dynamics, including rail dynamics, cant dynamics, gauge dynamics and overall track responses.

Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors

PubMed Central

Broquetas, Antoni; Comerón, Adolf; Gelonch, Antoni; Fuertes, Josep M.; Castro, J. Antonio; Felip, Damià; López, Miguel A.; Pulido, José A.

2012-01-01

The paper presents a two-step technique for real-time track detection in single-track railway sidings using low-cost MEMS gyroscopes. The objective is to reliably know the path the train has taken in a switch, diverted or main road, immediately after the train head leaves the switch. The signal delivered by the gyroscope is first processed by an adaptive low-pass filter that rejects noise and converts the temporal turn rate data in degree/second units into spatial turn rate data in degree/meter. The conversion is based on the travelled distance taken from odometer data. The filter is implemented to achieve a speed-dependent cut-off frequency to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. Although direct comparison of the filtered turn rate signal with a predetermined threshold is possible, the paper shows that better detection performance can be achieved by processing the turn rate signal with a filter matched to the rail switch curvature parameters. Implementation aspects of the track detector have been optimized for real-time operation. The detector has been tested with both simulated data and real data acquired in railway campaigns. PMID:23443376

Prediction and measurements of vibrations from a railway track lying on a peaty ground

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Picoux, B.; Rotinat, R.; Regoin, J. P.; Le Houédec, D.

2003-10-01

This paper introduces a two-dimensional model for the response of the ground surface due to vibrations generated by a railway traffic. A semi-analytical wave propagation model is introduced which is subjected to a set of harmonic moving loads and based on a calculation method of the dynamic stiffness matrix of the ground. In order to model a complete railway system, the effect of a simple track model is taken into account including rails, sleepers and ballast especially designed for the study of low vibration frequencies. The priority has been given to a simple formulation based on the principle of spatial Fourier transforms compatible with good numerical efficiency and yet providing quick solutions. In addition, in situ measurements for a soft soil near a railway track were carried out and will be used to validate the numerical implementation. The numerical and experimental results constitute a significant body of useful data to, on the one hand, characterize the response of the environment of tracks and, on the other hand, appreciate the importance of the speed and weight on the behaviour of the structure.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Use of Deconstructed Tires as Elastic Elements in Railway Tracks.

PubMed

Sol-Sánchez, Miguel; Moreno-Navarro, Fernando; Rubio-Gámez, Mª Carmen

2014-08-18

Elastic elements such as rail pads, under sleeper pads and under ballast mats are railway components that allow for a reduction in track deterioration and vibrations. And they are furthermore commonly used to obtain an optimal vertical stiffness of the infrastructure. However, the use of elastomeric materials can increase construction costs and the consumption of raw materials. Thus, the utilization of used tire layers offers an alternative to reuse an abundant waste reducing the cost of elastic elements. In addition, an innovator technique allows deconstructing tire layers without grinding up the material, reducing production costs at the same time that tire properties are remained. This research is focused on the study of the viability of developing elastic components from used tire layers by evaluating the influence of thickness, the resistance capacity of the elements and their behavior in a ballast box. Results indicate the ability of tire pads to manufacture elastic elements (rail pads, under sleeper pads and under ballast mats) to be used in railway tracks.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Use of Deconstructed Tires as Elastic Elements in Railway Tracks

PubMed Central

Sol-Sánchez, Miguel; Moreno-Navarro, Fernando; Rubio-Gámez, Mª Carmen

2014-01-01

Elastic elements such as rail pads, under sleeper pads and under ballast mats are railway components that allow for a reduction in track deterioration and vibrations. And they are furthermore commonly used to obtain an optimal vertical stiffness of the infrastructure. However, the use of elastomeric materials can increase construction costs and the consumption of raw materials. Thus, the utilization of used tire layers offers an alternative to reuse an abundant waste reducing the cost of elastic elements. In addition, an innovator technique allows deconstructing tire layers without grinding up the material, reducing production costs at the same time that tire properties are remained. This research is focused on the study of the viability of developing elastic components from used tire layers by evaluating the influence of thickness, the resistance capacity of the elements and their behavior in a ballast box. Results indicate the ability of tire pads to manufacture elastic elements (rail pads, under sleeper pads and under ballast mats) to be used in railway tracks. PMID:28788168

Computer-aided evaluation of the railway track geometry on the basis of satellite measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Specht, Cezary; Koc, Władysław; Chrostowski, Piotr

2016-05-01

In recent years, all over the world there has been a period of intensive development of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) measurement techniques and their extension for the purpose of their applications in the field of surveying and navigation. Moreover, in many countries a rising trend in the development of rail transportation systems has been noticed. In this paper, a method of railway track geometry assessment based on mobile satellite measurements is presented. The paper shows the implementation effects of satellite surveying railway geometry. The investigation process described in the paper is divided on two phases. The first phase is the GNSS mobile surveying and the analysis obtained data. The second phase is the analysis of the track geometry using the flat coordinates from the surveying. The visualization of the measured route, separation and quality assessment of the uniform geometric elements (straight sections, arcs), identification of the track polygon (main directions and intersection angles) are discussed and illustrated by the calculation example within the article.

Modeling the influence of short wavelength defects in a railway track on the dynamic behavior of the Non-Suspended Masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannakos, Konstantinos

2016-02-01

The motion of a railway vehicle on the rail running table, that is the area of the rail-head where the wheel is rolling, is a forced oscillation with a forcing excitation (track defects), and damping expressed by a random function. In the case of the Non-Suspended Masses the forces resulting from the excitation of short wavelength are large and have great effect on the rolling of the wheel. The track, is simulated as an elastic means with damping. In this paper the second order differential equation is presented for the case of a railway vehicle rolling on a railway track and its solution is presented for the Non-Suspended Masses of the vehicle. Furthermore the influence of the depth of the defect is examined and a sensitivity analysis of the influence of the Non-Suspended Masses and the track defects on the Acting loads is performed.

Allocation Usage Tracking and Management | High-Performance Computing |

Science.gov Websites

NREL's high-performance computing (HPC) systems, learn how to track and manage your allocations. The alloc_tracker script (/usr/local/bin/alloc_tracker) may be used to see what allocations you have access to, how much of the allocation has been used, how much remains and how many node hours will be forfeited at the

Living alongside railway tracks: Long-term effects of nocturnal noise on sleep and cardiovascular reactivity as a function of age.

PubMed

Tassi, Patricia; Rohmer, Odile; Schimchowitsch, Sarah; Eschenlauer, Arnaud; Bonnefond, Anne; Margiocchi, Florence; Poisson, Franck; Muzet, Alain

2010-10-01

Very few studies were devoted to permanent effects of nocturnal railway noise on sleep and cardiovascular reactivity. We investigated the effects of nocturnal railway noise on sleep and cardiovascular response in young and middle-aged adults living for many years either near a railway track or in a quiet area. Forty subjects (50% males) divided into two age groups (juniors: 26.2+/-3.6 and seniors: 56.2+/-4.2) participated in this experiment. Half of them lived near a railway track (RW group: 2.6 to 19 years) and the other half in a quiet environment (QE group: 8.1 to 14.2 years). After an adaptation night, all subjects underwent two nights in the laboratory: one control night and one noisy night (30 by-passes of a freight train). Sleep and cardiovascular modifications were assessed in response to noise. Sleep fragmentation indices were lower in RW subjects compared to QE whatever their age. In response to noise, there was a higher cardiovascular response rate to noise in RW juniors and a lower cardiovascular response rate in RW seniors compared to their age-paired QE counterparts. In conclusion, permanent exposure to nocturnal railway noise leads to decreased sleep fragmentation and to cardiovascular habituation. It is suggested that during the initial period experienced by residents living near railway tracks, nocturnal railway noise could induce a sensitization process on the autonomic response to noise reflecting a startle/defense reflex due to its functional significance, which progressively turns to habituation in the long-term if no adverse effect is experienced. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hybrid Discrete Element - Finite Element Simulation for Railway Bridge-Track Interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaewunruen, S.; Mirza, O.

2017-10-01

At the transition zone or sometimes called ‘bridge end’ or ‘bridge approach’, the stiffness difference between plain track and track over bridge often causes aggravated impact loading due to uneven train movement onto the area. The differential track settlement over the transition has been a classical problem in railway networks, especially for the aging rail infrastructures around the world. This problem is also additionally worsened by the fact that the construction practice over the area is difficult, resulting in a poor compaction of formation and subgrade. This paper presents an advanced hybrid simulation using coupled discrete elements and finite elements to investigate dynamic interaction at the transition zone. The goal is to evaluate the dynamic stresses and to better understand the impact dynamics redistribution at the bridge end. An existing bridge ‘Salt Pan Creek Railway Bridge’, located between Revesby and Kingsgrove, has been chosen for detailed investigation. The Salt Pan Bridge currently demonstrates crushing of the ballast causing significant deformation and damage. Thus, it’s imperative to assess the behaviours of the ballast under dynamic loads. This can be achieved by modelling the nonlinear interactions between the steel rail and sleeper, and sleeper to ballast. The continuum solid elements of track components have been modelled using finite element approach, while the granular media (i.e. ballast) have been simulated by discrete element method. The hybrid DE/FE model demonstrates that ballast experiences significant stresses at the contacts between the sleeper and concrete section. These overburden stress exists in the regions below the outer rails, identify fouling and permanent deformation of the ballast.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Experimental settlement and dynamic behavior of a portion of ballasted railway track under high speed trains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al Shaer, A.; Duhamel, D.; Sab, K.; Foret, G.; Schmitt, L.

2008-09-01

The study of railway tracks under high speed trains is one of the most important researches in the domain of transport. A reduced scale experiment with three sleepers is presented to study the dynamic behavior and the settlement of ballasted tracks. A large number of trains passing at high speeds are simulated by signals, applied with the help of hydraulic jacks, having the shape of the letter M and representing the passages of bogies on sleepers. This experiment offers results such as displacements, accelerations, pressures and settlements that allow to better understand the dynamic behavior of a portion of a ballasted railway track at reduced scale and to estimate the settlement versus the number of load cycles. It was found that mechanical properties such as the global stiffness of the track can have important variations during the experiment. The settlement was also found to be a function of the acceleration of sleepers and above all it was observed, for accelerations above a critical value, that the increase of settlement per cycle was very high.

The effect of track load correlation on ground-borne vibration from railways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ntotsios, Evangelos; Thompson, David; Hussein, Mohammed

2017-08-01

In predictions of ground-borne vibration from railways, it is generally assumed that the unevenness profile of the wheel and rail is fully correlated between the two rails and the two wheels of an axle. This leads to identical contact forces at the two rails and can allow further simplifications of the vehicle model, the track model and the track/ground interface conditions. In the present paper, the level of correlation of the track loading at the wheel/rail interface due to rail unevenness and its influence on predictions of ground vibration is investigated. The extent to which the unevenness of the two rails is correlated has been estimated from measurements of track geometry obtained with track recording vehicles for four different tracks. It was found that for wavelengths longer than about 3 m the unevenness of the two rails can be considered to be strongly correlated and in phase. To investigate the effect of this on ground vibration, an existing model expressed in the wavenumber-frequency domain is extended to include separate inputs on the two rails. The track is modelled as an infinite invariant linear structure resting on an elastic stratified half-space. This is excited by the gravitational loading of a passing train and the irregularity of the contact surfaces between the wheels and the rails. The railway model is developed in this work to be versatile so that it can account or discard the effect of load correlations on the two rails beside the effects of variation of the tractions across the width of the track-ground interface and the vehicle sprung mass, as well as the roll motion of the sleepers and the axle. A comparative analysis is carried out on the influence of these factors on the response predictions using numerical simulations. It is shown that, when determining the vibration in the free field, it is important to include in the model the traction variation across the track-ground interface and the non-symmetrical loading at the two rails that

Dynamics of a railway vehicle on a laterally disturbed track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christiansen, Lasse Engbo; True, Hans

2018-02-01

In this article a theoretical investigation of the dynamics of a railway bogie running on a tangent track with a periodic disturbance of the lateral track geometry is presented. The dynamics is computed for two values of the speed of the vehicle in combination with different values of the wavelength and amplitude of the disturbance. Depending on the combinations of the speed, the wavelength and the amplitude, straight line forward motion, different modes of symmetric or asymmetric periodic oscillations or aperiodic motions, which are presumably chaotic, are found. Statistical methods are applied for the investigation. In the case of sinusoidal oscillations they provide information about the phase shift between the different variables and the amplitudes of the oscillations. In the case of an aperiodic motion the statistical measures indicate some non-smooth transitions.

A New Approach for Inspection of Selected Geometric Parameters of a Railway Track Using Image-Based Point Clouds

PubMed Central

Sawicki, Piotr

2018-01-01

The paper presents the results of testing a proposed image-based point clouds measuring method for geometric parameters determination of a railway track. The study was performed based on a configuration of digital images and reference control network. A DSLR (digital Single-Lens-Reflex) Nikon D5100 camera was used to acquire six digital images of the tested section of railway tracks. The dense point clouds and the 3D mesh model were generated with the use of two software systems, RealityCapture and PhotoScan, which have implemented different matching and 3D object reconstruction techniques: Multi-View Stereo and Semi-Global Matching, respectively. The study found that both applications could generate appropriate 3D models. Final meshes of 3D models were filtered with the MeshLab software. The CloudCompare application was used to determine the track gauge and cant for defined cross-sections, and the results obtained from point clouds by dense image matching techniques were compared with results of direct geodetic measurements. The obtained RMS difference in the horizontal (gauge) and vertical (cant) plane was RMS∆ < 0.45 mm. The achieved accuracy meets the accuracy condition of measurements and inspection of the rail tracks (error m < 1 mm), specified in the Polish branch railway instruction Id-14 (D-75) and the European technical norm EN 13848-4:2011. PMID:29509679

A New Approach for Inspection of Selected Geometric Parameters of a Railway Track Using Image-Based Point Clouds.

PubMed

Gabara, Grzegorz; Sawicki, Piotr

2018-03-06

The paper presents the results of testing a proposed image-based point clouds measuring method for geometric parameters determination of a railway track. The study was performed based on a configuration of digital images and reference control network. A DSLR (digital Single-Lens-Reflex) Nikon D5100 camera was used to acquire six digital images of the tested section of railway tracks. The dense point clouds and the 3D mesh model were generated with the use of two software systems, RealityCapture and PhotoScan, which have implemented different matching and 3D object reconstruction techniques: Multi-View Stereo and Semi-Global Matching, respectively. The study found that both applications could generate appropriate 3D models. Final meshes of 3D models were filtered with the MeshLab software. The CloudCompare application was used to determine the track gauge and cant for defined cross-sections, and the results obtained from point clouds by dense image matching techniques were compared with results of direct geodetic measurements. The obtained RMS difference in the horizontal (gauge) and vertical (cant) plane was RMS∆ < 0.45 mm. The achieved accuracy meets the accuracy condition of measurements and inspection of the rail tracks (error m < 1 mm), specified in the Polish branch railway instruction Id-14 (D-75) and the European technical norm EN 13848-4:2011.

On the effect of unsupported sleepers on the dynamic behaviour of a railway track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, J. Y.; Thompson, D. J.; Jones, C. J. C.

2011-09-01

The effect of unsupported sleepers on the dynamic behaviour of a railway track is studied based on vehicle-track dynamic interaction theory, using a model of the track as a Timoshenko beam supported on a periodic elastic foundation. Considering the vehicle's running speed and the number of unsupported sleepers, the track dynamic characteristics are investigated and verified in the time and frequency domains by experiments on a 1:5 scale model wheel-rail test rig. The results show that when hanging sleepers are present, leading to a discontinuous and irregular track support, additional wheel-rail interaction forces are generated. These forces increase as further sleepers become unsupported and as the vehicle's running speed increases. The adjacent supports experience increased dynamic forces which will lead to further deterioration of track quality and the formation of long wavelength track irregularities, which worsen the vehicles' running stability and riding comfort. Stationary transfer functions measurements of the dynamic behaviour of the track are also presented to support the findings.

Perceptual constancy in auditory perception of distance to railway tracks.

PubMed

De Coensel, Bert; Nilsson, Mats E; Berglund, Birgitta; Brown, A L

2013-07-01

Distance to a sound source can be accurately estimated solely from auditory information. With a sound source such as a train that is passing by at a relatively large distance, the most important auditory information for the listener for estimating its distance consists of the intensity of the sound, spectral changes in the sound caused by air absorption, and the motion-induced rate of change of intensity. However, these cues are relative because prior information/experience of the sound source-its source power, its spectrum and the typical speed at which it moves-is required for such distance estimates. This paper describes two listening experiments that allow investigation of further prior contextual information taken into account by listeners-viz., whether they are indoors or outdoors. Asked to estimate the distance to the track of a railway, it is shown that listeners assessing sounds heard inside the dwelling based their distance estimates on the expected train passby sound level outdoors rather than on the passby sound level actually experienced indoors. This form of perceptual constancy may have consequences for the assessment of annoyance caused by railway noise.

Acoustic energy propagation around railways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Simulation of vertical dynamic vehicle-track interaction in a railway crossing using Green's functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, X.; Torstensson, P. T.; Nielsen, J. C. O.

2017-12-01

Vertical dynamic vehicle-track interaction in the through route of a railway crossing is simulated in the time domain based on a Green's function approach for the track in combination with an implementation of Kalker's variational method to solve the non-Hertzian, and potentially multiple, wheel-rail contact. The track is described by a linear, three-dimensional and non-periodic finite element model of a railway turnout accounting for the variations in rail cross-sections and sleeper lengths, and including baseplates and resilient elements. To reduce calculation time due to the complexity of the track model, involving a large number of elements and degrees-of-freedom, a complex-valued modal superposition with a truncated mode set is applied before the impulse response functions are calculated at various positions along the crossing panel. The variation in three-dimensional contact geometry of the crossing and wheel is described by linear surface elements. In each time step of the contact detection algorithm, the lateral position of the wheelset centre is prescribed but the contact positions on wheel and rail are not, allowing for an accurate prediction of the wheel transition between wing rail and crossing rail. The method is demonstrated by calculating the wheel-rail impact load and contact stress distribution for a nominal S1002 wheel profile passing over a nominal crossing geometry. A parameter study is performed to determine the influence of vehicle speed, rail pad stiffness, lateral wheelset position and wheel profile on the impact load generated at the crossing. It is shown that the magnitude of the impact load is more influenced the wheel-rail contact geometry than by the selection of rail pad stiffness.

Ground Vibration Generated by a Load Moving Along a Railway Track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

SHENG, X.; JONES, C. J. C.; PETYT, M.

1999-11-01

The propagation of vibration generated by a harmonic or a constant load moving along a layered beam resting on the layered half-space is investigated theoretically in this paper. The solution to this problem can be used to study the ground vibration generated by the motion of a train axle load on a railway track. In this application, the ground is modelled as a number of parallel viscoelastic layers overlying an elastic half-space or a rigid foundation. The track, including the rails, rail pad, sleepers and ballast, is modelled as an infinite, layered beam structure. The modal nature of propagation in the ground for a chosen set of ground parameters is discussed and the results of the model are presented showing the characteristics of the vibration generated by a constant load and an oscillatory load at speeds below, near to, and above the lowest ground wave speed.

Modelling, validation and analysis of a three-dimensional railway vehicle-track system model with linear and nonlinear track properties in the presence of wheel flats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzzal, R. U. A.; Ahmed, A. K. W.; Bhat, R. B.

2013-11-01

This paper presents dynamic contact loads at wheel-rail contact point in a three-dimensional railway vehicle-track model as well as dynamic response at vehicle-track component levels in the presence of wheel flats. The 17-degrees of freedom lumped mass vehicle is modelled as a full car body, two bogies and four wheelsets, whereas the railway track is modelled as two parallel Timoshenko beams periodically supported by lumped masses representing the sleepers. The rail beam is also supported by nonlinear spring and damper elements representing the railpad and ballast. In order to ensure the interactions between the railpads, a shear parameter beneath the rail beams has also been considered into the model. The wheel-rail contact is modelled using nonlinear Hertzian contact theory. In order to solve the coupled partial and ordinary differential equations of the vehicle-track system, modal analysis method is employed. Idealised Haversine wheel flats with the rounded corner are included in the wheel-rail contact model. The developed model is validated with the existing measured and analytical data available in the literature. The nonlinear model is then employed to investigate the wheel-rail impact forces that arise in the wheel-rail interface due to the presence of wheel flats. The validated model is further employed to investigate the dynamic responses of vehicle and track components in terms of displacement, velocity, and acceleration in the presence of single wheel flat.

The effects of ballast on the sound radiation from railway track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xianying; Thompson, David; Jeong, Hongseok; Squicciarini, Giacomo

2017-07-01

In a conventional railway track, the rails are laid on sleepers, usually made of concrete, which are supported by a layer of coarse stones known as ballast. This paper focuses on quantifying the influence that the ballast has on the noise produced by the vibration of the track, particularly on the rail and sleeper radiation ratios. A one-fifth scale model of a railway track has been used to conduct acoustic and vibration measurements. This includes reduced-scale ballast that has been produced with stone sizes in the correct proportions. Two different scaling factors (1:√5 and 1:5) have been adopted for the stone sizes in an attempt to reproduce approximately the acoustic properties of full-scale ballast. It is shown that, although a scale factor of 1:√5 gives a better scaling of the acoustic properties, the stones scaled at 1:5 also give acceptable results. The flow resistivity and porosity of this ballast sample have been measured. These have been used in a local reaction model based on the Johnson-Allard formulation to predict the ballast absorption, showing good agreement with measurements of the absorption coefficient. The effects of the presence of the ballast on the noise radiation from a reduced-scale steel rail and concrete sleeper have been investigated experimentally with the ballast located on a rigid foundation. Comparisons are made with the corresponding numerical predictions obtained by using the boundary element method, in which the ballast is represented by a surface impedance. Additionally the finite element method has been used in which the porous medium is considered as an equivalent fluid. From these results it is shown that the extended reaction model gives better agreement with the measurements. Finally, the effects of the ballast vibration on the sleeper radiation have also been investigated for a case of three sleepers embedded in ballast. The ballast vibration is shown to increase the sound radiation by between 1 and 4.5 dB for

Novel railway-subgrade vibration monitoring technology using phase-sensitive OTDR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhaoyong; Lu, Bin; Zheng, Hanrong; Ye, Qing; Pan, Zhengqing; Cai, Haiwen; Qu, Ronghui; Fang, Zujie; Zhao, Howell

2017-04-01

High-speed railway is being developed rapidly; its safety, including infrastructure and train operation, is vital. This paper presents a railway-subgrade vibration monitoring scheme based on phase-sensitive OTDR for railway safety. The subgrade vibration is detected and rebuilt. Multi-dimension comprehensive analysis (MDCA) is proposed to identify the running train signals and illegal constructions along railway. To our best knowledge, it is the first time that a railway-subgrade vibration monitoring scheme is proposed. This scheme is proved effective by field tests for real-time train tracking and activities monitoring along railway. It provides a new passive distributed way for all-weather railway-subgrade vibration monitoring.

Displacement monitoring of switch track and its slab on a bridge of high speed railway by FBG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Weilai; Li, He; Cheng, Jian; Huang, Xiaomei; Pan, Jianjun; Zhou, Ciming; Yang, Minghong

2011-05-01

In a 350km/h high speed railway line, there is a seamless switch with ballastless slabs built on a bridge. 54 Fiber Bragg Grating detecting cells are employed to monitor the displacement of track and slab. The cell is of extending function of measurement range, up to 50mm displacement, and is of good linearity. Protecting methods for cells and fiber are adopted to keep them surviving from the harsh conditions. The results show that in 75 days, the displacement of the track and sleeper slab was 8-9mm, and the displacement is of high correlation with daily environmental temperature change.

A comprehensive model of the railway wheelset-track interaction in curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-Casas, José; Di Gialleonardo, Egidio; Bruni, Stefano; Baeza, Luis

2014-09-01

Train-track interaction has been extensively studied in the last 40 years at least, leading to modelling approaches that can deal satisfactorily with many dynamic problems arising at the wheel/rail interface. However, the available models are usually not considering specifically the running dynamics of the vehicle in a curve, whereas a number of train-track interaction phenomena are specific to curve negotiation. The aim of this paper is to define a model for a flexible wheelset running on a flexible curved track. The main novelty of this work is to combine a trajectory coordinate set with Eulerian modal coordinates; the former permits to consider curved tracks, and the latter models the small relative displacements between the trajectory frame and the solid. In order to reduce the computational complexity of the problem, one single flexible wheelset is considered instead of one complete bogie, and suitable forces are prescribed at the primary suspension seats so that the mean values of the creepages and contact forces are consistent with the low frequency curving dynamics of the complete vehicle. The wheelset model is coupled to a cyclic track model having constant curvature by means of a wheel/rail contact model which accounts for the actual geometry of the contacting profiles and for the nonlinear relationship between creepages and creep forces. The proposed model can be used to analyse a variety of dynamic problems for railway vehicles, including rail corrugation and wheel polygonalisation, squeal noise, numerical estimation of the wheelset service loads. In this paper, simulation results are presented for some selected running conditions to exemplify the application of the model to the study of realistic train-track interaction cases and to point out the importance of curve negotiation effects specifically addressed in the work.

Analysis of the Influence of Cracked Sleepers under Static Loading on Ballasted Railway Tracks

PubMed Central

Montalbán Domingo, Laura; Zamorano Martín, Clara; Palenzuela Avilés, Cristina; Real Herráiz, Julia I.

2014-01-01

The principal causes of cracking in prestressed concrete sleepers are the dynamic loads induced by track irregularities and imperfections in the wheel-rail contact and the in-phase and out-of-phase track resonances. The most affected points are the mid-span and rail-seat sections of the sleepers. Central and rail-seat crack detection require visual inspections, as legislation establishes, and involve sleepers' renewal even though European Normative considers that thicknesses up to 0.5 mm do not imply an inadequate behaviour of the sleepers. For a better understanding of the phenomenon, the finite element method constitutes a useful tool to assess the effects of cracking from the point of view of structural behaviour in railway track structures. This paper intends to study how the cracks at central or rail-seat section in prestressed concrete sleepers influence the track behaviour under static loading. The track model considers three different sleeper models: uncracked, cracked at central section, and cracked at rail-seat section. These models were calibrated and validated using the frequencies of vibration of the first three bending modes obtained from an experimental modal analysis. The results show the insignificant influence of the central cracks and the notable effects of the rail-seat cracks regarding deflections and stresses. PMID:25530998

Controlled Blasting for Deconstruction of a Railway Bridge Near Sahibganj

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandal, S. K.; Ghosh, A. K.; Oraon, S.

2018-06-01

Some of the Indian Railway bridges require reconstruction for electrification and expansion of railway tracks. Dismantling of bridge within time schedule in densely populated area requires controlled and pre-planned blasting methodology for safe pulling down of the structure and quick removal of blasted debris for fast restoration of tracks and smooth plying of trains. The three arched railway bridge (Bridge No. 61) located between Sahibganj and Karamtola cases one such example where the bridge was dismantled and the track was restored within 4 h of blasting, though the stipulated block period for demolition and restoration of tracks was 6 h. The 25.48 m long three-arched bridge was drilled and blasted with 225 number of blastholes (32 mm diameter) and 100 kg explosive (25 mm diameter). Length of blastholes varied between 0.5 and 1.8 m with blast geometry of 0.3-0.35 m burden and 0.33 m spacing. This paper deals with the conceptual and theoretical model developed for identification of the key locations for drilling and implementation of the same. It also discusses about the precautionary measures and the drilling pattern adopted for quick demolition and speedy restoration of tracks.

Controlled Blasting for Deconstruction of a Railway Bridge Near Sahibganj

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandal, S. K.; Ghosh, A. K.; Oraon, S.

2018-02-01

Some of the Indian Railway bridges require reconstruction for electrification and expansion of railway tracks. Dismantling of bridge within time schedule in densely populated area requires controlled and pre-planned blasting methodology for safe pulling down of the structure and quick removal of blasted debris for fast restoration of tracks and smooth plying of trains. The three arched railway bridge (Bridge No. 61) located between Sahibganj and Karamtola cases one such example where the bridge was dismantled and the track was restored within 4 h of blasting, though the stipulated block period for demolition and restoration of tracks was 6 h. The 25.48 m long three-arched bridge was drilled and blasted with 225 number of blastholes (32 mm diameter) and 100 kg explosive (25 mm diameter). Length of blastholes varied between 0.5 and 1.8 m with blast geometry of 0.3-0.35 m burden and 0.33 m spacing. This paper deals with the conceptual and theoretical model developed for identification of the key locations for drilling and implementation of the same. It also discusses about the precautionary measures and the drilling pattern adopted for quick demolition and speedy restoration of tracks.

Effects of railway track design on the expected degradation: Parametric study on energy dissipation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadri, Mehran; Steenbergen, Michaël

2018-04-01

This paper studies the effect of railway track design parameters on the expected long-term degradation of track geometry. The study assumes a geometrically perfect and straight track along with spatial invariability, except for the presence of discrete sleepers. A frequency-domain two-layer model is used of a discretely supported rail coupled with a moving unsprung mass. The susceptibility of the track to degradation is objectively quantified by calculating the mechanical energy dissipated in the substructure under a moving train axle for variations of different track parameters. Results show that, apart from the operational train speed, the ballast/substructure stiffness is the most significant parameter influencing energy dissipation. Generally, the degradation increases with the train speed and with softer substructures. However, stiff subgrades appear more sensitive to particular train velocities, in a regime which is mostly relevant for conventional trains (100-200 km/h) and less for high-speed operation, where a stiff subgrade is always favorable and can reduce the sensitivity to degradation substantially, with roughly a factor up to 7. Also railpad stiffness, sleeper distance and rail cross-sectional properties are found to have considerable effect, with higher expected degradation rates for increasing railpad stiffness, increasing sleeper distance and decreasing rail profile bending stiffness. Unsprung vehicle mass and sleeper mass have no significant influence, however, only against the background of the assumption of an idealized (invariant and straight) track. Apart from dissipated mechanical energy, the suitability of the dynamic track stiffness is explored as an engineering parameter to assess the sensitivity to degradation. It is found that this quantity is inappropriate to assess the design of an idealized track.

Railway deformation detected by DInSAR over active sinkholes in the Ebro Valley evaporite karst, Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galve, J. P.; Castañeda, C.; Gutiérrez, F.

2015-11-01

Subsidence was measured for the first time on railway tracks in the central sector of Ebro Valley (NE Spain) using Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) techniques. This area is affected by evaporite karst and the analysed railway corridors traverse active sinkholes that produce deformations in these infrastructures. One of the railway tracks affected by slight settlements is the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line, a form of transport infrastructure highly vulnerable to ground deformation processes. Our analysis based on DInSAR measurements and geomorphological surveys indicates that this line shows dissolution-induced subsidence and compaction of anthropogenic deposits (infills and embankments). Significant sinkhole-related subsidence was also measured by DInSAR techniques on the Castejón-Zaragoza conventional railway line. This study demonstrates that DInSAR velocity maps, coupled with detailed geomorphological surveys, may help in the identification of the railway track sections that are affected by active subsidence.

Compaction of Railway Ballast During Tamping Process: a Parametric Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saussine, G.; Azéma, E.; Perales, R.; Radjaï, F.

2009-06-01

We characterize an industrial process currently used on railway track: tamping operation. This process is employed in order to restore the geometry of railway track distorted by train traffics. The main goal is to compact the granular material under the sleepers supporting the railroad squeezing and vibrations. We focus on different phases of the tamping process, namely the penetration of tamping tines into the ballast and squeezing of ballast between tines. Our numerical simulations of three-dimensional discrete polyhedral grains allow us to investigate the influence of vibration frequency on the compaction level at the end of the process, the role of velocity of tamping tines during penetration phase and the mechanism of compaction of a confined granular layer under horizontal vibrations. For each tamping phase, an optimal frequency is proposed, and an analysis of the full process on the samples representing a portion of the railway track enables us to access the influence of various parameters required to optimize the process.

Ground Penetrating Radar technique for railway track characterization in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Chiara, Francesca; Fontul, Simona; Fortunato, Eduardo; D'Andrea, Antonio

2013-04-01

Maintenance actions are significant for transport infrastructures but, today, costs have to be necessary limited. A proper quality control since the construction phase is a key factor for a long life cycle and for a good economy policy. For this reason, suitable techniques have to be chosen and non-destructive tests represent an efficient solution, as they allow to evaluate infrastructure characteristics in a continuous or quasi-continuous way, saving time and costs, enabling to make changes if tests results do not comply with the project requirements. 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 and they cannot be detected by the common monitoring procedures, namely the measurements of 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. Therefore, it represents a reliable technique to assess track geometry problems and consequently to improve maintenance planning. In Portugal, rail inspection is performed with Plasser & Theurer EM120 equipment and recently 400 MHz IDS antennas were installed on it. GPR tests were performed on the Portuguese rail network and, as case study in this paper, a renewed track was

Digital Model of Railway Electric Traction Lines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garg, Rachana; Mahajan, Priya; Kumar, Parmod

2017-08-01

The characteristic impedance and propagation constant define the behavior of signal propagation over the transmission lines. The digital model for railway traction lines which includes railway tracks is developed, using curve fitting technique in MATLAB. The sensitivity of this model has been computed with respect to frequency. The digital sensitivity values are compared with the values of analog sensitivity. The developed model is useful for digital protection, integrated operation, control and planning of the system.

Railway deformation detected by DInSAR over active sinkholes in the Ebro Valley evaporite karst, Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galve, J. P.; Castañeda, C.; Gutiérrez, F.

2015-06-01

Previously not measured subsidence on railway tracks was detected using DInSAR displacement maps produced for the central sector of Ebro Valley (NE Spain). This area is affected by evaporite karst and the analyzed railway corridors traverse active sinkholes that produce deformations in these infrastructures. One of the railway tracks affected by slight settlements corresponds to the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line, a transport infrastructure highly vulnerable to ground deformation processes. Our analysis based on DInSAR measurements and geomorphological surveys indicate that this line show dissolution-induced subsidence and compaction of anthropogenic deposits (infills and embankments). By using DInSAR techniques, it was also measured the significant subsidence related to the activity of sinkholes in the Castejón-Zaragoza conventional railway line. Thus, this study demonstrate that DInSAR velocity maps coupled with detailed geomorphological surveys may help in the identification of the sectors of railway tracks that may compromise the safety of travellers.

A Novel Eye-Tracking Method to Assess Attention Allocation in Individuals with and without Aphasia Using a Dual-Task Paradigm

PubMed Central

Heuer, Sabine; Hallowell, Brooke

2015-01-01

Numerous authors report that people with aphasia have greater difficulty allocating attention than people without neurological disorders. Studying how attention deficits contribute to language deficits is important. However, existing methods for indexing attention allocation in people with aphasia pose serious methodological challenges. Eye-tracking methods have great potential to address such challenges. We developed and assessed the validity of a new dual-task method incorporating eye tracking to assess attention allocation. Twenty-six adults with aphasia and 33 control participants completed auditory sentence comprehension and visual search tasks. To test whether the new method validly indexes well-documented patterns in attention allocation, demands were manipulated by varying task complexity in single- and dual-task conditions. Differences in attention allocation were indexed via eye-tracking measures. For all participants significant increases in attention allocation demands were observed from single- to dual-task conditions and from simple to complex stimuli. Individuals with aphasia had greater difficulty allocating attention with greater task demands. Relationships between eye-tracking indices of comprehension during single and dual tasks and standardized testing were examined. Results support the validity of the novel eye-tracking method for assessing attention allocation in people with and without aphasia. Clinical and research implications are discussed. PMID:25913549

A dynamic wheel-rail impact analysis of railway track under wheel flat by finite element analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bian, Jian; Gu, Yuantong; Murray, Martin Howard

2013-06-01

Wheel-rail interaction is one of the most important research topics in railway engineering. It involves track impact response, track vibration and track safety. Track structure failures caused by wheel-rail impact forces can lead to significant economic loss for track owners through damage to rails and to the sleepers beneath. Wheel-rail impact forces occur because of imperfections in the wheels or rails such as wheel flats, irregular wheel profiles, rail corrugations and differences in the heights of rails connected at a welded joint. A wheel flat can cause a large dynamic impact force as well as a forced vibration with a high frequency, which can cause damage to the track structure. In the present work, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model for the impact analysis induced by the wheel flat is developed by the use of the FE analysis (FEA) software package ANSYS and validated by another validated simulation. The effect of wheel flats on impact forces is thoroughly investigated. It is found that the presence of a wheel flat will significantly increase the dynamic impact force on both rail and sleeper. The impact force will monotonically increase with the size of wheel flats. The relationships between the impact force and the wheel flat size are explored from this FEA and they are important for track engineers to improve their understanding of the design and maintenance of the track system.

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

PubMed

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

Impact Capacity Reduction in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers with Surface Abrasions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Damage Detection in Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers using Acoustic Emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

“Sapsan”-carriages defrosting station of Nizhniy Novgorod railway service enterprise and its surface waste water purification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strelkov, Alexander; Teplykh, Svetlana; Gorshkalev, Pavel; Bystranova, Anastasia

2017-10-01

Surface water disposal is one of the most relevant problems for Nizhniy Novgorod railway service enterprises. Waste water must be quickly removed with special drainage devices and water drainage facilities (culverts, slope drains, pipes, ditches, etc.). During “Sapsan”-carriages defrosting watse water is aggregated on railroad tracks. It leads to track bed structure sagging, roadbed washaway and damages to point switches. In this paper the authors describe a concrete system of waste water disposal from railway service enterprises. This system is realized through culverts readjusted at the foot of ballast section. Thereafter, the collected water is pumped into a water collector and to local sewage waste-disposal plants. For railway stations with three or more tracks surface runoff diversion scheme depends on topography, railway tracks types, flow discharge and is compiled individually for each object. This paper examines “Sapsan”-carriages defrosting station of Nizhniy Novgorod railway service enterprise. It presents a technology scheme and equipment consisting of Sand catcher LOS-P, Oil catcher LOS-N, pressure-tight flotation unit; drain feed pump; solution-consuming tank of the coagulant, the solution-consuming tank of flocculant. The proposed technology has been introduced into the project practice.

Railway track geometry degradation due to differential settlement of ballast/subgrade - Numerical prediction by an iterative procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, Jens C. O.; Li, Xin

2018-01-01

An iterative procedure for numerical prediction of long-term degradation of railway track geometry (longitudinal level) due to accumulated differential settlement of ballast/subgrade is presented. The procedure is based on a time-domain model of dynamic vehicle-track interaction to calculate the contact loads between sleepers and ballast in the short-term, which are then used in an empirical model to determine the settlement of ballast/subgrade below each sleeper in the long-term. The number of load cycles (wheel passages) accounted for in each iteration step is determined by an adaptive step length given by a maximum settlement increment. To reduce the computational effort for the simulations of dynamic vehicle-track interaction, complex-valued modal synthesis with a truncated modal set is applied for the linear subset of the discretely supported track model with non-proportional spatial distribution of viscous damping. Gravity loads and state-dependent vehicle, track and wheel-rail contact conditions are accounted for as external loads on the modal model, including situations involving loss of (and recovered) wheel-rail contact, impact between hanging sleeper and ballast, and/or a prescribed variation of non-linear track support stiffness properties along the track model. The procedure is demonstrated by calculating the degradation of longitudinal level over time as initiated by a prescribed initial local rail irregularity (dipped welded rail joint).

Sound radiation from railway sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xianying; Thompson, David J.; Squicciarini, Giacomo

2016-05-01

The sleepers supporting the rails of a railway track are an important source of noise at low frequencies. The sound radiation from the sleepers has been calculated using a three-dimensional boundary element model including the effect of both reflective and partially absorptive ground. When the sleeper flexibility and support stiffness are taken into account, it is found that the radiation ratio of the sleeper can be approximated by that of a rigid half-sleeper. When multiple sleepers are excited through the rail, their sound radiation is increased. This effect has been calculated for cases where the sleeper is embedded in a rigid or partially absorptive ground. It is shown that it is sufficient to consider only three sleepers in determining their radiation ratio when installed in track. At low frequencies the vibration of the track is localised to the three sleepers nearest the excitation point whereas at higher frequencies the distance between the sleepers is large enough for them to be treated independently. Consequently the sound radiation increases by up to 5 dB below 100 Hz compared with the result for a single sleeper whereas above 300 Hz the result can be approximated by that for a single sleeper. Measurements on a 1/5 scale model railway track are used to verify the numerical predictions with good agreement being found for all configurations.

A semi-analytical beam model for the vibration of railway tracks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostovasilis, D.; Thompson, D. J.; Hussein, M. F. M.

2017-04-01

The high frequency dynamic behaviour of railway tracks, in both vertical and lateral directions, strongly affects the generation of rolling noise as well as other phenomena such as rail corrugation. An improved semi-analytical model of a beam on an elastic foundation is introduced that accounts for the coupling of the vertical and lateral vibration. The model includes the effects of cross-section asymmetry, shear deformation, rotational inertia and restrained warping. Consideration is given to the fact that the loads at the rail head, as well as those exerted by the railpads at the rail foot, may not act through the centroid of the section. The response is evaluated for a harmonic load and the solution is obtained in the wavenumber domain. Results are presented as dispersion curves for free and supported rails and are validated with the aid of a Finite Element (FE) and a waveguide finite element (WFE) model. Closed form expressions are derived for the forced response, and validated against the WFE model. Track mobilities and decay rates are presented to assess the potential implications for rolling noise and the influence of the various sources of vertical-lateral coupling. Comparison is also made with measured data. Overall, the model presented performs very well, especially for the lateral vibration, although it does not contain the high frequency cross-section deformation modes. The most significant effects on the response are shown to be the inclusion of torsion and foundation eccentricity, which mainly affect the lateral response.

Sensitivity analysis of free vibration characteristics of an in situ railway concrete sleeper to variations of rail pad parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaewunruen, Sakdirat; Remennikov, Alex M.

2006-11-01

The vibration of in situ concrete sleepers in a railway track structure is a major factor causing cracking of prestressed concrete sleepers and excessive railway track maintenance cost. Not only does the ballast interact with the sleepers, but the rail pads also take part in affecting their free vibration characteristics. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis of free vibration behaviors of an in situ railway concrete sleeper (standard gauge sleeper), incorporating sleeper/ballast interaction, subjected to the variations of rail pad properties. Through finite element analysis, Timoshenko-beam and spring elements were used in the in situ railway concrete sleeper modeling. This model highlights the influence of rail pad parameters on the free vibration characteristics of in situ sleepers. In addition, information on the first five flexural vibration modes indicates the dynamic performance of railway track when using different types of rail pads, as it plays a vital role in the cracking deterioration of concrete sleepers.

Influence of uneven rail irregularities on the dynamic response of the railway track using a three-dimensional model of the vehicle-track system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naeimi, Meysam; Zakeri, Jabbar Ali; Esmaeili, Morteza; Shadfar, Morad

2015-01-01

A mathematical model of the vehicle-track interaction is developed to investigate the coupled behaviour of vehicle-track system, in the presence of uneven irregularities at left/right rails. The railway vehicle is simplified as a 3D multi-rigid-body model, and the track is treated as the two parallel beams on a layered discrete support system. Besides the car-body, the bogies and the wheel sets, the sleepers are assumed to have roll degree of freedom, in order to simulate the in-plane rotation of the components. The wheel-rail interface is treated using a nonlinear Hertzian contact model, coupling the mathematical equations of the vehicle-track systems. The dynamic interaction of the entire system is numerically studied in time domain, employing Newmark's integration method. The track irregularity spectra of both the left/right rails are taken into account, as the inputs of dynamic excitations. The dynamic responses of the track system induced by such irregularities are obtained, particularly in terms of the vertical (bounce) and roll displacements. The numerical model of the present research is validated using several benchmark models reported in the literature, for both the smooth and unsmooth track conditions. Four sample profiles of the measured rail irregularities are considered as the case studies of excitation sources, examining their influences on the dynamic behaviour of the coupled system. The results of numerical simulations demonstrate that the motion of track system is significantly influenced by the presence of uneven irregularities in left/right rails. Dynamic response of the sleepers in the roll direction becomes more sensitive to the rail irregularities, as the unevenness severity of the parallel profiles (quantitative difference between left and right rail spectra) is increased. The severe geometric deformation of the track in the bounce-pitch-roll directions is mainly related to such profile unevenness (cross-level) in left/right rails.

An Intrusion Detection System for the Protection of Railway Assets Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

PubMed Central

Catalano, Angelo; Bruno, Francesco Antonio; Pisco, Marco; Cutolo, Antonello; Cusano, Andrea

2014-01-01

We demonstrate the ability of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) sensors to protect large areas from unauthorized activities in railway scenarios such as stations or tunnels. We report on the technological strategy adopted to protect a specific depot, representative of a common scenario for security applications in the railway environment. One of the concerns in the protection of a railway area centers on the presence of rail-tracks, which cannot be obstructed with physical barriers. We propose an integrated optical fiber system composed of FBG strain sensors that can detect human intrusion for protection of the perimeter combined with FBG accelerometer sensors for protection of rail-track access. Several trials were carried out in indoor and outdoor environments. The results demonstrate that FBG strain sensors bonded under a ribbed rubber mat enable the detection of intruder break-in via the pressure induced on the mat, whereas the FBG accelerometers installed under the rails enable the detection of intruders walking close to the railroad tracks via the acoustic surface waves generated by footsteps. Based on a single enabling technology, this integrated system represents a valuable intrusion detection system for railway security and could be integrated with other sensing functionalities in the railway field using fiber optic technology. PMID:25268920

Influence of Surface Abrasion on Creep and Shrinkage of Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dan; Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

2017-10-01

Ballasted railway track is very suitable for heavy-rail networks because of its many superior advantages in design, construction, short- and long-term maintenance, sustainability, and life-cycle cost. The sleeper, which supports rail and distributes loads from rail to ballast, is a very important component of rail track system. Prestressed concrete is very popular used in manufacturing sleepers. Therefore, improved knowledge about design techniques for prestressed concrete (PC) sleepers has been developed. However, the ballast angularity causes differential abrasions on the soffit or bottom surface of sleepers. Furthermore, in sharp curves and rapid gradient change, longitudinal and lateral dynamics of rails increase the likelihood of abrasions in concrete sleepers. This paper presents a comparative investigation using a variety of methods to evaluate creep and shrinkage effects in railway prestressed concrete sleepers. The outcome of this study will improve the material design, which is very critical to the durability of railway track components.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Quantification of uncertainty in the prediction of railway induced ground vibration due to the use of statistical track unevenness data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lombaert, G.; Galvín, P.; François, S.; Degrande, G.

2014-09-01

Environmental vibrations due to railway traffic are predominantly due to dynamic axle loads caused by wheel and track unevenness and impact excitation by rail joints and wheel flats. Because of its irregular character, track unevenness is commonly processed statistically and represented by its power spectral density function or its root mean square (RMS) value in one-third octave bands. This statistical description does not uniquely define the track unevenness at a given site, however, and different track unevenness profiles matching the statistical description will lead to different predictions of dynamic axle loads and resulting ground vibration. This paper presents a methodology that allows quantifying the corresponding variability in ground vibration predictions. The procedure is derived assuming the geometry of the track and soil to be homogeneous along the track. The procedure is verified by means of Monte Carlo simulations and its usefulness for assessing the mismatch between predicted and measured ground vibrations is demonstrated in a case study. The results show that the response in time domain and its narrow band spectrum exhibit significant variability which is reduced when the running RMS value or the one-third octave band spectrum of the response is considered.

78 FR 64597 - Youngstown & Southeastern Railway Company-Operation Exemption-Mule Sidetracks, L.L.C.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-29

... & Southeastern Railway Company--Operation Exemption-- Mule Sidetracks, L.L.C. Youngstown & Southeastern Railway... agent of, and in the name of, Mule Sidetracks, L.L.C. (MSLLC), three miles of contiguous track segments... verified notice of exemption filed in Mule Sidetracks, L.L.C.--Acquisition Exemption--Columbiana County...

Rail embankment stabilization needs on the Hudson Bay Railway.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-03-24

Since its construction in 1929, the Hudson Bay Railway (HBR) located in northern Manitoba, Canada, has been witnessing track deterioration through differential settlements. These differential settlements, termed sinkholes, have been linked to t...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

PubMed

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%, p<0.0001) with no apparent substitution effect to the other platforms observed. To be cost-effective, the cost of gaining a healthy life year (ICER) should not exceed three times the per capita GDP (US$74,700). The PSD installation would only be cost-effective if the loss of fare revenue and passengers' waiting time, in addition to DALY, were included (ICER: US$65,400), while the ICER based on DALY only would be US$77,900. The challenges of complexity for economic evaluation appear in many community-based health interventions. A more extensive perspective for exploring other outcome measurements and evaluation methods to reflect a fair and appropriate value of the intervention's cost-effectiveness is needed.

Time-Dependent Topology of Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dan; Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

2017-10-01

The railway sleepers are very important component of railway track structure. The sleepers can be manufactured by using timber, concrete, steel or other engineered materials. Nowadays, prestressed concrete has become most commonly used type of sleepers. Prestressed concrete sleepers have longer life-cycle and lower maintenance cost than reinforced concrete sleepers. They are expected to withstand high dynamic loads and harsh environments. However, durability and long-term performance of prestressed concrete sleepers are largely dependent on creep and shrinkage responses. This study investigates the long-term behaviours of prestressed concrete sleepers and proposes the shortening and deflection diagrams. Comparison between design codes of Eurocode 2 and AS3600-2009 provides the insight into the time-dependent performance of prestressed concrete sleepers. The outcome of this paper will improve the rail maintenance and inspection criteria in order to establish appropriate sensible remote track condition monitor network in practice.

Propagation of variability in railway dynamic simulations: application to virtual homologation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Funfschilling, Christine; Perrin, Guillaume; Kraft, Sönke

2012-01-01

Railway dynamic simulations are increasingly used to predict and analyse the behaviour of the vehicle and of the track during their whole life cycle. Up to now however, no simulation has been used in the certification procedure even if the expected benefits are important: cheaper and shorter procedures, more objectivity, better knowledge of the behaviour around critical situations. Deterministic simulations are nevertheless too poor to represent the whole physical of the track/vehicle system which contains several sources of variability: variability of the mechanical parameters of a train among a class of vehicles (mass, stiffness and damping of different suspensions), variability of the contact parameters (friction coefficient, wheel and rail profiles) and variability of the track design and quality. This variability plays an important role on the safety, on the ride quality, and thus on the certification criteria. When using the simulation for certification purposes, it seems therefore crucial to take into account the variability of the different inputs. The main goal of this article is thus to propose a method to introduce the variability in railway dynamics. A four-step method is described namely the definition of the stochastic problem, the modelling of the inputs variability, the propagation and the analysis of the output. Each step is illustrated with railway examples.

Railway clearance intrusion detection method with binocular stereo vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

On use of characteristic wavelengths of track irregularities to predict track portions with deteriorated wheel/rail forces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Lei; Zhai, Wanming; Chen, Zhaowei

2018-05-01

The dynamic performance of the railway vehicles and the guiding tracks is mainly governed by the wheel-rail interactions, particularly in cases of track irregularities. In this work, a united model was developed to investigate the track portions subject to violent wheel/rail forces triggered by track irregularities at middle-low frequencies. In the modeling procedures, a time-frequency unification method combining wavelet transform and Wigner-Ville distribution for characterizing time-frequency characteristics of track irregularities and a three-dimensional nonlinear model for describing vehicle-track interaction signatures were developed and coupled, based on which the method for predicting track portions subject to deteriorated wheel/rail forces was proposed. The theoretical models developed in this paper were comprehensively validated by numerical investigations. The significance of this present study mainly lies on offering a new path to establish correlation and realize mutual prediction between track irregularity and railway system dynamics.

Influence of some vehicle and track parameters on the environmental vibrations induced by railway traffic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouroussis, G.; Verlinden, O.; Conti, C.

2012-04-01

A study is performed on the influence of some typical railway vehicle and track parameters on the level of ground vibrations induced in the neighbourhood. The results are obtained from a previously validated simulation framework considering in a first step the vehicle/track subsystem and, in a second step, the response of the soil to the forces resulting from the first analysis. The vehicle is reduced to a simple vertical 3-dof model, corresponding to the superposition of the wheelset, the bogie and the car body. The rail is modelled as a succession of beam elements elastically supported by the sleepers, lying themselves on a flexible foundation representing the ballast and the subgrade. The connection between the wheels and the rails is realised through a non-linear Hertzian contact. The soil motion is obtained from a finite/infinite element model. The investigated vehicle parameters are its type (urban, high speed, freight, etc.) and its speed. For the track, the rail flexural stiffness, the railpad stiffness, the spacing between sleepers and the rail and sleeper masses are considered. In all cases, the parameter value range is defined from a bibliographic browsing. At the end, the paper proposes a table summarising the influence of each studied parameter on three indicators: the vehicle acceleration, the rail velocity and the soil velocity. It namely turns out that the vehicle has a serious influence on the vibration level and should be considered in prediction models.

Trespassing on the tracks: a review of railway pedestrian safety research.

PubMed

Lobb, Brenda

2006-01-01

Train-pedestrian collisions have been shown to be the leading cause of fatality in train-related accidents worldwide, yet there is remarkably little research in this area. In this paper, the major types of railway transportation accident research are briefly highlighted to indicate the general context of research concerning train-pedestrian collisions, which are then reviewed. Themes emerging from the diverse research are identified, the various strategies that have been proposed for prevention of railway pedestrian accidents are discussed, and the empirical evidence for their efficacy examined in the light of the much more extensive literature on road pedestrian accidents. Finally, it is proposed that application of current theory in behavioral and cognitive psychology may usefully inform future research in transportation safety.

Thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviour of continuous welded rail track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pucillo, Giovanni Pio

2016-12-01

Because thermal expansions are constrained within continuous welded rail track, the track can buckle, and does so mainly in the horizontal plane. In this paper, a parametric finite element model of railway track is presented, and its sensitivity to the variations of the main parameters that characterise the scenario has been investigated and discussed. Comparison with existing literature shows good agreement. It is found that curved tracks suffer from thermal buckling more than tangent tracks do. To simulate a track misalignment defect, a new methodology has been utilised that does not introduce, as is usual, geometrical discontinuities near the same defect, because it takes into account - in a natural way - the bending stiffness of the whole railway track in the horizontal plane. To contribute to a better understanding of the safe utilisation of raw experimental data obtained from in situ tests, a deep analysis of the effects on the thermal track buckling response produced by each parameter characterising the sleeper-ballast lateral resistance curve is presented and discussed. It is found that for current ballasted railway tracks, the minimum buckling temperature depends only on the limit lateral resistance, whereas a high value of the initial stiffness can lead to overestimation of the maximum buckling temperature, also taking into account the 'natural' decrease in the maximum buckling temperature due to an increase in the railway-traffic-induced defect amplitude.

Semi-empirical model for the assessment of railway ballast using GPR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giulia Brancadoro, Maria; Benedetto, Andrea

2017-04-01

Over time, railways have become a very competitive mean of transportation, especially for long distances. In order to ensure high level of safety, comfort and regularity of transportation, an efficient maintenance of the railway track-bed is crucial. In fact, the cyclic loads passing on the rails produce a progressive deterioration of railway ballast beneath the sleepers, and a breakdown of its particles that causes a general decrease of railway performances. This work aims at proposing a semi-empirical model for the characterisation of railway ballast grading, through the spectral analysis of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) signal. To this effect, a theoretical study has been preliminary conducted to investigate the propagation and scattering phenomena of the electromagnetic waves within a ballast layer. To confirm the theoretical assumptions, high-frequency GPR signals have been both collected in laboratory and virtual environment. Concerning the latter, progressively more complex numerical domains have been designed and subjected to synthetic GPR test, by a Finite Different Time Domain (FTDT) procedure, run in GPR Max 2D simulator. As first simulation steps, ballast aggregates simplified through circles have been accounted for, with increasing values of radius. Subsequently, real-scale scenarios characterized by multi-size ballast particles, consistent with three different grain size distribution from railway network standards, have been reproduced by the employment of Random Sequential Adsorption - RSA algorithm. As far as the laboratory procedures, real GPR tests have been carried out on an experimental framework purposely set up, and composed of a methacrylate tank filled up with limestone-derived railway ballast. The ballast aggregates grading has been retrieved by means of an automatic image analysis algorithm, run on the lateral sight of the transparent tank. Through their spectral analysis, an empirical relationship between the position of the amplitude

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Impact capacity reduction in railway prestressed concrete sleepers with vertical holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Li, Dan; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

2017-09-01

Railway prestressed concrete sleepers (or railroad ties) are principally designed in order to carry wheel loads from the rails to the ground as well as to secure rail gauge for dynamic safe movements of trains. In spite of the most common use of the prestressed concrete sleepers in railway tracks, the concrete sleepers are often modified on construction sites to fit in other systems such as cables, signalling gears, drainage pipes, etc. This is because those signalling, fibre optic, equipment cables are often damaged either by ballast corners or by tamping machine. It is thus necessary to modify concrete sleepers to cater cables internally so that the cables or drainage pipes would not experience detrimental or harsh environments. Accordingly, this study will extend from the previous study into the design criteria of holes and web openings. This paper will highlight structural capacity of concrete sleepers under dynamic transient loading. The modified compression field theory for ultimate strength design of concrete sleepers will be highlighted in this study. The outcome of this study will improve the understanding into dynamic behavior of prestressed concrete sleepers with vertical holes. The insight will enable predictive track maintenance regime in railway industry.

18. Marine Railway #1, location in foreground; Marine Railway #2 ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

18. Marine Railway #1, location in foreground; Marine Railway #2 (broken cradle) center; cradle for Marine Railway #3 on right. - Thames Tow Boat Company, Foot of Farnsworth Street, New London, New London County, CT

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Nonlinear Dynamic Characteristics of the Railway Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

A Novel Sensor Selection and Power Allocation Algorithm for Multiple-Target Tracking in an LPI Radar Network

PubMed Central

She, Ji; Wang, Fei; Zhou, Jianjiang

2016-01-01

Radar networks are proven to have numerous advantages over traditional monostatic and bistatic radar. With recent developments, radar networks have become an attractive platform due to their low probability of intercept (LPI) performance for target tracking. In this paper, a joint sensor selection and power allocation algorithm for multiple-target tracking in a radar network based on LPI is proposed. It is found that this algorithm can minimize the total transmitted power of a radar network on the basis of a predetermined mutual information (MI) threshold between the target impulse response and the reflected signal. The MI is required by the radar network system to estimate target parameters, and it can be calculated predictively with the estimation of target state. The optimization problem of sensor selection and power allocation, which contains two variables, is non-convex and it can be solved by separating power allocation problem from sensor selection problem. To be specific, the optimization problem of power allocation can be solved by using the bisection method for each sensor selection scheme. Also, the optimization problem of sensor selection can be solved by a lower complexity algorithm based on the allocated powers. According to the simulation results, it can be found that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the total transmitted power of a radar network, which can be conducive to improving LPI performance. PMID:28009819

78 FR 40268 - Norfolk Southern Railway Company-Lease Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-03

... Railway Company--Lease Exemption--BNSF Railway Company AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. ACTION: Notice of exemption; request for comments. SUMMARY: On June 26, 2013, Norfolk Southern Railway Company... 49 U.S.C. 11323(a)(2) to lease from BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), and upgrade and maintain...

Static and dynamic behaviours of railway prestressed concrete sleepers with longitudinal through hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngamkhanong, C.; Kaewunruen, S.; Remennikov, A. M.

2017-10-01

As the crosstie beam in railway track systems, the prestressed concrete sleepers (or railroad ties) are principally designed in order to carry wheel loads from the rails to the ground. Their design takes into account static and dynamic loading conditions. It is evident that prestressed concrete has played a significant role as to maintain the high endurance of the sleepers under low to moderate repeated impact loads. In spite of the most common use of the prestressed concrete sleepers in railway tracks, there have always been many demands from rail engineers to improve serviceability and functionality of concrete sleepers. For example, signalling, fibre optic, equipment cables are often damaged either by ballast corners or by tamping machine. There has been a need to re-design concrete sleeper to cater cables internally so that they would not experience detrimental or harsh environments. Accordingly, this study will investigate the effects of through hole or longitudinal hole on static and dynamic behaviours of concrete sleepers under rail shock loading. The modified compression field theory for ultimate strength design of concrete sleepers will be highlighted in this study. The outcome of this study will enable the new design and calculation methods for prestressed concrete sleepers with holes and web opening that practically benefits civil, track and structural engineers in railway industry.

Liquid filtration properties in gravel foundation of railroad tracks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strelkov, A.; Teplykh, S.; Bukhman, N.

2016-08-01

Railway bed gravel foundation has a constant permanent impact on urban ecology and ground surface. It is only natural that larger objects, such as railway stations, make broader impact. Surface run-off waters polluted by harmful substances existing in railroad track body (ballast section) flow along railroad tracks and within macadam, go down into subterranean ground flow and then enter neighbouring rivers and water basins. This paper presents analytic calculations and characteristics of surface run-off liquid filtration which flows through gravel multiple layers (railroad track ballast section). The authors analyse liquids with various density and viscosity flowing in multi-layer porous medium. The paper also describes liquid stationary and non-stationary weepage into gravel foundation of railroad tracks.

A clamping force measurement system for monitoring the condition of bolted joints on railway track joints and points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tesfa, B.; Horler, G.; Thobiani, F. Al; Gu, F.; Ball, A. D.

2012-05-01

Many industrial structures associated with railway infrastructures rely on a large number of bolted joint connections to ensure safe and reliable operation of the track and trackside furniture. Significant sums of money are spent annually to repair the damage caused by bolt failures and to maintain the integrity of bolted structures. In the UK, Network Rail (the organization responsible for rail network maintenance and safety) conducts corrective and preventive maintenance manually on 26,000 sets of points (each having approximately 30 bolted joints per set), in order to ensure operational success and safety for the travelling public. Such manual maintenance is costly, disruptive, unreliable and prone to human error. The aim of this work is to provide a means of automatically measuring the clamping force of each individual bolted joint, by means of an instrumented washer. This paper describes the development of a sensor means to be used in the washer, which satisfies the following criteria. Sense changes in the clamping force of the joint and report this fact. Provide compatibility with the large dynamic range of clamping force. Satisfy the limitations in terms of physical size. Provide the means to electronically interface with the washer. Provide a means of powering the washer in situ. Provide a solution at an acceptable cost. Specifically the paper focuses on requirements 1, 2 and 3 and presents the results that support further development of the proposed design and the realization of a pre-prototype system. In the paper, various options for the force sensing element (strain gage, capacitor, piezo-resistive) have been compared, using design optimization techniques. As a result of the evaluation, piezo-resistive sensors in concert with a proprietary force attenuation method, have been found to offer the best performance and cost trade-off The performance of the novel clamping force sensor has been evaluated experimentally and the results show that a smart washer

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

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to analyse longitudinal data to assess the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in Norwegian railway workers. Design Longitudinal. Setting A major Norwegian railway company. Methods 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). Results 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. Conclusions The risk of NIHL in Norwegian railway workers during the period 1991–2014 has been negligible. PMID:27591022

[Hygienic optimization of the use of chemical protective means on railway transport].

PubMed

Kaptsov, V A; Pankova, V B; Elizarov, B B; Mezentsev, A P; Komleva, E A

2004-01-01

The paper presents data characterizing the working conditions of railway workers. It shows that there is the greatest levels of noise and vibration, the burden and intensity of work. The worst working conditions are noted in energy supply, car, locomotive services and track facilities. The working conditions determine a significant industrial risk of railway workers since the prevention of health abnormalities by using chemical protective means is a topical problem. The priority lines of hygienic rationale for optimization the choice and use of chemical protective means for workers exposed to occupational hazards are determined.

Structural Health Monitoring of Railway Transition Zones Using Satellite Radar Data.

PubMed

Wang, Haoyu; Chang, Ling; Markine, Valeri

2018-01-31

Transition zones in railway tracks are locations with considerable changes in the rail-supporting structure. Typically, they are located near engineering structures, such as bridges, culverts and tunnels. In such locations, severe differential settlements often occur due to the different material properties and structure behavior. Without timely maintenance, the differential settlement may lead to the damage of track components and loss of passenger's comfort. To ensure the safety of railway operations and reduce the maintenance costs, it is necessary to consecutively monitor the structural health condition of the transition zones in an economical manner and detect the changes at an early stage. However, using the current in situ monitoring of transition zones is hard to achieve this goal, because most in situ techniques (e.g., track-measuring coaches) are labor-consuming and usually not frequently performed (approximately twice a year in the Netherlands). To tackle the limitations of the in situ techniques, a Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) system is presented in this paper, which provides a potential solution for a consecutive structural health monitoring of transition zones with bi-/tri-weekly data update and mm-level precision. To demonstrate the feasibility of the InSAR system for monitoring transition zones, a transition zone is tested. The results show that the differential settlement in the transition zone and the settlement rate can be observed and detected by the InSAR measurements. Moreover, the InSAR results are cross-validated against measurements obtained using a measuring coach and a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) device. The results of the three measuring techniques show a good correlation, which proves the applicability of InSAR for the structural health monitoring of transition zones in railway track.

Structural Health Monitoring of Railway Transition Zones Using Satellite Radar Data

PubMed Central

Chang, Ling; Markine, Valeri

2018-01-01

Transition zones in railway tracks are locations with considerable changes in the rail-supporting structure. Typically, they are located near engineering structures, such as bridges, culverts and tunnels. In such locations, severe differential settlements often occur due to the different material properties and structure behavior. Without timely maintenance, the differential settlement may lead to the damage of track components and loss of passenger’s comfort. To ensure the safety of railway operations and reduce the maintenance costs, it is necessary to consecutively monitor the structural health condition of the transition zones in an economical manner and detect the changes at an early stage. However, using the current in situ monitoring of transition zones is hard to achieve this goal, because most in situ techniques (e.g., track-measuring coaches) are labor-consuming and usually not frequently performed (approximately twice a year in the Netherlands). To tackle the limitations of the in situ techniques, a Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) system is presented in this paper, which provides a potential solution for a consecutive structural health monitoring of transition zones with bi-/tri-weekly data update and mm-level precision. To demonstrate the feasibility of the InSAR system for monitoring transition zones, a transition zone is tested. The results show that the differential settlement in the transition zone and the settlement rate can be observed and detected by the InSAR measurements. Moreover, the InSAR results are cross-validated against measurements obtained using a measuring coach and a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) device. The results of the three measuring techniques show a good correlation, which proves the applicability of InSAR for the structural health monitoring of transition zones in railway track. PMID:29385070

Optimal working zone division for safe track maintenance in The Netherlands.

PubMed

den Hertog, D; van Zante-de Fokkert, J I; Sjamaar, S A; Beusmans, R

2005-09-01

After a sequence of serious accidents, the safety of rail track workers became an urgent and political problem in The Netherlands. It turned out that the rail track workers had one of the most dangerous jobs. The board of the Dutch Railways decided that the Dutch railway infrastructure had to be divided into so-called working zones. Moreover, to carry out maintenance activities, that particular working zone of the railway system had to be taken out of service. An essential problem was how to divide the Dutch railway infrastructure into working zones such that all parties involved are satisfied. Since many parties with conflicting interests were involved, this problem was extremely difficult. In this paper we show the division rules we developed, and which had been implemented in The Netherlands.

Tracking It Down: Predictors of Risky Drinking in an Australian Railway.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinkiewicz, Lucy; Davey, Jeremy; Obst, Patricia; Sheehan, Mary

1999-01-01

Surveys employees (N=4,979) of an Australian state railway to determine self-reported employee alcohol use and the influence of work-related risk factors on this use. Examination of risk factors previously associated with work-related problem drinking showed that gender, nights away from home for work, job satisfaction, and availability of alcohol…

Meteorological tools in support to the railway security system on the Calabria region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laviola, Sante; Gabriele, Salvatore; Iovine, Giulio; Baldini, Luca; Chiravalloti, Francesco; Federico, Stefano; Miglietta, Marcello Mario; Milani, Lisa; Procopio, Antonio; Roberto, Nicoletta; Tiesi, Alessandro; Agostino, Mario; Niccoli, Raffaele; Stassi, Sergio; Rago, Valeria

2017-04-01

RAMSES (RAilway Meteorological SEcurity System) is a pilot project co-funded by the Italian Railway Company - RFI S.p.A. and conceived for the mitigation of the hydrological risk along the Calabria railways. RAMSES aims at improving the forecast of very short life-cycle convection systems, responsible of intense and localized rainfalls affecting small catchment areas, which are often underestimated by the numerical weather models and even non-adequately detected by the network of sparse raingauges. The RAMSES operational design is based on a synergistic and integrated architecture, providing a series of information able to identify the most active convective cells and monitoring their evolution in terms of vertical structure, rain intensity and geo-hydrological effects at ground (debris flow, landslides, collapses of bridges, erosion of the ballast). The RAMSES meteorological component is designed to identify and track the short-term evolution (15-60 min) of convective cells, by means of imaging techniques based on dual-polarization weather radar and Meteosat data. In support of this quasi-real time analysis, the numerical model WRF provides the weather forecast at 3-6 hours range by ingesting, through the assimilation system LAPS, the observational data (rain gauges, ground weather stations, radar, satellites) in order to improve the initial condition. Finally, the hydraulic flow modeling is used to assess the ground effects in terms of landslide susceptibility, rainfall-runoff intensity, debris impact on the drainage network and evaluate of risk along the railway track.

Real-time monitoring of railway infrastructures using fibre Bragg grating sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roveri, N.; Carcaterra, A.; Sestieri, A.

2015-08-01

In this work we present the results of a field trial with a FBG sensor array system for the real time monitoring of railway traffic and for the structural health monitoring of both the railway track and train wheels. The test campaign is performed on the 2nd line of Milan metropolitan underground, employing more than 50 FBG sensors along 1.5 km of the rail track, where the trains are tested during daily passenger rail transport, with a roughly maximum speeds of 90 km/h. The measurements were continuatively performed for over 6 months, with a sampling frequency of about 400 Hz. The large amount of data/sensors allows a rather accurate statistical treatment of the measurement data and permits, with dedicated algorithms, the estimation of rail and wheel wear, key traffic parameters such as the number of axles, the train speed and load, and, in the next future, the detection of localized imperfections.

Minimum depth of soil cover above long-span soil-steel railway bridges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esmaeili, Morteza; Zakeri, Jabbar Ali; Abdulrazagh, Parisa Haji

2013-12-01

Recently, soil-steel bridges have become more commonly used as railway-highway crossings because of their economical advantages and short construction period compared with traditional bridges. The currently developed formula for determining the minimum depth of covers by existing codes is typically based on vehicle loads and non-stiffened panels and takes into consideration the geometrical shape of the metal structure to avoid the failure of soil cover above a soil-steel bridge. The effects of spans larger than 8 m or more stiffened panels due to railway loads that maintain a safe railway track have not been accounted for in the minimum cover formulas and are the subject of this paper. For this study, two-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses of four low-profile arches and four box culverts with spans larger than 8 m were performed to develop new patterns for the minimum depth of soil cover by considering the serviceability criterion of the railway track. Using the least-squares method, new formulas were then developed for low-profile arches and box culverts and were compared with Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code formulas. Finally, a series of three-dimensional (3D) finite element FE analyses were carried out to control the out-of-plane buckling in the steel plates due to the 3D pattern of train loads. The results show that the out-of-plane bending does not control the buckling behavior of the steel plates, so the proposed equations for minimum depth of cover can be appropriately used for practical purposes.

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

PubMed

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/

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

78 FR 2719 - BNSF Railway Company-Lease Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-14

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35689] BNSF Railway Company--Lease Exemption--Norfolk Southern Railway Company AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT... exemption from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323-25 for BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) to...

Report on the international conference : environmentally sustainable transport : is rail on track?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-10-22

This conference "Is Rail on Track?" was organised by the OECD Environment Directorate and the International Union of Railways (UIC) and hosted by the Swedish National Railway Administration, Banverket (BV). It sought to address barriers to the implem...

A semi-empirical model for the prediction of fouling in railway ballast using GPR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bianchini Ciampoli, Luca; Tosti, Fabio; Benedetto, Andrea; Alani, Amir M.; Loizos, Andreas; D'Amico, Fabrizio; Calvi, Alessandro

2016-04-01

The first step in the planning for a renewal of a railway network consists in gathering information, as effectively as possible, about the state of the railway tracks. Nowadays, this activity is mostly carried out by digging trenches at regular intervals along the whole network, to evaluate both geometrical and geotechnical properties of the railway track bed. This involves issues, mainly concerning the invasiveness of the operations, the impacts on the rail traffic, the high costs, and the low levels of significance concerning such discrete data set. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) can represent a useful technique for overstepping these issues, as it can be directly mounted onto a train crossing the railway, and collect continuous information along the network. This study is aimed at defining an empirical model for the prediction of fouling in railway ballast, by using GPR. With this purpose, a thorough laboratory campaign was implemented within the facilities of Roma Tre University. In more details, a 1.47 m long × 1.47 m wide × 0.48 m height plexiglass framework, accounting for the domain of investigation, was laid over a perfect electric conductor, and filled up with several configuration of railway ballast and fouling material (clayey sand), thereby representing different levels of fouling. Then, the set of fouling configurations was surveyed with several GPR systems. In particular, a ground-coupled multi-channel radar (600 MHz and 1600 MHz center frequency antennas) and three air-launched radar systems (1000 MHz and 2000 MHz center frequency antennas) were employed for surveying the materials. By observing the results both in terms of time and frequency domains, interesting insights are highlighted and an empirical model, relating in particular the shape of the frequency spectrum of the signal and the percentage of fouling characterizing the surveyed material, is finally proposed. Acknowledgement The Authors thank COST, for funding the Action TU1208 "Civil

Development of Viscoelastic Multi-Body Simulation and Impact Response Analysis of a Ballasted Railway Track under Cyclic Loading.

PubMed

Nishiura, Daisuke; Sakaguchi, Hide; Aikawa, Akira

2017-06-03

Simulation of a large number of deformable bodies is often difficult because complex high-level modeling is required to address both multi-body contact and viscoelastic deformation. This necessitates the combined use of a discrete element method (DEM) and a finite element method (FEM). In this study, a quadruple discrete element method (QDEM) was developed for dynamic analysis of viscoelastic materials using a simpler algorithm compared to the standard FEM. QDEM easily incorporates the contact algorithm used in DEM. As the first step toward multi-body simulation, the fundamental performance of QDEM was investigated for viscoelastic analysis. The amplitude and frequency of cantilever elastic vibration were nearly equal to those obtained by the standard FEM. A comparison of creep recovery tests with an analytical solution showed good agreement between them. In addition, good correlation between the attenuation degree and the real physical viscosity was confirmed for viscoelastic vibration analysis. Therefore, the high accuracy of QDEM in the fundamental analysis of infinitesimal viscoelastic deformations was verified. Finally, the impact response of a ballast and sleeper under cyclic loading on a railway track was analyzed using QDEM as an application of deformable multi-body dynamics. The results showed that the vibration of the ballasted track was qualitatively in good agreement with the actual measurements. Moreover, the ballast layer with high friction reduced the ballasted track deterioration. This study suggests that QDEM, as an alternative to DEM and FEM, can provide deeper insights into the contact dynamics of a large number of deformable bodies.

Development of Viscoelastic Multi-Body Simulation and Impact Response Analysis of a Ballasted Railway Track under Cyclic Loading

PubMed Central

Nishiura, Daisuke; Sakaguchi, Hide; Aikawa, Akira

2017-01-01

Simulation of a large number of deformable bodies is often difficult because complex high-level modeling is required to address both multi-body contact and viscoelastic deformation. This necessitates the combined use of a discrete element method (DEM) and a finite element method (FEM). In this study, a quadruple discrete element method (QDEM) was developed for dynamic analysis of viscoelastic materials using a simpler algorithm compared to the standard FEM. QDEM easily incorporates the contact algorithm used in DEM. As the first step toward multi-body simulation, the fundamental performance of QDEM was investigated for viscoelastic analysis. The amplitude and frequency of cantilever elastic vibration were nearly equal to those obtained by the standard FEM. A comparison of creep recovery tests with an analytical solution showed good agreement between them. In addition, good correlation between the attenuation degree and the real physical viscosity was confirmed for viscoelastic vibration analysis. Therefore, the high accuracy of QDEM in the fundamental analysis of infinitesimal viscoelastic deformations was verified. Finally, the impact response of a ballast and sleeper under cyclic loading on a railway track was analyzed using QDEM as an application of deformable multi-body dynamics. The results showed that the vibration of the ballasted track was qualitatively in good agreement with the actual measurements. Moreover, the ballast layer with high friction reduced the ballasted track deterioration. This study suggests that QDEM, as an alternative to DEM and FEM, can provide deeper insights into the contact dynamics of a large number of deformable bodies. PMID:28772974

A computationally efficient software application for calculating vibration from underground railways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hussein, M. F. M.; Hunt, H. E. M.

2009-08-01

The PiP model is a software application with a user-friendly interface for calculating vibration from underground railways. This paper reports about the software with a focus on its latest version and the plans for future developments. The software calculates the Power Spectral Density of vibration due to a moving train on floating-slab track with track irregularity described by typical values of spectra for tracks with good, average and bad conditions. The latest version accounts for a tunnel embedded in a half space by employing a toolbox developed at K.U. Leuven which calculates Green's functions for a multi-layered half-space.

Application of geocomposite placed beneath ballast bed to improve ballast quality and track stability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horníček, Leoš; Břešt'ovský, Petr; Jasanský, Petr

2017-09-01

The article deals with the application of a stabilization hexagonal geocomposite for the improvement of poor stability of railway tracks caused by undesirable migration of fine soil particles from the subgrade into the ballast bed. The establishment of a test railway section on a single-line track situated near Domazlice and its long-term monitoring programme are described. Evaluation is aimed especially at track geometry parameters, the load-bearing capacity of the ballast bed, elastic rail deflection during train passages and the durability of geocomposite’s physical properties. The data taken from the test section during five measurement campaigns are compared with both adjacent sections. In one of them, only the ballast bed renovation was carried out, whereas in the second one no intervention was performed at all. The usage of a pioneering geosynthetic product in combination with new trends in ballast bed restoration seems to be an innovative as well as effective solution to analogous problematic spots on railway tracks in the Czech Republic.

Highway-railway at-grade crossing structures : optimum design/installation practices and management program : an overview.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

Replacing and rehabilitating highway-railway at-grade crossings represent major track maintenance expenses for the U.S. highway governmental agencies and railroad industry. The ideal crossing system is one that will maintain a smooth surface and stab...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Tracking the allocation of attention using human pupillary oscillations

PubMed Central

Naber, Marnix; Alvarez, George A.; Nakayama, Ken

2013-01-01

The muscles that control the pupil are richly innervated by the autonomic nervous system. While there are central pathways that drive pupil dilations in relation to arousal, there is no anatomical evidence that cortical centers involved with visual selective attention innervate the pupil. In this study, we show that such connections must exist. Specifically, we demonstrate a novel Pupil Frequency Tagging (PFT) method, where oscillatory changes in stimulus brightness over time are mirrored by pupil constrictions and dilations. We find that the luminance–induced pupil oscillations are enhanced when covert attention is directed to the flicker stimulus and when targets are correctly detected in an attentional tracking task. These results suggest that the amplitudes of pupil responses closely follow the allocation of focal visual attention and the encoding of stimuli. PFT provides a new opportunity to study top–down visual attention itself as well as identifying the pathways and mechanisms that support this unexpected phenomenon. PMID:24368904

77 FR 64185 - BNSF Railway Company-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Nebraska Northeastern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-18

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35644] BNSF Railway Company--Acquisition and Operation Exemption-- Nebraska Northeastern Railway Company AGENCY: Surface.... 10502 from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323-25 for BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), a...

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

PubMed

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.

Color Vision and the Railways: Part 1. The Railway LED Lantern Test.

PubMed

Dain, Stephen J; Casolin, Armand; Long, Jennifer; Hilmi, Mohd Radzi

2015-02-01

Lantern tests and practical tests are often used in the assessment of prospective railway employees. The lantern tests rarely embody the actual colors used in signaling on the railways. Practical tests have a number of problems, most notably consistency of application and practicability. This work was carried out to provide the Railway LED Lantern Test (RLLT) as a validated method of assessing the color vision of railway workers. The RLLT, a simulated practical test using the same LEDs (light-emitting diodes) as are used in modern railway signals, was developed. It was tested on 46 color vision-normal (CVN) and 37 color vision-deficient (CVD) subjects. A modified prototype was then tested on 106 CVN subjects. All 106 CVN subjects and most mildly affected CVD subjects passed the modified lantern at 3 m. At 6 m, 1 of the 106 normal color vision subjects failed by missing a single red light. All the CVD subjects failed. The RLLT carried out at 3 m allowed mildly affected CVD subjects to pass and demonstrate adequate color vision for the less demanding railway tasks. Carried out at 6 m, it essentially reinforced normal color vision as the standard. The RLLT is a simply administered test that has a direct link to the actual visual task of the rail worker. The RLLT lantern has been adopted as an approved test in the Australian National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers in place of a practical test. It has the potential to be a valid part of any railway color vision standard.

Derailment-based Fault Tree Analysis on Risk Management of Railway Turnout Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dindar, Serdar; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat; An, Min; Gigante-Barrera, Ángel

2017-10-01

Railway turnouts are fundamental mechanical infrastructures, which allow a rolling stock to divert one direction to another. As those are of a large number of engineering subsystems, e.g. track, signalling, earthworks, these particular sub-systems are expected to induce high potential through various kind of failure mechanisms. This could be a cause of any catastrophic event. A derailment, one of undesirable events in railway operation, often results, albeit rare occurs, in damaging to rolling stock, railway infrastructure and disrupt service, and has the potential to cause casualties and even loss of lives. As a result, it is quite significant that a well-designed risk analysis is performed to create awareness of hazards and to identify what parts of the systems may be at risk. This study will focus on all types of environment based failures as a result of numerous contributing factors noted officially as accident reports. This risk analysis is designed to help industry to minimise the occurrence of accidents at railway turnouts. The methodology of the study relies on accurate assessment of derailment likelihood, and is based on statistical multiple factors-integrated accident rate analysis. The study is prepared in the way of establishing product risks and faults, and showing the impact of potential process by Boolean algebra.

A Review on the Development of New Materials for Construction of Prestressed Concrete Railway Sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raj, Anand; Nagarajan, Praveen; Shashikala, A. P.

2018-03-01

Railways form the backbone of all economies, transporting goods, and passengers alike. Sleepers play a pivotal role in track performance and safety in rail transport. This paper discusses in brief about the materials that have been used in making sleepers in the early stages of railways. Extensive studies have been carried out on the static, dynamic and impact analysis of prestressed sleepers all around the globe. It has been shown that majority of the sleepers do not last till their expected design life resulting in massive replacement and repair cost. The primary reasons leading to the failure of sleepers have been summarised. This article also highlights the use of new materials developed recently for the construction of prestressed concrete sleepers to improve the performance and life of railway sleepers. Use of geopolymer concrete and steel fibre reinforced concrete, assist in the reduction of flexural cracking, whereas rubber concrete enhances the impact resistance of concrete by three folds. This paper presents a review of state of the art of new materials for railway sleepers.

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-13

... Division of Public Railways, d/b/a Palmetto Railways--Intra-Corporate Family Transaction Exemption--The... Cooper and Berkeley Railroad Company South Carolina Division of Public Railways, d/b/a Palmetto Railways... 1180.2(d)(3) for an intra-corporate family transaction. According to SCPR, it owns the rail trackage...

Online Condition Monitoring of a Rail Fastening System on High-Speed Railways Based on Wavelet Packet Analysis

PubMed Central

Wei, Jiahong; Liu, Chong; Ren, Tongqun; Liu, Haixia; Zhou, Wenjing

2017-01-01

The rail fastening system is an important part of a high-speed railway track. It is always critical to the operational safety and comfort of railway vehicles. Therefore, the condition detection of the rail fastening system, looseness or absence, is an important task in railway maintenance. However, the vision-based method cannot identify the severity of rail fastener looseness. In this paper, the condition of rail fastening system is monitored based on an automatic and remote-sensing measurement system. Meanwhile, wavelet packet analysis is used to analyze the acceleration signals, based on which two damage indices are developed to locate the damage position and evaluate the severity of rail fasteners looseness, respectively. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, an experiment is performed on a high-speed railway experimental platform. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective to assess the condition of the rail fastening system. The monitoring system significantly reduces the inspection time and increases the efficiency of maintenance management. PMID:28208732

Optimisation of support stiffness at railway crossings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grossoni, Ilaria; Bezin, Yann; Neves, Sergio

2018-07-01

Turnouts are a key element of the railway system. They are also the part of the system with the highest number of degradation modes and associated failures. There are a number of reasons for this, including high dynamic loads resulting from non-uniform rail geometry and track support stiffness. The main aim of this study is to propose a methodology to optimise the pad stiffness along a crossing panel in order to achieve a decrease in the indicators of the most common failure modes. A three-dimensional vehicle/track interaction model has been established, considering a detailed description of the crossing panel support structure. A genetic algorithm has been applied to two main types of constructions, namely direct and indirect fixing, to find the optimum combinations of resilient pad characteristics for various cases of travelling direction, travelling speed and support conditions.

Railway Tunnel Clearance Inspection Method Based on 3D Point Cloud from Mobile Laser Scanning

PubMed Central

Zhou, Yuhui; Wang, Shaohua; Mei, Xi; Yin, Wangling; Lin, Chunfeng; Mao, Qingzhou

2017-01-01

Railway tunnel clearance is directly related to the safe operation of trains and upgrading of freight capacity. As more and more railway are put into operation and the operation is continuously becoming faster, the railway tunnel clearance inspection should be more precise and efficient. In view of the problems existing in traditional tunnel clearance inspection methods, such as low density, slow speed and a lot of manual operations, this paper proposes a tunnel clearance inspection approach based on 3D point clouds obtained by a mobile laser scanning system (MLS). First, a dynamic coordinate system for railway tunnel clearance inspection has been proposed. A rail line extraction algorithm based on 3D linear fitting is implemented from the segmented point cloud to establish a dynamic clearance coordinate system. Second, a method to seamlessly connect all rail segments based on the railway clearance restrictions, and a seamless rail alignment is formed sequentially from the middle tunnel section to both ends. Finally, based on the rail alignment and the track clearance coordinate system, different types of clearance frames are introduced for intrusion operation with the tunnel section to realize the tunnel clearance inspection. By taking the Shuanghekou Tunnel of the Chengdu–Kunming Railway as an example, when the clearance inspection is carried out by the method mentioned herein, its precision can reach 0.03 m, and difference types of clearances can be effectively calculated. This method has a wide application prospects. PMID:28880232

Fault detection method for railway wheel flat using an adaptive multiscale morphological filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yifan; Zuo, Ming J.; Lin, Jianhui; Liu, Jianxin

2017-02-01

This study explores the capacity of the morphology analysis for railway wheel flat fault detection. A dynamic model of vehicle systems with 56 degrees of freedom was set up along with a wheel flat model to calculate the dynamic responses of axle box. The vehicle axle box vibration signal is complicated because it not only contains the information of wheel defect, but also includes track condition information. Thus, how to extract the influential features of wheels from strong background noise effectively is a typical key issue for railway wheel fault detection. In this paper, an algorithm for adaptive multiscale morphological filtering (AMMF) was proposed, and its effect was evaluated by a simulated signal. And then this algorithm was employed to study the axle box vibration caused by wheel flats, as well as the influence of track irregularity and vehicle running speed on diagnosis results. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by bench testing. Research results demonstrate that the AMMF extracts the influential characteristic of axle box vibration signals effectively and can diagnose wheel flat faults in real time.

Performance of Railway Sleepers with Holes under Impact Loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Chie Hong; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat; Mlilo, Nhlanganiso

2017-12-01

Prestressed concrete sleepers are essential structural components of railway track structures, with the purpose of redistributing wheel loads from the rails to the ground. To facilitate cables and signalling equipment, holes are often generated in these prestressed concrete sleepers. However, the performance of these sleepers under impact loading may be a concern with the addition of these holes. Numerical modelling using finite element analysis (FEA) is an ideal tool that enables static and dynamic simulation and can perform analyses of basic/advanced linear and nonlinear problems, without incurring a huge cost in resources like standard experimental test methods would. This paper will utilize the three-dimensional FE modelling software ABAQUS to investigate the behaviour of the prestressed concrete sleepers with holes of varying sizes upon impact loading. To obtain the results that resemble real-life behaviour of the sleepers under impact loading, the material properties, element types, mesh sizes, contact and interactions and boundary conditions will be defined as accurately as possible. Both Concrete Damaged Plasticity (CDP) and Brittle Cracking models will be used in this study. With a better understanding of how the introduction of holes will influence the performance of prestressed sleepers under impact loading, track and railway engineers will be able to generate them in prestressed concrete sleepers without compromising the sleepers’ performance during operation

An innovative localisation algorithm for railway vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2014-11-01

. The estimation strategy has good performance also under degraded adhesion conditions and could be put on board of high-speed railway vehicles; it represents an accurate and reliable solution. The IMU board is tested via a dedicated Hardware in the Loop (HIL) test rig: it includes an industrial robot able to replicate the motion of the railway vehicle. Through the generated experimental outputs the performances of the innovative localisation algorithm have been evaluated: the HIL test rig permitted to test the proposed algorithm, avoiding expensive (in terms of time and cost) on-track tests, obtaining encouraging results. In fact, the preliminary results show a significant improvement of the position and speed estimation performances compared to those obtained with SCMT algorithms, currently in use on the Italian railway network.

Tracking Speech Sound Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Thomas W.

2011-01-01

This article describes a procedure to aid in the clinical appraisal of child speech. The approach, based on the work by Dinnsen, Chin, Elbert, and Powell (1990; Some constraints on functionally disordered phonologies: Phonetic inventories and phonotactics. "Journal of Speech and Hearing Research", 33, 28-37), uses a railway idiom to track gains in…

Asymmetrical Integration: Lessons from a Railway Empire.

PubMed

McDonald, Kate

2015-01-01

This article reexamines railway imperialism in Manchuria from the perspective of global network building. Through a case study of the Japanese-owned South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR), I trace how one railway empire used through traffic agreements to integrate Northeast Asian railways into a global network while at the same time installing itself as the necessary intermediary between European and Asian overland traffic. I argue that the SMR's pursuit of global reach and local dominance compels us to reconsider the traditional division of border-crossing railways into international and imperialist types, and instead to examine how border-crossing railways contributed to the uneven or "asymmetrical" integration of the global transportation infrastructure.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

27 CFR 28.251 - Railway express receipts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Railway express receipts... § 28.251 Railway express receipts. Where the exportation is to a contiguous foreign country and the shipment is by railway express, a receipt issued by the railway express agency may be accepted in lieu of...

Epidemiology & preventive aspects of railway suicides and fatalities related to trespassing accidents.

PubMed

Kumar, Sachil; Verma, Anoop K; Bhattacharya, Sandeep; Singh, Uma Shankar

2013-11-01

Suicide and trespass are major contributors to risk on the railway, resulting in around 170-180 fatalities per year in Lucknow region, as well as associated major disruption to the rail network. Lucknow is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The analysis included train-pedestrian fatalities during 2007-2012. The data for 2007-2012 were collected from the autopsy reports of the university, case sheets from the hospital, the general prosecutor's investigations report and the inquest reports from police. The results show that the majority of victims were males. Half of the suicide victims were 20-39 years old. Accidents happened most frequently in situations when a person was walking on the tracks/in front of train (22.7%) or were crossing the tracks illegally (20.9%). Among all train-pedestrian fatalities, about half of the victims (42.8%) were intoxicated by alcohol. Female suicide victims suffered from mental health problems more frequently (55.8%) than male suicide victims. Overall, there is no reason to believe that train-pedestrian fatalities are unavoidable. By contrast, the effective prevention of railway suicides and accidents should be based on a systems approach involving effective measures introduces by several organisations such as government, railway organisations, various authorities (such as public health, education, enforcement, urban planning) and communities. Same measures can often be used to prevent both trespassing and suicides, even though their effectiveness may depend on the target group. In addition, there are measures specifically targeted to prevent either trespassing or suicides. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Structural impact response for assessing railway vibration induced on buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouroussis, Georges; Mouzakis, Harris P.; Vogiatzis, Konstantinos E.

2018-03-01

Over the syears, the rapid growth in railway infrastructure has led to numerous environmental challenges. One such significant issue, particularly in urban areas, is ground-borne vibration. A common source of ground-borne vibration is caused by local defects (e.g. rail joints, switches, turnouts, etc.) that generate large amplitude excitations at isolated locations. Modelling these excitation sources is particularly challenging and requires the use of complex and extensive computational efforts. For some situations, the use of experiments and measured data offers a rapid way to estimate the effect of such defects and to evaluate the railway vibration levels using a scoping approach. In this paper, the problem of railway-induced ground vibrations is presented along with experimental studies to assess the ground vibration and ground borne noise levels, with a particular focus on the structural response of sensitive buildings. The behaviour of particular building foundations is evaluated through experimental data collected in Brussels Region, by presenting the expected frequency responses for various types of buildings, taking into account both the soil-structure interaction and the tramway track response. A second study is dedicated to the Athens metro, where transmissibility functions are used to analyse the effect of various Athenian building face to metro network trough comprehensive measurement campaigns. This allows the verification of appropriate vibration mitigation measures. These benchmark applications based on experimental results have been proved to be efficient to treat a complex problem encountered in practice in urban areas, where the urban rail network interacts with important local defects and where the rise of railway ground vibration problems has clearly been identified.

Technical and Economic Feasibility Study of At-Grade Concrete Slab Track for Urban Rail Transit Systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-08-01

The report presents work conducted to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of using concrete slab track systems for at-grade transit track. The functions of a rail transit track system are to guide railway vehicles and provide a safe and a...

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2013-04-01 2012-04-01 true Electric railways. 202.13 Section 202.13... THE ACT § 202.13 Electric railways. (a) The Deputy General Counsel will require the submission of information pertaining to the history and operations of an electric railway with a view to determining whether...

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Electric railways. 202.13 Section 202.13... THE ACT § 202.13 Electric railways. (a) The Deputy General Counsel will require the submission of information pertaining to the history and operations of an electric railway with a view to determining whether...

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Electric railways. 202.13 Section 202.13... THE ACT § 202.13 Electric railways. (a) The Deputy General Counsel will require the submission of information pertaining to the history and operations of an electric railway with a view to determining whether...

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2014-04-01 2012-04-01 true Electric railways. 202.13 Section 202.13... THE ACT § 202.13 Electric railways. (a) The Deputy General Counsel will require the submission of information pertaining to the history and operations of an electric railway with a view to determining whether...

Railway vehicle body structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1985-01-01

The strength and durability of railway vehicle structures is a major topic of engineering research and design. To reflect this importance the Railway Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers organised a conference to discuss all matters relating to railway vehicle design. This book presents the papers discussed in that conference. The contents include: Vehicle body design and the UIC's international contribution; LUL prototype 1986 stock - body structure; vehicle structure for the intermediate capacity transmit system vehicles; car body technology of advanced light rapid transit vehicles; concepts, techniques and experience in the idealization of car body structures for finitemore » element analysis; Calcutta metropolitan railway; design for a lightweight diesel multiple unit body; the design of lightweight inter-city coal structures; the BREL international coach body shell structure; new concepts and design techniques versus material standards; structures of BR diesel electric freight locomotives; structural design philosophy for electric locomotives; suspension design for a locomotive with low structural frequencies; freight wagon structures; a finite element study of coal bodyside panels including the effects of joint flexibility; a fresh approach to the problem of car body design strength; energy absorption in automatic couplings and draw gear; passenger vehicle design loads and structural crashworthiness; design of the front part of railway vehicles (in case of frontal impact); the development of a theoretical technique for rail vehicle structural crashworthiness.« less

Sensor4PRI: A Sensor Platform for the Protection of Railway Infrastructures

PubMed Central

Cañete, Eduardo; Chen, Jaime; Díaz, Manuel; Llopis, Luis; Rubio, Bartolomé

2015-01-01

Wireless Sensor Networks constitute pervasive and distributed computing systems and are potentially one of the most important technologies of this century. They have been specifically identified as a good candidate to become an integral part of the protection of critical infrastructures. In this paper we focus on railway infrastructure protection and we present the details of a sensor platform designed to be integrated into a slab track system in order to carry out both installation and maintenance monitoring activities. In the installation phase, the platform helps operators to install the slab tracks in the right position. In the maintenance phase, the platform collects information about the structural health and behavior of the infrastructure when a train travels along it and relays the readings to a base station. The base station uses trains as data mules to upload the information to the internet. The use of a train as a data mule is especially suitable for collecting information from remote or inaccessible places which do not have a direct connection to the internet and require less network infrastructure. The overall aim of the system is to deploy a permanent economically viable monitoring system to improve the safety of railway infrastructures. PMID:25734648

COST-BENEFIT Analysis in Railway Noise Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

OERTLI, J.

2000-03-01

A method to calculate the network-wide costs of realizing different noise control possibilities and their benefits in terms of noise reduction for lineside inhabitants has been implemented in Switzerland. These studies have shown that an optimal cost distribution consists of spending 65% of the available finances on rolling stock improvement, 30% on noise control barriers and 5% on insulated windows. This mix protects 70% of the lineside population for 30% of the cost necessary to attain threshold levels for all inhabitants. This noise control strategy has been accepted by the federal traffic and environment agencies involved and will save billions of Swiss francs. The success of the calculation methodology has prompted development of a Europe-wide decision support system to the same effect. Along two freight freeways the relationship between rolling stock improvement, noise barriers, insulated windows, operational measures and track characteristics is being studied. The decision support system will allow determination of those combinations with the best cost-benefit ratios. The study is currently being undertaken as a joint venture by the railways of Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the European Rail Research Institute. The results constitute part of the negotiating strategy of the railways with European and national legislators.

Automation trust and attention allocation in multitasking workspace.

PubMed

Karpinsky, Nicole D; Chancey, Eric T; Palmer, Dakota B; Yamani, Yusuke

2018-07-01

Previous research suggests that operators with high workload can distrust and then poorly monitor automation, which has been generally inferred from automation dependence behaviors. To test automation monitoring more directly, the current study measured operators' visual attention allocation, workload, and trust toward imperfect automation in a dynamic multitasking environment. Participants concurrently performed a manual tracking task with two levels of difficulty and a system monitoring task assisted by an unreliable signaling system. Eye movement data indicate that operators allocate less visual attention to monitor automation when the tracking task is more difficult. Participants reported reduced levels of trust toward the signaling system when the tracking task demanded more focused visual attention. Analyses revealed that trust mediated the relationship between the load of the tracking task and attention allocation in Experiment 1, an effect that was not replicated in Experiment 2. Results imply a complex process underlying task load, visual attention allocation, and automation trust during multitasking. Automation designers should consider operators' task load in multitasking workspaces to avoid reduced automation monitoring and distrust toward imperfect signaling systems. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Challenges associated with tracking resources allocation for reproductive health in sub-Saharan African countries: the UNFPA/NIDI resource flows project experience.

PubMed

Sidze, Estelle M; Beekink, Erik; Maina, Beatrice W

2015-05-05

Universal access to reproductive health services entails strengthening health systems, but requires significant resource commitments as well as efficient and effective use of those resources. A number of international organizations and governments in developing countries are putting efforts into tracking the flow of health resources in order to inform resource mobilization and allocation, strategic planning, priority setting, advocacy and general policy making. The UNFPA/NIDI-led Resource Flows Project ("The UNFPA/NIDI RF Project") has conducted annual surveys since 1997 to monitor progress achieved by developing countries in implementing reproductive health financial targets. This commentary summarizes the Project experiences and challenges in gathering data on allocation of resources for reproductive health at the domestic level in sub-Saharan African countries. One key lesson learnt from the Project experience is the need for strengthening tracking mechanisms in sub-Saharan African countries and making information on reproductive health resources and expenditures available, in particular the private sector resources.

Effect of discrete track support by sleepers on rail corrugation at a curved track

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, X. S.; Wen, Z. F.

2008-08-01

The paper investigates into the effect of discrete track support by sleepers on the initiation and development of rail corrugation at a curved track when a railway vehicle passes through using a numerical method. The numerical method considers a combination of Kalker's rolling contact theory with non-Hertzian form, a linear frictional work model and a dynamics model of a half railway vehicle coupled with the curved track. The half-vehicle has a two-axle bogie and doubled suspension systems. It is treated as a full dynamic rigid multi-body model. In the track model, an Euler beam is used to model the rail, and the discrete track support by sleepers moving backward with respect to the vehicle running direction is considered to simulate the effect of the discrete sleeper support on the wheels/rails in rolling contact when the vehicle moves on the track. The sleeper is treated as a rigid body and the ballast bed is replaced with equivalent mass bodies. The numerical analysis exams in detail the variations of wheel/rail normal loads, the creepages, and the rail wear volume along the curved track. Their variations are much concerned with the discrete track support. The numerical results show that the discrete track support causes the fluctuating of the normal loads and creepages at a few frequencies. These frequencies comprise the passing frequency of the sleepers and the excited track resonant frequencies, which are higher than the sleeper passing frequency. Consequently, rail corrugation with several wavelengths initiates and develops. Also the results show that the contact vibrating between the curved rails and the four wheels of the same bogie has different frequencies. In this way, the different key frequencies to be excited play an important role in the initiation and development of curved rail corrugation. Therefore, the corrugations caused by the four wheels of the same bogie present different wavelengths. The paper shows and discusses the depths of the initial

Research on Evaluation of resource allocation efficiency of transportation system based on DEA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhehui; Du, Linan

2017-06-01

In this paper, we select the time series data onto 1985-2015 years, construct the land (shoreline) resources, capital and labor as inputs. The index system of the output is freight volume and passenger volume, we use Quantitative analysis based on DEA method evaluated the resource allocation efficiency of railway, highway, water transport and civil aviation in China. Research shows that the resource allocation efficiency of various modes of transport has obvious difference, and the impact on scale efficiency is more significant. The most important two ways to optimize the allocation of resources to improve the efficiency of the combination of various modes of transport is promoting the co-ordination of various modes of transport and constructing integrated transportation system.

CONTEXT VIEW SHOWING MODERN TRACKS PASSING UNDER HULETTS AND ORE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

CONTEXT VIEW SHOWING MODERN TRACKS PASSING UNDER HULETTS AND ORE YARD. LOOKING NORTHEAST. - Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

Development of a model to assess acoustic treatments to reduce railway noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, H.; Squicciarini, G.; Thompson, D. J.; Ryue, J.

2016-09-01

Porous materials have recently been used in absorptive treatments around railway tracks to reduce noise emissions. To investigate the effect of porous materials, a finite element model has been developed. 2D models for porous materials have been considered either as an equivalent fluid or as a poroelastic material based on the Biot theory. The two models have been validated and compared with each other to check the effect of the skeleton vibration. The poroelastic FE model has been coupled with a 2D acoustic boundary element model for use in railway applications. The results show that it may be necessary to include the frame vibration, especially at low frequencies where a frame resonance occurs. A method for the characterization of porous materials is also discussed. From this it is shown that the elastic properties of the material determine the resonance frequency and the magnitude.

Feature Extraction for Track Section Status Classification Based on UGW Signals

PubMed Central

Yang, Yuan; Shi, Lin

2018-01-01

Track status classification is essential for the stability and safety of railway operations nowadays, when railway networks are becoming more and more complex and broad. In this situation, monitoring systems are already a key element in applications dedicated to evaluating the status of a certain track section, often determining whether it is free or occupied by a train. Different technologies have already been involved in the design of monitoring systems, including ultrasonic guided waves (UGW). This work proposes the use of the UGW signals captured by a track monitoring system to extract the features that are relevant for determining the corresponding track section status. For that purpose, three features of UGW signals have been considered: the root mean square value, the energy, and the main frequency components. Experimental results successfully validated how these features can be used to classify the track section status into free, occupied and broken. Furthermore, spatial and temporal dependencies among these features were analysed in order to show how they can improve the final classification performance. Finally, a preliminary high-level classification system based on deep learning networks has been envisaged for future works. PMID:29673156

Coupled boundary and finite element analysis of vibration from railway tunnels—a comparison of two- and three-dimensional models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, L.; Jones, C. J. C.

2006-06-01

The analysis of vibration from railway tunnels is of growing interest as new and higher-speed railways are built under the ground to address the transport problems of growing modern urban areas. Such analysis can be carried out using numerical methods but models and therefore computing times can be large. There is a need to be able to apply very fast calculations that can be used in tunnel design and studies of environmental impacts. Taking advantage of the fact that tunnels often have a two-dimensional geometry in the sense that the cross section is constant along the tunnel axis, it is useful to evaluate the potential uses of two-dimensional models before committing to much more costly three-dimensional approaches. The vibration forces in the track due to the passage of a train are by nature three-dimensional and a complete analysis undoubtedly requires a model of three-dimensional wave propagation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the quality of the information that can be gained from a two-dimensional model of a railway tunnel. The vibration transmission from the tunnel floor to the ground surface is analysed for the frequency range relevant to the perception of whole body vibration (about 4-80 Hz). A coupled finite element and boundary element scheme is applied in both two and three dimensions. Two tunnel designs are considered: a cut-and-cover tunnel for a double track and a single-track tunnel dug with the New Austrian tunnelling method (NATM).

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

PubMed

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.

Surviving track through Bridge No. 1601, Third B&O Crossing, looking ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Surviving track through Bridge No. 1601, Third B&O Crossing, looking west. - Western Maryland Railway, Cumberland Extension, Pearre to North Branch, from WM milepost 125 to 160, Pearre, Washington County, MD

Research on noise and vibration reduction at DB to improve the environmental friendliness of railway traffic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulte-Werning, B.; Beier, M.; Degen, K. G.; Stiebel, D.

2006-06-01

One of the most prominent keywords relating to the environmental friendliness of railway traffic is noise reduction. Thus, the research and development programme "Low Noise Railway" of Deutsche Bahn (DB) is under way to treat the noise of the vehicles and infrastructure. The noise reduction of the trains and the rail/wheel system are being tackled within several projects. The direct noise experienced by railway-lineside residents due to train movements on the track can be reduced by minimising the sound radiation directly at the source. This is the first-choice solution, as it proves to be the most effective countermeasure regarding a cost-benefit relation. The limit values for the noise emission as specified in the technical specification for interoperability are an essential criterion to be confirmed during the procurement process of railway vehicles. A recently developed acoustical quality management scheme establishes systematic noise management to complete the vehicle procurement process in the phases of concept, design, construction and manufacturing. In freight traffic quiet railway wheels for block brake operation will play an important role in the future to meet the goal of a low-noise railway system. A first attempt to realise successfully the low-noise potential of such optimised wheels was performed, even if with mixed results. To show ways of reducing the noise of the cooling ventilation in locomotives, DB is a partner in a development project led by Siemens. A notable 8 dB(A) noise reduction was measured. Concerning bridge noise, a project was started based on an effective and cost-efficient combination of experiments and simulations in order to develop specifications for the construction of generic low-noise bridges.

Railway safety climate: a study on organizational development.

PubMed

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.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

Impact analyses for negative flexural responses (hogging) in railway prestressed concrete sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaewunruen, S.; Ishida, T.; Remennikov, AM

2016-09-01

By nature, ballast interacts with railway concrete sleepers in order to provide bearing support to track system. Most train-track dynamic models do not consider the degradation of ballast over time. In fact, the ballast degradation causes differential settlement and impact forces acting on partial and unsupported tracks. Furthermore, localised ballast breakages underneath railseat increase the likelihood of centrebound cracks in concrete sleepers due to the unbalanced support under sleepers. This paper presents a dynamic finite element model of a standard-gauge concrete sleeper in a track system, taking into account the tensionless nature of ballast support. The finite element model was calibrated using static and dynamic responses in the past. In this paper, the effects of centre-bound ballast support on the impact behaviours of sleepers are highlighted. In addition, it is the first to demonstrate the dynamic effects of sleeper length on the dynamic design deficiency in concrete sleepers. The outcome of this study will benefit the rail maintenance criteria of track resurfacing in order to restore ballast profile and appropriate sleeper/ballast interaction.

The growth of railway ground vibration problems - A review.

PubMed

Connolly, David P; Marecki, Grzegorz P; Kouroussis, Georges; Thalassinakis, Ioannis; Woodward, Peter K

2016-10-15

Ground-borne noise and vibration from railway lines can cause human distress/annoyance, and also negatively affect real estate property values. Therefore this paper analyses a collection of technical ground-borne noise and vibration reports, detailing commercial vibration assessments undertaken at 1604 railway track sections, in 9 countries across the world. A wide range of rail projects are considered including light rail, tram lines, underground/tunnelled lines, freight, conventional rail and high speed rail. It documents the rise in ground-borne vibration problems and trends in the prediction industry, with the aim of informing the current research area. Firstly, the reports are analysed chronologically and it is found that railway vibration is a growing global concern, and as such, assessments have become more prevalent. International assessment metrics are benchmarked and it is found that velocity decibels (VdB), vibration dose value (VDV) and peak particle velocity (PPV) are the most commonly used methods of assessment. Furthermore, to predict vibration levels, the physical measurement of frequency transfer functions is preferential to numerical modelling. Results from the reports show that ground vibration limits are exceeded in 44% of assessments, and that ground-borne noise limits are exceeded in 31%. Moreover, mitigation measures were required on approximately 50% of projects, revealing that ground-borne noise and vibration is a widespread railroad engineering challenge. To solve these problems, the most commonly used abatement strategy is a modification of the railtrack structure (active mitigation), rather than the implementation of a more passive solution in the far-field. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Error rate information in attention allocation pilot models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faulkner, W. H.; Onstott, E. D.

1977-01-01

The Northrop urgency decision pilot model was used in a command tracking task to compare the optimized performance of multiaxis attention allocation pilot models whose urgency functions were (1) based on tracking error alone, and (2) based on both tracking error and error rate. A matrix of system dynamics and command inputs was employed, to create both symmetric and asymmetric two axis compensatory tracking tasks. All tasks were single loop on each axis. Analysis showed that a model that allocates control attention through nonlinear urgency functions using only error information could not achieve performance of the full model whose attention shifting algorithm included both error and error rate terms. Subsequent to this analysis, tracking performance predictions for the full model were verified by piloted flight simulation. Complete model and simulation data are presented.

20 CFR 202.15 - Railway labor organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

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...

76 FR 32266 - Maine Northern Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-03

... written trackage rights agreement, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (MMA) has agreed to grant... milepost 109 on MMA's Millinocket Subdivision) and Brownville Junction, Me. (at or about milepost 104.84 on the Mattawamkeag Subdivision of the Eastern Maine Railway (EMR)), including MMA's Brownville Junction...

Development of system reliability models for railway bridges.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-01

Performance of the railway transportation network depends on the reliability of railway bridges, which can be affected by : various forms of deterioration and extreme environmental conditions. More than half of the railway bridges in US were : built ...

76 FR 32265 - Maine Northern Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-03

... written trackage rights agreement, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (MMA) has agreed to grant... milepost 260 on MMA's Madawaska Subdivision) and the connection to the Canadian National Railway (CN) in St... ``* * * between MP 260 and the connection with MMA's Van Buren Subdivision at MP 264 and between the connection...

CONTEXT VIEW ALONG EXISTING PERIMETER TRACKS LOOKING OVER IRON ORE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

CONTEXT VIEW ALONG EXISTING PERIMETER TRACKS LOOKING OVER IRON ORE CARS TOWARDS CLEVELAND BULK TERMINAL BUILDINGS. LOOKING SOUTH. - Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

The Concept of Limitation of the Vibration Generated by Rail-Vehicles at Railway Stations and Railway Crossings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamczyk, Jan; Targosz, Jan

2011-03-01

One of the possibilities of limitation of effects of dynamic influence of the rail-vehicles is the application of the complex objects of vibroinsulation when the mass of the vibroinsulating element is significant, and that is the case of the transporting machines and devices, when the geometric dimensions of the elements of vibroinsulation system are similar to the slab, where the process of modelling of the vibroinsulation mechanism as a discrete system, creates extreme hazards. The article presents the concept of limitation of effects of dynamic influence of the rail-vehicles and tram-vehicles, mainly in the railway tracks located at the railway stations, tram-stops and other engineering structures. The digital model was developed for simulation regarding the propagation of the vibration to the environment. The results of simulation were the basis for development of the vibroinsulation system for the rail-tracks located at the engineering structures such as railway stations, viaducts. The second part of the article presents the approach for controlling of the tension as a function of load of the railway crossing, which was modelled as discrete-continous model. The continuous systems consist of two elements, that is of the support made of elastomer and of the tension members with controlled tension depending on the crossing load. Together with development and more popular application of tension member systems in engineering structures, among others in vibroinsulation systems, it is important to include into calculations and experiments the dynamic loads of the tension member with the mass attached to it. In case of complex objects of vibroinsulation when the mass of the vibroinsulator is significant, and that is the case of the transporting machines and devices, when the geometric dimensions of the elements of vibroinsulation system are similar to the slab, where the process of modelling of the vibroinsulation mechanism as a discrete system, creates extreme

Numerical prediction of rail roughness growth on tangent railway tracks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, J. C. O.

2003-10-01

Growth of railhead roughness (irregularities, waviness) is predicted through numerical simulation of dynamic train-track interaction on tangent track. The hypothesis is that wear is caused by longitudinal slip due to driven wheelsets, and that wear is proportional to the longitudinal frictional power in the contact patch. Emanating from an initial roughness spectrum corresponding to a new or a recent ground rail, an initial roughness profile is determined. Wheel-rail contact forces, creepages and wear for one wheelset passage are calculated in relation to location along a discretely supported track model. The calculated wear is scaled by a chosen number of wheelset passages, and is then added to the initial roughness profile. Field observations of rail corrugation on a Dutch track are used to validate the simulation model. Results from the simulations predict a large roughness growth rate for wavelengths around 30-40 mm. The large growth in this wavelength interval is explained by a low track receptance near the sleepers around the pinned-pinned resonance frequency, in combination with a large number of driven passenger wheelset passages at uniform speed. The agreement between simulations and field measurements is good with respect to dominating roughness wavelength and annual wear rate. Remedies for reducing roughness growth are discussed.

High-speed railway real-time localization auxiliary method based on deep neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dongjie; Zhang, Wensheng; Yang, Yang

2017-11-01

High-speed railway intelligent monitoring and management system is composed of schedule integration, geographic information, location services, and data mining technology for integration of time and space data. Assistant localization is a significant submodule of the intelligent monitoring system. In practical application, the general access is to capture the image sequences of the components by using a high-definition camera, digital image processing technique and target detection, tracking and even behavior analysis method. In this paper, we present an end-to-end character recognition method based on a deep CNN network called YOLO-toc for high-speed railway pillar plate number. Different from other deep CNNs, YOLO-toc is an end-to-end multi-target detection framework, furthermore, it exhibits a state-of-art performance on real-time detection with a nearly 50fps achieved on GPU (GTX960). Finally, we realize a real-time but high-accuracy pillar plate number recognition system and integrate natural scene OCR into a dedicated classification YOLO-toc model.

The socio-environmental determinants of railway suicide: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Railway suicide has significant adverse impacts for the victims, their family and friends, witnesses to the incident, general public and train network. There is no previous review on the socio-environmental factors and railway suicide. The research question asked in this review was: ‘What socio-environmental risk and protective predictors are significantly associated with railway suicide?’ Methods The review searched Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Scopus for English-language studies that assessed the associations between socio-environmental (i.e. geographical, physical, economic and social) factors and railway suicide from their inception to June 2013. It was reported based on the PRISMA Statement. Results Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. They were categorised into railway environments (availability of railways and trains, accessibility to railways and familiarity with trains), population characteristics and impact of media reporting. Findings from ecological studies using population level railway suicide data suggested weak and inconsistent evidence for the first two categories. The evidence on the impact of media reporting was moderately strong, with irresponsible media reporting being associated with an increased risk of railway suicide. Conclusions There is a need for further research activity to strengthen evidence about socio-environmental risk factors for railway suicide. The focus of this research should be on the factors that determine individuals’ decisions of using the railway as a method of suicide, with the consideration of a range of geographical, physical, social, and economic factors. PMID:24405530

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

PubMed

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

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

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background 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. Methods 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. Results 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. Conclusions 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

Modelling of Rail Vehicles and Track for Calculation of Ground-Vibration Transmission Into Buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, H. E. M.

1996-05-01

A methodology for the calculation of vibration transmission from railways into buildings is presented. The method permits existing models of railway vehicles and track to be incorporated and it has application to any model of vibration transmission through the ground. Special attention is paid to the relative phasing between adjacent axle-force inputs to the rail, so that vibration transmission may be calculated as a random process. The vehicle-track model is used in conjunction with a building model of infinite length. The tracking and building are infinite and parallel to each other and forces applied are statistically stationary in space so that vibration levels at any two points along the building are the same. The methodology is two-dimensional for the purpose of application of random process theory, but fully three-dimensional for calculation of vibration transmission from the track and through the ground into the foundations of the building. The computational efficiency of the method will interest engineers faced with the task of reducing vibration levels in buildings. It is possible to assess the relative merits of using rail pads, under-sleeper pads, ballast mats, floating-slab track or base isolation for particular applications.

47. Detail of gears for steam powered Marine Railway #1, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

47. Detail of gears for steam powered Marine Railway #1, and drive equipment for Railways #l and #2, Marine Railway Headhouse, ground floor, north end, drive gears in foreground, pulling gears for Railway # 1 in background. - Thames Tow Boat Company, Foot of Farnsworth Street, New London, New London County, CT

[Achievements and prospects in railway transport hygiene].

PubMed

Kaptsov, V A

1997-01-01

A unique Institute of Railway Hygiene was created 70 years ago in Russia, one of the major railway countries in the world. Since then the Institute's staffers have carried out huge work on improvement of railway workers' health, prevention of their exposure to noise, unfavorable microclimate, vibration and other occupational hazards. Significant contribution into the world occupational hygiene was made by such Institute's professionals as S.F. Kazansky, P.I. Nikitin, A.M. Volkov and others.

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure.

PubMed

Ding, You-Liang; Wang, Gao-Xin; Sun, Peng; Wu, Lai-Yi; Yue, Qing

2015-01-01

Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge's abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature.

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure

PubMed Central

Wu, Lai-Yi

2015-01-01

Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge's abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature. PMID:26451387

Reactions to railway noise in Denmark

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, T. V.; Kühl, K.; Relster, E.

1983-03-01

People's reactions to railway noise were studied along seven Danish railway lines with traffic intensities from 30 to about 300 trains per 24 hours. The calculated sound levels varied between 43 and 71 dB(A) for LAeq,24h and between 78 and 102 sB(A) for LAmax . 615 persons were interviewed. One third of these felt strongly or somewhat annoyed by the railway noise. The relations between the noise level and the extent of annoyance or various kinds of behaviour (telephone conversation, TV-listening, opening of windows, sleep, etc.) were found. The relations were found for both LAeq,24h and LAmax , but the correlation for LAmax is generally bad. Noise in the evenings was found to be more annoying than noise in other daytime periods. More than half of the interviewees answered that goods trains especially were a problem. People exposed to noise at their place of work seem to feel more annoyed by railway noise than other people.

DC Cable for Railway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Characteristics of suicide hotspots on the Belgian railway network.

PubMed

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.

Control system for maximum use of adhesive forces of a railway vehicle in a tractive mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spiryagin, Maksym; Lee, Kwan Soo; Yoo, Hong Hee

2008-04-01

The realization of maximum adhesive forces for a railway vehicle is a very difficult process, because it involves using tractive efforts and depends on friction characteristics in the contact zone between wheels and rails. Tractive efforts are realized by means of tractive torques of motors, and their maximum values can provide negative effects such as slip and skid. These situations usually happen when information about friction conditions is lacking. The negative processes have a major influence on wearing of contact bodies and tractive units. Therefore, many existing control systems for vehicles use an effect of a prediction of a friction coefficient between wheels and rails because measuring a friction coefficient at the moment of running vehicle movement is very difficult. One of the ways to solve this task is to use noise spectrum analysis for friction coefficient detection. This noise phenomenon has not been clearly studied and analyzed. In this paper, we propose an adhesion control system of railway vehicles based on an observer, which allows one to determine the maximum tractive torque based on the optimal adhesive force between the wheels (wheel pair) of a railway vehicle and rails (rail track) depending on weight load from a wheel to a rail, friction conditions in the contact zone, a lateral displacement of wheel set and wheel sleep. As a result, it allows a railway vehicle to be driven in a tractive mode by the maximum adhesion force for real friction conditions.

Construction of a stochastic model of track geometry irregularities and validation through experimental measurements of dynamic loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panunzio, Alfonso M.; Puel, G.; Cottereau, R.; Simon, S.; Quost, X.

2017-03-01

This paper describes the construction of a stochastic model of urban railway track geometry irregularities, based on experimental data. The considered irregularities are track gauge, superelevation, horizontal and vertical curvatures. They are modelled as random fields whose statistical properties are extracted from a large set of on-track measurements of the geometry of an urban railway network. About 300-1000 terms are used in the Karhunen-Loève/Polynomial Chaos expansions to represent the random fields with appropriate accuracy. The construction of the random fields is then validated by comparing on-track measurements of the contact forces and numerical dynamics simulations for different operational conditions (train velocity and car load) and horizontal layouts (alignment, curve). The dynamics simulations are performed both with and without randomly generated geometrical irregularities for the track. The power spectrum densities obtained from the dynamics simulations with the model of geometrical irregularities compare extremely well with those obtained from the experimental contact forces. Without irregularities, the spectrum is 10-50 dB too low.

Extended applications of track irregularity probabilistic model and vehicle-slab track coupled model on dynamics of railway systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Lei; Zhai, Wanming; Gao, Jianmin

2017-11-01

Track irregularities are inevitably in a process of stochastic evolution due to the uncertainty and continuity of wheel-rail interactions. For depicting the dynamic behaviours of vehicle-track coupling system caused by track random irregularities thoroughly, it is a necessity to develop a track irregularity probabilistic model to simulate rail surface irregularities with ergodic properties on amplitudes, wavelengths and probabilities, and to build a three-dimensional vehicle-track coupled model by properly considering the wheel-rail nonlinear contact mechanisms. In the present study, the vehicle-track coupled model is programmed by combining finite element method with wheel-rail coupling model firstly. Then, in light of the capability of power spectral density (PSD) in characterising amplitudes and wavelengths of stationary random signals, a track irregularity probabilistic model is presented to reveal and simulate the whole characteristics of track irregularity PSD. Finally, extended applications from three aspects, that is, extreme analysis, reliability analysis and response relationships between dynamic indices, are conducted to the evaluation and application of the proposed models.

A Mathematical Model for Railway Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoover, D. N.

1996-01-01

We present a general method for modeling safety aspects of railway control systems. Using our modeling method, one can progressively refine an abstract railway safety model, sucessively adding layers of detail about how a real system actually operates, while maintaining a safety property that refines the original abstract safety property. This method supports a top-down approach to specification of railway control systems and to proof of a variety of safety-related properties. We demonstrate our method by proving safety of the classical block control system.

An analytical model for train-induced ground vibrations from railways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karlström, A.; Boström, A.

2006-04-01

To investigate ground vibrations from railways an analytical approach is taken. The ground is modelled as a stratified half-space with linearly viscoelastic layers. On top of the ground a rectangular embankment is placed, supporting the rails and the sleepers. The rails are modelled as Euler-Bernoulli beams where the propagating forces (wheel loads) are acting and the sleepers are modelled with an anisotropic Kirchhoff plate. The solution is based on Fourier transforms in time and along the track. In the transverse direction the fields in the embankment are developed in Fourier series and in the half-space with Fourier transforms. The resulting numerical scheme is very efficient, permitting displacement fields far outside the track to be calculated. Numerical examples are given for an X2 train that operates at the site Ledsgard in Sweden. The displacements are simulated at 70 and 200 km/h and are compared with the displacements from simpler models. The simulations are also validated against measurements, with very good agreement. At 70 km/h the track displacements agree almost exactly and at 200 km/h the displacements are a very good approximation of the measurement.

Vertical Dynamic Interaction Between Train and Track Influence of Wheel and Track Imperfections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, J. C. O.; Igeland, A.

1995-11-01

The vertical dynamic behaviour is investigated for a railway bogie moving on a rail which is discretely supported, via railpads, by sleepers resting on an elastic foundation. The transient interaction problem is numerically solved by use of an extended state-spacer vector approach in conjunction with a complex modal superposition for the track. Application examples are given in which the influences of three types of practically important imperfections in the compound vehicle/track system are investigated. The first is a sinusoidal corrugation of the railhead and the second a skid flat on the wheel tread (a wheelflat). The third imperfection is a case where a single sleeper has lost its support due to erosion of the ballast. Physical explanations of the calculated interaction behaviour are given.

76 FR 33809 - The New Brunswick Railway Company; Notices of Exemptions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-09

... 35518; Docket No. FD 35519] The New Brunswick Railway Company; Notices of Exemptions AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. ACTION: Notices of exemptions. [Docket No. FD 35520] The New Brunswick Railway Company--Continuance in Control Exemption--Maine Northern Railway Company [Docket No. FD 35518] Maine Northern Railway...

Spacing and length of passing sidings and the incremental capacity of single track.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-02-18

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of initial siding spacing and distribution of siding length on the incremental capacity of infrastructure investments on single-track railway lines. Previous research has shown a linear reduction ...

The effects of railway transportation on the enrichment of heavy metals in the artificial soil on railway cut slopes.

PubMed

Chen, Zhaoqiong; Wang, KeXiu; Ai, Ying Wei; Li, Wei; Gao, Hongying; Fang, Chen

2014-02-01

Heavy metal contamination in the artificial soils on the railway cut slopes may have great influence on the revegetation of the cut slopes. The purpose of this study was to assess the variation of heavy metal contamination levels with railway operation time and analyze their possible resources. A total of 100 soil samples from four cut slopes, which were affected by railway transportation for different years, were analyzed for metal pollution (Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Fe). The concentrations of Cd, Pb showed increasing trend with increasing operation time of railways, while such trend was not found in Cr, Cu, Zn, Fe. According to the soil quality standard of China, Cd was considered to have considerable contamination, while Pb has less, but Cr, Cu, Zn, Fe have none. Moreover, cadmium exhibited remarkably higher levels rather than those reported in other studies. Enrichment factors and ecological index showed that Cd and Pb showed a moderate enrichment and a considerable ecological risk in most of the soil samples. The results of descriptive statistic, principal component analysis, cluster analysis and correlation analysis were totally consistent with each other. Their results revealed that Cr, Cu, Zn and Fe had common origins, and they may come from natural resources. While Cd and Pb were significantly influenced by railway transportation, leaked cargos, fuel combustion, the use of lubricate oils and sleeper impregnation oils during railway transportation may be their main resources.

Mobile Laser Scanning Systems for Measuring the Clearance Gauge of Railways: State of Play, Testing and Outlook

PubMed Central

Mikrut, Sławomir; Kohut, Piotr; Pyka, Krystian; Tokarczyk, Regina; Barszcz, Tomasz; Uhl, Tadeusz

2016-01-01

The paper contains a survey of mobile scanning systems for measuring the railway clearance gauge. The research was completed as part of the project carried out for the PKP (PKP Polish Railway Lines S.A., Warsaw, Poland) in 2011–2013. The authors conducted experiments, including a search for the latest solutions relating to mobile measurement systems that meet the basic requirement. At the very least, these solutions needed to be accurate and have the ability for quick retrieval of data. In the paper, specifications and the characteristics of the component devices of the scanning systems are described. Based on experiments, the authors did some examination of the selected mobile systems to be applied for measuring the clearance gauge. The Riegl (VMX-250) and Z+F (Zoller + Fröhlich) Solution were tested. Additional test measurements were carried out within a 30-kilometer section of the Warsaw-Kraków route. These measurements were designed so as to provide various elements of the railway infrastructure, the track geometry and the installed geodetic control network. This ultimately made it possible to reduce the time for the preparation of geodetic reference measurements for the testing of the accuracy of the selected systems. Reference measurements included the use of the polar method to select profiles perpendicular to the axis of the track. In addition, the coordinates selected were well defined as measuring points of the objects of the infrastructure of the clearance gauge. All of the tested systems meet the accuracy requirements initially established (within the range of 2 cm as required by the PKP). The tested systems have shown their advantages and disadvantages. PMID:27187400

Railway tunnels in Europe and North America

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-05-01

This list of railway tunnels (longer than 1, 000 m) was compiled by the secretariat from various national and international sources. The list is intended to serve as a reference inventory for a long railway tunnels in Europe and North America. Tunnel...

CONTEXT VIEW ALONG EXISTING PERIMETER TRACKS LOOKING OVER IRON ORE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

CONTEXT VIEW ALONG EXISTING PERIMETER TRACKS LOOKING OVER IRON ORE CARS TOWARDS WESTERN SIDE OF CLEVELAND BULK TERMINAL BUILDINGS AND A SELF-UNLOADING IRON ORE SHIP AT DOCK. LOOKING SOUTHWEST. - Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

Roads, railways, and childhood cancers

PubMed Central

Knox, E G

2006-01-01

Study objectives To locate geographical sources of engine exhaust emissions in Great Britain and to link them with the birth addresses of children dying from cancer. To estimate the cancer initiating roles of nearby roads and railways and to measure effective ranges. Design Birth and death addresses of all children born between 1955 and 1980 in Great Britain, and dying from leukaemia or other cancer during those years, were linked to locations of railway stations, bus stations, ferry terminals, railways, roads, canals, and rivers. Nearest distances to births and deaths were measured, and migration data relating to children who had moved house were analysed. Excesses of close to hazard birth addresses, compared with close to hazard death addresses, indicate a high prenatal or early postnatal risk of cancer initiation. Setting and subjects Child cancer birth and death addresses and their map references were extracted from an earlier inquiry. Map references of putative hazards were downloaded from the Ordnance Survey national digital map of Great Britain. These data are recorded to a precision of one metre and have ground accuracies around 20 metres. Main results Significant birth excesses were found within short distances of bus stations, railway stations, ferries, railways, and A,B class roads, with a relative risk of 2.1 within 100 m, tapering to neutral after 3.0 km. About 24% of child cancers were attributable to these joint birth proximities. Roads exerted the major effect. Conclusions Child cancer initiations are strongly determined by prenatal or early postnatal exposures to engine exhaust gases, probably through maternal inhalation and accumulation of carcinogens over many months. The main active substance is probably 1,3‐butadiene. PMID:16415262

Evaluation of railway transportation efficiency based on super-cross efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Development of a wear model for the wheel profile optimisation on railway vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignesti, M.; Innocenti, A.; Marini, L.; Meli, E.; Rindi, A.

2013-09-01

The modelling and the reduction of wear due to wheel-rail interaction is a fundamental aspect in the railway field, mainly correlated to safety, maintenance interventions and costs. In this work, the authors present two innovative wheel profiles, specifically designed with the aim of improving the wear and stability behaviour of the standard ORE S1002 wheel profile matched with the UIC60 rail profile canted at 1/20 rad, which represents the wheel-rail combination adopted in the Italian railway line. The two wheel profiles, conventionally named CD1 and DR2, have been developed by the authors in collaboration with Trenitalia S.p.A. The CD1 profile has been designed with the purpose of spreading the contact points in the flange zone on a larger area in order to reduce wear phenomena and having a constant equivalent conicity for small lateral displacements of the wheelset with respect to the centred position in the track. The DR2 wheel profile is instead designed to guarantee the same kinematic characteristics of the matching formed by ORE S1002 wheel profile and UIC60 rail profile with laying angle α p equal to 1/40 rad, widely common in European railways and characterised by good performances in both wear and kinematic behaviour. The evolution of wheel profiles due to wear has been evaluated through a wear model developed and validated by the authors in previous works. The wear model comprises two mutually interactive units: a vehicle model for the dynamic simulations and a model for the wear assessment. The whole model is based on a discrete process: each discrete step consists in one dynamic simulation and one profile update by means of the wear model while, within the discrete step, the profiles are supposed to be constant. The choice of an appropriate step is crucial in terms of precision and computational effort: the particular strategy adopted in the current work has been chosen for its capacity in representing the nonlinear wear evolution and for the low

Analysis and design of on-grade reinforced concrete track support structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mclean, F. G.; Williams, R. D.; Greening, L. R.

1972-01-01

For the improvement of rail service, the Department of Transportation, Federal Rail Administration, is sponsoring a test track on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. The test track will contain nine separate rail support structures, including one conventional section for control and three reinforced concrete structures on grade, one slab and two beam sections. The analysis and design of these latter structures was accomplished by means of the finite element method, NASTRAN, and is presented.

21. Historic view looking northeast from tracks of Shell Interlocking ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

21. Historic view looking northeast from tracks of Shell Interlocking Tower after construction, 1909. Photographic copy of photograph published in Railway Age Gazette, February 4, 1910. - New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad, Shell Interlocking Tower, New Haven Milepost 16, approximately 100 feel east of New Rochelle Junction, New Rochelle, Westchester County, NY

A cross-sectional study of hearing thresholds among 4627 Norwegian train and track maintenance workers

PubMed Central

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

2014-01-01

Objective Railway workers performing maintenance work of trains and tracks could be at risk of developing noise-induced hearing loss, since they are exposed to noise levels of 75–90 dB(A) with peak exposures of 130–140 dB(C). The objective was to make a risk assessment by comparing the hearing thresholds among train and track maintenance workers with a reference group not exposed to noise and reference values from the ISO 1999. Design Cross-sectional. Setting A major Norwegian railway company. Participants 1897 and 2730 male train and track maintenance workers, respectively, all exposed to noise, and 2872 male railway traffic controllers and office workers not exposed to noise. Outcome measures The primary outcome was the hearing threshold (pure tone audiometry, frequencies from 0.5 to 8 kHz), and the secondary outcome was the prevalence of audiometric notches (Coles notch) of the most recent audiogram. Results Train and track maintenance workers aged 45 years or older had a small mean hearing loss in the 3–6 kHz area of 3–5 dB. The hearing loss was less among workers younger than 45 years. Audiometric notches were slightly more prevalent among the noise exposed (59–64%) group compared with controls (49%) for all age groups. They may therefore be a sensitive measure in disclosing an early hearing loss at a group level. Conclusions Train and track maintenance workers aged 45 years or older, on average, have a slightly greater hearing loss and more audiometric notches compared with reference groups not exposed to noise. Younger (<45 years) workers have hearing thresholds comparable to the controls. PMID:25324318

A cross-sectional study of hearing thresholds among 4627 Norwegian train and track maintenance workers.

PubMed

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

2014-10-16

Railway workers performing maintenance work of trains and tracks could be at risk of developing noise-induced hearing loss, since they are exposed to noise levels of 75-90 dB(A) with peak exposures of 130-140 dB(C). The objective was to make a risk assessment by comparing the hearing thresholds among train and track maintenance workers with a reference group not exposed to noise and reference values from the ISO 1999. Cross-sectional. A major Norwegian railway company. 1897 and 2730 male train and track maintenance workers, respectively, all exposed to noise, and 2872 male railway traffic controllers and office workers not exposed to noise. The primary outcome was the hearing threshold (pure tone audiometry, frequencies from 0.5 to 8 kHz), and the secondary outcome was the prevalence of audiometric notches (Coles notch) of the most recent audiogram. Train and track maintenance workers aged 45 years or older had a small mean hearing loss in the 3-6 kHz area of 3-5 dB. The hearing loss was less among workers younger than 45 years. Audiometric notches were slightly more prevalent among the noise exposed (59-64%) group compared with controls (49%) for all age groups. They may therefore be a sensitive measure in disclosing an early hearing loss at a group level. Train and track maintenance workers aged 45 years or older, on average, have a slightly greater hearing loss and more audiometric notches compared with reference groups not exposed to noise. Younger (<45 years) workers have hearing thresholds comparable to the controls. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

56. Detail of gear for Marine Railway #2, steam powered ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

56. Detail of gear for Marine Railway #2, steam powered Marine Railway Headhouse, south end: hole in foreground is where gear now installed in Headhouse for Marine Railway #3 was removed. - Thames Tow Boat Company, Foot of Farnsworth Street, New London, New London County, CT

Railway suicide attempts are associated with amount of sunlight in recent days.

PubMed

Kadotani, Hiroshi; Nagai, Yumiko; Sozu, Takashi

2014-01-01

To assess the relationship between hours of sunlight and railway suicide attempts, 3-7 days before these attempts. All railway suicide attempts causing railway suspensions or delays of 30 min or more between 2002 and 2006. We used a linear probability model to assess this relationship. This study was conducted at Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka prefectures in Japan. Data were collected from the railway delay incident database of the Japanese Railway Technical Research Institute and public weather database of the Japan Meteorological Agency. About 971 railway suicides attempts occurred between 2002 and 2006 in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Osaka. Less sunlight in the 7 days leading up to the railway suicide attempts was associated with a higher proportion of attempts (p=0.0243). Sunlight over the 3 days before an attempt had a similar trend (p=0.0888). No difference was found in sunlight hours between the days with (median: 5.6 [IQR: 1.1-8.8]) and without (median: 5.7 [IQR: 1.0-8.9]) railway suicide attempts in the evening. Finally, there was no apparent correlation between the railway suicide attempts and the monthly average sunlight hours of the attempted month or those of a month before. Railway suicides were not the main suicidal methods in Japan, We observed an increased proportion of railway suicide attempts after several days without sunlight. Light exposure (blue light or bright white light) in trains may be useful in reducing railway suicides, especially when consecutive days without sunshine are forecasted. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Innovative Railway Stations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Current State of European Railway Fire Safety Research

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-06-01

This report describes the recent fire safety research and practical fire experience of the major European railways. It includes a summary of the main causes and characteristics of railway vehicle fires, general approaches to the problem, and existing...

24. REAR ELEVATION, HULETT ORE UNLOADERS. TRACKS CARRYING THE FRONT ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

24. REAR ELEVATION, HULETT ORE UNLOADERS. TRACKS CARRYING THE FRONT END AND REAR LEGS OF THE HULETT UNLOADERS ARE LAID ON THE DOCK AND REAR WALLS, RESPECTIVELY; BOTH WALLS ARE MADE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE SUPPORTED ON CONCRETE PILES. - Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

Comparison of Annoyance from Railway Noise and Railway Vibration.

PubMed

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.

Comparison of Annoyance from Railway Noise and Railway Vibration

PubMed Central

Gidlöf-Gunnarsson, Anita; Gustavsson, Sara

2017-01-01

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. PMID:28753921

Attention Modulates Spatial Precision in Multiple-Object Tracking.

PubMed

Srivastava, Nisheeth; Vul, Ed

2016-01-01

We present a computational model of multiple-object tracking that makes trial-level predictions about the allocation of visual attention and the effect of this allocation on observers' ability to track multiple objects simultaneously. This model follows the intuition that increased attention to a location increases the spatial resolution of its internal representation. Using a combination of empirical and computational experiments, we demonstrate the existence of a tight coupling between cognitive and perceptual resources in this task: Low-level tracking of objects generates bottom-up predictions of error likelihood, and high-level attention allocation selectively reduces error probabilities in attended locations while increasing it at non-attended locations. Whereas earlier models of multiple-object tracking have predicted the big picture relationship between stimulus complexity and response accuracy, our approach makes accurate predictions of both the macro-scale effect of target number and velocity on tracking difficulty and micro-scale variations in difficulty across individual trials and targets arising from the idiosyncratic within-trial interactions of targets and distractors. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Current and future flood risk to railway infrastructure in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

Study of occupational stress among railway engine pilots

PubMed Central

Kumar, Devesh; Singh, Jai Vir; Kharwar, Poonam S.

2011-01-01

Background: Traffic volume and speed is going to be increased in Indian Railways successively, leading to higher stress in staff connected with train operations. The jobs of railway engine pilots come under the category of high-strain jobs, necessitating a need to conduct multicentric study to unfold the factors associated with occupational stress and organizational strategies. Materials and Methods: Present study covered 185 railway engine pilots and office clerks working in various railway zones by incidental method. Occupational Stress Index (OSI) test developed by Srivastva and Singh, questionnaire of specific stressors constructed by authors and laboratory test battery for psychological screening of high-speed train pilots were used as tools. Results: Means of OSI and all the 12 occupational stressors of railway engine pilots were found significantly higher to that of office clerks. Means of OSI and occupational stressors of goods train pilots were significantly higher in comparison to high-speed train pilots and passenger train pilots. Study revealed positive correlation of speed perception and complex reaction time tests and negative correlation of other constituent tests of laboratory test battery to OSI test. Highest subgroup of stressor observedwas role overload followed by role conflict. Conclusions: These findings provide a prima facie evidence of higher occupational stress among railway engine pilots because of identified specific stressors prevalent in their job and explore the possible intervention strategies for its reduction. Significant correlation is noticed between OSI and laboratory test results, indicating its relevant utility in preliminary psychological screening. PMID:21808497

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Community response to railway noise: A review of social surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moehler, U.

1988-01-01

The many studies on the effects of railway noise on the neighbourhood differ greatly in their design, acoustic and sociological measurement and in their evaluation methods. As the influence of these factors on the sometimes differing results is not quantifiable, only qualitative results can be summarized and commented on. There are only a few studies with special emphasis on the effects of shunting yards, high-speed trains and urban train systems, and therefore only the results concerning free-flow railway traffic are summarized. The LAeq measured outside was shown in almost all the studies to be the most suitable for predicting general annoyance and most of the disturbance reactions compared with other acoustic data, e.g., peak level, pass-by frequency, etc. It is not possible to deduce from the studies in question a limiting value beyond which railway noise is no longer tolerable. Compared to other areas of interference, it is generally agreed that railway noise is at its most annoying in the area of communication. Sleep interference, on the other hand, was only seldomly mentioned and was not considered to be so serious. In addition to the noise level, non-acoustic factors such as attitude towards the railway, neighbourhood environment, etc., obviously considerably affect the annoyance reaction to railway noise too. The question of habituation to railway noise cannot be conclusively answered from the studies analyzed. At the same LAeq, railway noise gives rise to less annoyance than does road-traffic noise. These differences vary according to whether the reference time is day or night, the noise level range is high or low, and according to which annoyance and disturbance reaction is considered.

A trust-based sensor allocation algorithm in cooperative space search problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Dan; Chen, Genshe; Pham, Khanh; Blasch, Erik

2011-06-01

Sensor allocation is an important and challenging problem within the field of multi-agent systems. The sensor allocation problem involves deciding how to assign a number of targets or cells to a set of agents according to some allocation protocol. Generally, in order to make efficient allocations, we need to design mechanisms that consider both the task performers' costs for the service and the associated probability of success (POS). In our problem, the costs are the used sensor resource, and the POS is the target tracking performance. Usually, POS may be perceived differently by different agents because they typically have different standards or means of evaluating the performance of their counterparts (other sensors in the search and tracking problem). Given this, we turn to the notion of trust to capture such subjective perceptions. In our approach, we develop a trust model to construct a novel mechanism that motivates sensor agents to limit their greediness or selfishness. Then we model the sensor allocation optimization problem with trust-in-loop negotiation game and solve it using a sub-game perfect equilibrium. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the trust-based sensor allocation algorithm in cooperative space situation awareness (SSA) search problems.

The relationship between railway noise and community annoyance in Korea.

PubMed

Lim, Changwoo; Kim, Jaehwan; Hong, Jiyoung; Lee, Soogab

2006-10-01

A study of community annoyance caused by exposures to railway noise was carried out in 18 areas along railway lines to accumulate social survey data and assess the relationship between railway noise levels and annoyance responses in Korea. Railway noise levels were measured with portable sound-level meters. Social surveys were administered to people living within 50 m of noise measurement sites. A questionnaire contained demographic factors, degree of noise annoyance, interference with daily activities, and health-related symptoms. The question relating to noise annoyance was answered on an 11-point numerical scale. The randomly selected respondents, who were aged between 18 to 70 years of age, completed the questionnaire independently. In total, 726 respondents participated in social surveys. Taking into consideration the urban structure and layout of the residential areas of Korea, Japan, and Europe, one can assume that the annoyance responses caused by the railway noise in this study will be similar to those found in Japan, which are considerably more severe than those found in European countries. This study showed that one of the most important factors contributing to the difference in the annoyance responses between Korea and Europe is the distance between railways and houses.

Adaptive Control Allocation in the Presence of Actuator Failures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yu; Crespo, Luis G.

2010-01-01

In this paper, a novel adaptive control allocation framework is proposed. In the adaptive control allocation structure, cooperative actuators are grouped and treated as an equivalent control effector. A state feedback adaptive control signal is designed for the equivalent effector and allocated to the member actuators adaptively. Two adaptive control allocation algorithms are proposed, which guarantee closed-loop stability and asymptotic state tracking in the presence of uncertain loss of effectiveness and constant-magnitude actuator failures. The proposed algorithms can be shown to reduce the controller complexity with proper grouping of the actuators. The proposed adaptive control allocation schemes are applied to two linearized aircraft models, and the simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

Bridge No. 1601, Third B&O Crossing, over CSX tracks in ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Bridge No. 1601, Third B&O Crossing, over CSX tracks in North Branch, Maryland, looking northwest. The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Plant can be seen in the background. NPS property boundary is out of view at lower right. - Western Maryland Railway, Cumberland Extension, Pearre to North Branch, from WM milepost 125 to 160, Pearre, Washington County, MD

Railway project design and construction (CEE 411) course updates.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-20

Course CEE 411 "Railway Project Design and Construction" is a cornerstone of the railway : engineering education program developed by the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center : (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)....

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

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

Closing the Circle: Travelling with "The Railway Man."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Kevin

2003-01-01

Discusses Eric Lomax's autobiographical book "The Railway Man." Notes how it chronicles his boyhood obsession with train-spotting and the subsequent ways in which his life has been freaked by railway co-incidences. Describes how the author invited Eric Lomax to come and discuss this work with his students. (SG)

A graph model for preventing railway accidents based on the maximal information coefficient

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Fubo; Li, Keping

2017-01-01

A number of factors influences railway safety. It is an important work to identify important influencing factors and to build the relationship between railway accident and its influencing factors. The maximal information coefficient (MIC) is a good measure of dependence for two-variable relationships which can capture a wide range of associations. Employing MIC, a graph model is proposed for preventing railway accidents which avoids complex mathematical computation. In the graph, nodes denote influencing factors of railway accidents and edges represent dependence of the two linked factors. With the increasing of dependence level, the graph changes from a globally coupled graph to isolated points. Moreover, the important influencing factors are identified from many factors which are the monitor key. Then the relationship between railway accident and important influencing factors is obtained by employing the artificial neural networks. With the relationship, a warning mechanism is built by giving the dangerous zone. If the related factors fall into the dangerous zone in railway operations, the warning level should be raised. The built warning mechanism can prevent railway accidents and can promote railway safety.

Application of lap laser welding technology on stainless steel railway vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

PubMed

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.

A study of modelling simplifications in ground vibration predictions for railway traffic at grade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Germonpré, M.; Degrande, G.; Lombaert, G.

2017-10-01

Accurate computational models are required to predict ground-borne vibration due to railway traffic. Such models generally require a substantial computational effort. Therefore, much research has focused on developing computationally efficient methods, by either exploiting the regularity of the problem geometry in the direction along the track or assuming a simplified track structure. This paper investigates the modelling errors caused by commonly made simplifications of the track geometry. A case study is presented investigating a ballasted track in an excavation. The soil underneath the ballast is stiffened by a lime treatment. First, periodic track models with different cross sections are analyzed, revealing that a prediction of the rail receptance only requires an accurate representation of the soil layering directly underneath the ballast. A much more detailed representation of the cross sectional geometry is required, however, to calculate vibration transfer from track to free field. Second, simplifications in the longitudinal track direction are investigated by comparing 2.5D and periodic track models. This comparison shows that the 2.5D model slightly overestimates the track stiffness, while the transfer functions between track and free field are well predicted. Using a 2.5D model to predict the response during a train passage leads to an overestimation of both train-track interaction forces and free field vibrations. A combined periodic/2.5D approach is therefore proposed in this paper. First, the dynamic axle loads are computed by solving the train-track interaction problem with a periodic model. Next, the vibration transfer to the free field is computed with a 2.5D model. This combined periodic/2.5D approach only introduces small modelling errors compared to an approach in which a periodic model is used in both steps, while significantly reducing the computational cost.

View westsouthwest of marine railway at reserve basin of Philadelphia ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View west-southwest of marine railway at reserve basin of Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. - Naval Base Philadelphia-Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Reserve Basin & Marine Railway, League Island, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

Stability Analysis of Railway Subgrade in Mining Area Based on Dinsar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, J.; Hu, J.; Ding, J.

2018-04-01

DInSAR technology have been applied to monitor the mining subsidence and the stability of the railway subgrade. A total of 10 Sentinel-1A images acquired from 2015/9/26 to 2016/2/23 were used in DInSAR analysis. The study mining area is about 13.4 km2. Mining have induced serious land subsidence involve a large area that causing different levels of damages to infrastructures on the land. There is an important railway near the mining area, the DInSAR technology is applied to analyse the subsidence near the railway, which can warn early the possible deformation that may occur during underground mining. The DInSAR results was verified by the field measurement. The results show that the mining did not cause subsidence of railway subgrade and did not affect the stability of railway subgrade.

Optimization research of railway passenger transfer scheme based on ant colony algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Xiang

2018-05-01

The optimization research of railway passenger transfer scheme can provide strong support for railway passenger transport system, and its essence is path search. This paper realized the calculation of passenger transfer scheme for high speed railway when giving the time and stations of departure and arrival. The specific method that used were generating a passenger transfer service network of high-speed railway, establishing optimization model and searching by Ant Colony Algorithm. Finally, making analysis on the scheme from LanZhouxi to BeiJingXi which were based on high-speed railway network of China in 2017. The results showed that the transfer network and model had relatively high practical value and operation efficiency.

An improved network model for railway traffic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Keping; Ma, Xin; Shao, Fubo

In railway traffic, safety analysis is a key issue for controlling train operation. Here, the identification and order of key factors are very important. In this paper, a new network model is constructed for analyzing the railway safety, in which nodes are regarded as causation factors and links represent possible relationships among those factors. Our aim is to give all these nodes an importance order, and to find the in-depth relationship among these nodes including how failures spread among them. Based on the constructed network model, we propose a control method to ensure the safe state by setting each node a threshold. As the results, by protecting the Hub node of the constructed network, the spreading of railway accident can be controlled well. The efficiency of such a method is further tested with the help of numerical example.

4. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

4. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. - Erie Railway, Parallel French Creek Bridges, 100 feet South of Millers Station Road, 0.4 mile Northeast of State Route 408, 0.9 mile East of Cambridge Springs, Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, PA

2. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. - Erie Railway, Parallel French Creek Bridges, 100 feet South of Millers Station Road, 0.4 mile Northeast of State Route 408, 0.9 mile East of Cambridge Springs, Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, PA

3. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

3. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. - Erie Railway, Parallel French Creek Bridges, 100 feet South of Millers Station Road, 0.4 mile Northeast of State Route 408, 0.9 mile East of Cambridge Springs, Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, PA

1. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. July 1971. AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE II, ERIE RAILWAY SURVEY. - Erie Railway, Parallel French Creek Bridges, 100 feet South of Millers Station Road, 0.4 mile Northeast of State Route 408, 0.9 mile East of Cambridge Springs, Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, PA

Perspective view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Perspective view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view looking west at south end of building - Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, Southwest First Street & Cascade Avenue, Redmond, Deschutes County, OR

Detail perspective view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Detail perspective view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view looking east at south end of building - Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, Southwest First Street & Cascade Avenue, Redmond, Deschutes County, OR

13. Steam powered Marine Railway Headhouse and Offices, center; chain ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

13. Steam powered Marine Railway Headhouse and Offices, center; chain is in front of electric powered Marine Railway Headhouse. - Thames Tow Boat Company, Foot of Farnsworth Street, New London, New London County, CT

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view looking west at center of east façade - Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, Southwest First Street & Cascade Avenue, Redmond, Deschutes County, OR

Attentional enhancement during multiple-object tracking.

PubMed

Drew, Trafton; McCollough, Andrew W; Horowitz, Todd S; Vogel, Edward K

2009-04-01

What is the role of attention in multiple-object tracking? Does attention enhance target representations, suppress distractor representations, or both? It is difficult to ask this question in a purely behavioral paradigm without altering the very attentional allocation one is trying to measure. In the present study, we used event-related potentials to examine the early visual evoked responses to task-irrelevant probes without requiring an additional detection task. Subjects tracked two targets among four moving distractors and four stationary distractors. Brief probes were flashed on targets, moving distractors, stationary distractors, or empty space. We obtained a significant enhancement of the visually evoked P1 and N1 components (approximately 100-150 msec) for probes on targets, relative to distractors. Furthermore, good trackers showed larger differences between target and distractor probes than did poor trackers. These results provide evidence of early attentional enhancement of tracked target items and also provide a novel approach to measuring attentional allocation during tracking.

Adaptive function allocation reduces performance costs of static automation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parasuraman, Raja; Mouloua, Mustapha; Molloy, Robert; Hilburn, Brian

1993-01-01

Adaptive automation offers the option of flexible function allocation between the pilot and on-board computer systems. One of the important claims for the superiority of adaptive over static automation is that such systems do not suffer from some of the drawbacks associated with conventional function allocation. Several experiments designed to test this claim are reported in this article. The efficacy of adaptive function allocation was examined using a laboratory flight-simulation task involving multiple functions of tracking, fuel-management, and systems monitoring. The results show that monitoring inefficiency represents one of the performance costs of static automation. Adaptive function allocation can reduce the performance cost associated with long-term static automation.

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view looking west at south end of east façade - Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, Southwest First Street & Cascade Avenue, Redmond, Deschutes County, OR

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Partial elevation view of the Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, view looking west at north end of east façade - Oregon Trunk Railway Freight Depot, Southwest First Street & Cascade Avenue, Redmond, Deschutes County, OR

4. INTERIOR OF THE HEADHOUSE FOR THE INCLINE RAILWAY SHOWING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

4. INTERIOR OF THE HEADHOUSE FOR THE INCLINE RAILWAY SHOWING CABLE AND DRUMS FOR LILY HOIST, 1989. - Skagit Power Development, Incline Railway, On Skagit River, 6.1 miles upstream from Newhalem, Newhalem, Whatcom County, WA

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

PubMed

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

Overview of the Marine Railway No. 2 from the water's ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Overview of the Marine Railway No. 2 from the water's edge to Facility 233 - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Marine Railway No. 2, Near intersection of Avenue G & Third Street, Pearl City, Honolulu County, HI

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

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

Tracking the association between metro-railway construction works and PM levels in an urban Mediterranean environment.

PubMed

Paschalidou, A K; Kassomenos, P A; Kelessis, A

2016-10-15

Metro-railways are considered to be a sustainable means of public transportation, as they contribute substantially to the reduction of air pollutant emissions through the decrease in the number of cars and heavy vehicles circulating in the road network. However, the works related to their construction may pose an extra burden in air quality status and consequently in public health. In the present study, we studied the possible effects of the metro-railway construction works in Thessaloniki, Greece, on public health through 2 well-established air quality indices, namely the PI and DAQI. The analysis suggested that there were excess high levels of PM10 measured in the close vicinity of the construction-sites during the period studied (2008-2014). These concentrations are likely to have originated from local construction sources rather than transport or continental secondary dust sources and might have an adverse health impact, as according to the PI index, the majority of days in the construction sites were grouped as "low pollution" or "moderate pollution", while a small percentage of days (1.84%) were suggested to be unhealthy for the most vulnerable groups of the population. Similarly, the DAQI index revealed that the vast majority of days were grouped as "poor" air quality, while 5.50% of the days reflected the most oppressive conditions for public health, as they were characterized as "very poor" air quality. Given the need of reaching a compromise between future transportation sustainability and public health during the construction works, the feasibility of appropriate measures in the area should be examined. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The ontogeny of postmaturation resource allocation in turtles.

PubMed

Bowden, R M; Paitz, Ryan T; Janzen, Fredric J

2011-01-01

Resource-allocation decisions vary with life-history strategy, and growing evidence suggests that long-lived endothermic vertebrates direct resources toward growth and self-maintenance when young, increasing allocation toward reproductive effort over time. Few studies have tracked the ontogeny of resource allocation (energy, steroid hormones, etc.) in long-lived ectothermic vertebrates, limiting our understanding of the generality of life-history strategies among vertebrates. We investigated how reproductively mature female painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) from two distinct age classes allocated resources over a 4-yr period and whether resource-allocation patterns varied with nesting experience. We examined age-related variation in body size, egg mass, reproductive frequency, and yolk steroids and report that younger females were smaller and allocated fewer resources to reproduction than did older females. Testosterone levels were higher in eggs from younger females, whereas eggs from second (seasonal) clutches contained higher concentrations of progesterone and estradiol. These allocation patterns resulted in older, larger females laying larger eggs and producing second clutches more frequently than their younger counterparts. We conclude that resource-allocation patterns do vary with age in a long-lived ectotherm.

40. Exterior view of dockage, marine railway #4, and assembly ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

40. Exterior view of dockage, marine railway #4, and assembly building. Note BBW Tug Sam on railway and BBW-Built Stardust (#1) at end of dock. - Barbour Boat Works, Tryon Palace Drive, New Bern, Craven County, NC

57. Exterior view of marine railway #4. BBW work Tun ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

57. Exterior view of marine railway #4. BBW work Tun Sam on the ways seen from Starboard Bow. Note rail/roller type (steel railway/steel wheels). - Barbour Boat Works, Tryon Palace Drive, New Bern, Craven County, NC

The Marine Railway No. 2 looking toward 1461 Wharf, Facility ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

The Marine Railway No. 2 looking toward 1461 Wharf, Facility 233 is on the right - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Marine Railway No. 2, Near intersection of Avenue G & Third Street, Pearl City, Honolulu County, HI

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

PubMed

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 (< 3 cm) were collected in vicinity of 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.

Non-destructive tests for railway evaluation: Detection of fouling and joint interpretation of GPR and track geometric parameters - COST Action TU1208

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solla, Mercedes; Fontul, Simona; Marecos, Vânia; Loizos, Andreas

2016-04-01

During the last years high-performance railway lines have increased both their number and capabilities. As all types of infrastructures, railways have to maintain a proper behaviour during the entire life cycle. This work is focused on the analysis of the GPR method and its capabilities to detect defects in both infra and superstructure in railways. Different GPR systems and frequency antennas (air-coupled with antennas of 1.0 and 1.8 GHz, and ground-coupled with antennas of 1.0 and 2.3 GHz) were compared to establish the best procedures. For the assessment of the ground conditions, both GPR systems were used in combination with Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) load tests, in order to evaluate the bearing capacity of the subgrade. Moreover, Light Falling Weight Deflectometer (LFWD) measures were performed for the validation of the interpretation of the damaged areas identified from GPR and FWD tests. Finally, to corroborate the joint interpretation of GPR and FWD-LFWD, drill cores were extracted in the damaged areas identified based on the field data. Comparing all the data, a good agreement was obtained between the methods, when identifying both anomalous deflections and reflections. It was also demonstrated that ground-coupled systems have clear advantages compared to air-coupled systems since these antennas provide both better signal penetration and vertical resolution to detect fine details like cracking. Regarding the assessment of the thickness, three different high-speed track infrastructure solutions were constructed in a physical model, using asphalt as subballast layer. Four different antennas were used, two ground- and two air-coupled systems. Two different methodologies were assumed to calibrate the velocity of wave propagation: coring and metal plate. Comparing the results obtained, it was observed that the ground-coupled system provided higher values of wave velocity than the air-coupled system. The velocity values were also obtained by the

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

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

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. PMID:28749452

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

PubMed

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.

Railway crossing risk area detection using linear regression and terrain drop compensation techniques.

PubMed

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

2014-06-16

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.

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

Treesearch

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...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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).

55. Exterior view of marine railway #4. BBW work Tug ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

55. Exterior view of marine railway #4. BBW work Tug Sam on the ways seen from Port Bow. This was first railway built by BBW on site (Ca.1936). - Barbour Boat Works, Tryon Palace Drive, New Bern, Craven County, NC

78 FR 50141 - Illinois Central Railroad Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-16

... Railroad Company--Trackage Rights Exemption-- BNSF Railway Company BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), pursuant to... rights to Illinois Central Railroad Company (IC), a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Canadian National Railway Company, over BNSF's Thayer South Subdivision, between milepost 483.8 at CN Junction and...

Identifying Memory Allocation Patterns in HEP Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kama, S.; Rauschmayr, N.

2017-10-01

HEP applications perform an excessive amount of allocations/deallocations within short time intervals which results in memory churn, poor locality and performance degradation. These issues are already known for a decade, but due to the complexity of software frameworks and billions of allocations for a single job, up until recently no efficient mechanism has been available to correlate these issues with source code lines. However, with the advent of the Big Data era, many tools and platforms are now available to do large scale memory profiling. This paper presents, a prototype program developed to track and identify each single (de-)allocation. The CERN IT Hadoop cluster is used to compute memory key metrics, like locality, variation, lifetime and density of allocations. The prototype further provides a web based visualization back-end that allows the user to explore the results generated on the Hadoop cluster. Plotting these metrics for every single allocation over time gives a new insight into application’s memory handling. For instance, it shows which algorithms cause which kind of memory allocation patterns, which function flow causes how many short-lived objects, what are the most commonly allocated sizes etc. The paper will give an insight into the prototype and will show profiling examples for the LHC reconstruction, digitization and simulation jobs.

Development of a vehicle-track model assembly and numerical method for simulation of wheel-rail dynamic interaction due to unsupported sleepers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jian Jun; Ahmed, A. K. W.; Rakheja, Subhash; Khajepour, Amir

2010-12-01

In practice, it is not very uncommon to find railway track systems with unsupported sleepers due to the uneven settlement of a ballasted track system. These unsupported sleepers are among the major vibration excitations for a train and track system when a train moves forwards on a track. The vibration induced by unsupported sleepers can cause a large dynamic contact force between wheels and rails. For heavily loaded high-speed trains, the deteriorated sleeper support may lead to accelerated degradation of the railway track and vehicle components, and may thus impose safety risk to the operation. This paper presents analyses of a coupled vehicle-track assembly consisting of a roll plane vehicle model, a continuous track system model and an adaptive wheel-rail contact model. In order to improve the simulation efficiency, a numerical approach based on the central finite difference method is proposed in this investigation. The developed model assembly and proposed simulation method are utilised to simulate the vehicle-track dynamic interaction in the presence of unsupported sleepers. The dynamic response in terms of the dynamic wheel-rail interaction force due to one or multiple unsupported sleepers is studied. Important factors influencing the dynamic wheel-rail interaction force in the presence of sleeper voids are also investigated. The results show that the vehicle speed, the gap size and the number of unsupported sleepers primarily dictate the magnitude of impact load which can be significant.

The influence of track modelling options on the simulation of rail vehicle dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Gialleonardo, Egidio; Braghin, Francesco; Bruni, Stefano

2012-09-01

This paper investigates the effect of different models for track flexibility on the simulation of railway vehicle running dynamics on tangent and curved track. To this end, a multi-body model of the rail vehicle is defined including track flexibility effects on three levels of detail: a perfectly rigid pair of rails, a sectional track model and a three-dimensional finite element track model. The influence of the track model on the calculation of the nonlinear critical speed is pointed out and it is shown that neglecting the effect of track flexibility results in an overestimation of the critical speed by more than 10%. Vehicle response to stochastic excitation from track irregularity is also investigated, analysing the effect of track flexibility models on the vertical and lateral wheel-rail contact forces. Finally, the effect of the track model on the calculation of dynamic forces produced by wheel out-of-roundness is analysed, showing that peak dynamic loads are very sensitive to the track model used in the simulation.

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

PubMed Central

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

Influence of Initial Inclined Surface Crack on Estimated Residual Fatigue Lifetime of Railway Axle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Náhlík, Luboš; Pokorný, Pavel; Ševčík, Martin; Hutař, Pavel

2016-11-01

Railway axles are subjected to cyclic loading which can lead to fatigue failure. For safe operation of railway axles a damage tolerance approach taking into account a possible defect on railway axle surface is often required. The contribution deals with an estimation of residual fatigue lifetime of railway axle with initial inclined surface crack. 3D numerical model of inclined semi-elliptical surface crack in railway axle was developed and its curved propagation through the axle was simulated by finite element method. Presence of press-fitted wheel in the vicinity of initial crack was taken into account. A typical loading spectrum of railway axle was considered and residual fatigue lifetime was estimated by NASGRO approach. Material properties of typical axle steel EA4T were considered in numerical calculations and lifetime estimation.

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

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...

78 FR 30395 - Grainbelt Corporation-Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company and Stillwater Central...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-22

...)] Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway Company and Stillwater Central Railroad... and grantors BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) and Stillwater Central Railroad Company (SLWC) exempted in Grainbelt Corporation--Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway Company and Stillwater Center Railroad...

Extremely selective attention: eye-tracking studies of the dynamic allocation of attention to stimulus features in categorization.

PubMed

Blair, Mark R; Watson, Marcus R; Walshe, R Calen; Maj, Fillip

2009-09-01

Humans have an extremely flexible ability to categorize regularities in their environment, in part because of attentional systems that allow them to focus on important perceptual information. In formal theories of categorization, attention is typically modeled with weights that selectively bias the processing of stimulus features. These theories make differing predictions about the degree of flexibility with which attention can be deployed in response to stimulus properties. Results from 2 eye-tracking studies show that humans can rapidly learn to differently allocate attention to members of different categories. These results provide the first unequivocal demonstration of stimulus-responsive attention in a categorization task. Furthermore, the authors found clear temporal patterns in the shifting of attention within trials that follow from the informativeness of particular stimulus features. These data provide new insights into the attention processes involved in categorization. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

21. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Equalizing Gear Layout, 1917. Photographic ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

21. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Equalizing Gear Layout, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-4 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

20. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Design of Cradle, 1917. Photographic ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

20. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Design of Cradle, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-2 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Railway noise annoyance and the importance of number of trains, ground vibration, and building situational factors.

PubMed

Gidlöf-Gunnarsson, Anita; Ögren, Mikael; Jerson, Tomas; Öhrström, Evy

2012-01-01

Internationally accepted exposure-response relationships show that railway noise causes less annoyance than road traffic and aircraft noise. Railway transport, both passenger and freight transport, is increasing, and new railway lines are planned for environmental reasons. The combination of more frequent railway traffic and faster and heavier trains will, most probably, lead to more disturbances from railway traffic in the near future. To effectively plan for mitigations against noise and vibration from railway traffic, new studies are needed to obtain a better basis of knowledge. The main objectives of the present study was to investigate how the relationship between noise levels from railway traffic and general annoyance is influenced by (i) number of trains, (ii) the presence of ground borne vibrations, and (iii) building situational factors, such as orientation of balcony/patio and bedroom window. Socio-acoustic field studies were executed in residential areas; (1) with relatively intense railway traffic; (2) with strong vibrations, and; (3) with the most intense railway traffic in the country. Data was obtained for 1695 respondents exposed to sound levels ranging from L(Aeq,24h) 45 to 65 dB. Both number of trains and presence of ground-borne vibrations, and not just the noise level per se, are of relevance for how annoying railway noise is perceived. The results imply that, for the proportion annoyed to be equal, a 5 - 7 dB lower noise level is needed in areas where the railway traffic causes strong ground-borne vibrations and in areas with a very large number of trains. General noise annoyance was twice as high among residents in dwellings with balcony / patio oriented towards the railway and about 1.5 times higher among residents with bedroom windows facing the railway.

27. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Detail of Emergency Brake, 1917. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

27. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Detail of Emergency Brake, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-16 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

24. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Wrought Iron Details, 1917. Photographic ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

24. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Wrought Iron Details, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-8A - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

23. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Details of Hauling Machinery, 1917. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

23. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Details of Hauling Machinery, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-7 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

25. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Proposed Road Over Chains, 1917. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

25. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Proposed Road Over Chains, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-9 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Price Analysis of Railway Freight Transport under Marketing Mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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).

RAMSES: a nowcasting system for mitigating geo-hydrological risk along the railway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabriele, Salvatore; Terranova, Oreste G.; Pascale, Stefania; Rago, Valeria; Chiaravalloti, Francesco; Sabatino, Pietro; Brocca, Luca; Laviola, Sante; Baldini, Luca; Federico, Stefano; Miglietta, Mario M.; Marra, Gian Paolo; Niccoli, Raffaele; Arcuri, Salvatore; Catalano, Filippo; Stassi, Sergio; Baccillieri, Maurizio; Agostino, Mario; Iovine, Giulio G. R.

2016-04-01

In recent years, a number of exceptional rainfall events of short / very short duration (from 15 minutes to about 2 hours) caused incidents and service interruptions due to landslides, collapses of bridges, and erosion of the ballast, along the Calabrian railway. RAMSES (RAilway Meteorological SEcurity System) is a pilot CNR project, recently co-funded by RFI S.p.A. and aimed at mitigating the risk along the railway. Forecasting of weather events responsible of heavy convective rainfall, even when provided with some advance, is not generally performed with reliable localization. In fact, objective limits of the numerical weather prediction derive from grid resolution, often exceeding the size of convective cells. These phenomena, whose recurrence periods seem to show a reduction due to climate changes, affect limited areas and are characterized by a very short life cycle. As a consequence, failures of hydraulic crossings are increasingly being recorded together with landslide-related debris invasion along the drainage network and slopes. RAMSES aims at improving short term (3-6 hours) weather forecasts and ground effects at local scale. The employed approach is base on synergistic and integrated operational tools to provide weather information on small-size basins. The system will also allow to promptly identify and track the short-term evolution (15-60 min) of convective cells, by means of imaging techniques based on quasi-real time radar and Meteosat data. The extension of the temporal horizon of the forecast up to three hours will be performed by using the Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) model. This latter employs, as a "first guess", the output of the WRF numerical model: such analyses are updated and improved by means of observational data from different instruments (e.g. on land weather stations, radar, satellites, etc.). Finally, the assessment of ground effects will be accomplished for selected study areas, by means of landslide susceptibility

Influence of polygonal wear of railway wheels on the wheel set axle stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xingwen; Chi, Maoru; Wu, Pingbo

2015-11-01

The coupled vehicle/track dynamic model with the flexible wheel set was developed to investigate the effects of polygonal wear on the dynamic stresses of the wheel set axle. In the model, the railway vehicle was modelled by the rigid multibody dynamics. The wheel set was established by the finite element method to analyse the high-frequency oscillation and dynamic stress of wheel set axle induced by the polygonal wear based on the modal stress recovery method. The slab track model was taken into account in which the rail was described by the Timoshenko beam and the three-dimensional solid finite element was employed to establish the concrete slab. Furthermore, the modal superposition method was adopted to calculate the dynamic response of the track. The wheel/rail normal forces and the tangent forces were, respectively, determined by the Hertz nonlinear contact theory and the Shen-Hedrick-Elkins model. Using the coupled vehicle/track dynamic model, the dynamic stresses of wheel set axle with consideration of the ideal polygonal wear and measured polygonal wear were investigated. The results show that the amplitude of wheel/rail normal forces and the dynamic stress of wheel set axle increase as the vehicle speeds rise. Moreover, the impact loads induced by the polygonal wear could excite the resonance of wheel set axle. In the resonance region, the amplitude of the dynamic stress for the wheel set axle would increase considerably comparing with the normal conditions.

26. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Layout of Hauling Machinery, Building ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

26. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Layout of Hauling Machinery, Building 24, 1917. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yark. BOSTS 13439, #551-15 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

28. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Section showing bilge and keel ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

28. Historic drawing, Marine Railway. Section showing bilge and keel blocks, 1919. Photographic copy of original. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 13439, #551-20 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

The vibration behavior of railway track at high frequencies under multiple preloads and wheel interactions

PubMed

Wu; Thompson

2000-09-01

The track foundation is preloaded by multiple wheel loads due to the train weight and, as the pad and ballast are nonlinear, their stiffness depends upon the preload in them. Due to the influence of these resilient components of the track, the track vibration is affected by the wheel loads. It is also affected by the wheel/rail interactions. In this article the preloads in the pad and ballast are calculated by considering the nonlinear properties of the track foundation, and thus the preloaded pad and ballast stiffnesses are determined. The vibration properties are explored for the track under multiple wheel loads and multiple wheel/rail interactions by comparing the results from different track models with and without these effects. It is found that the point receptance of the track is reduced and the vibration decay rate is enhanced at low frequencies due to the wheel loads. The effects of the wheel/rail interactions are most significant for frequencies 400-2000 Hz. Because of the wheel/rail interactions, the point receptance fluctuates and the vibration decay is enhanced in the regions around the wheels.

16. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

16. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May 29, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #5049, 5/29/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

15. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

15. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May 28, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #5046, 5/29/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

11. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, July ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

11. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, July 5, 1918. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #3988, 7/5/18 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

12. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, September ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

12. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, September 8, 1918. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #4229, 9/6/18 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

13. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, March ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

13. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, March 9, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #4801, 3/9/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

14. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

14. Historic view, Marine Railway construction. View to southeast, May 5, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #4930, 5/5/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

A cascading failure model for analyzing railway accident causation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Pollution level and reusability of the waste soil generated from demolition of a rural railway.

PubMed

Han, Il; Wee, Gui Nam; No, Jee Hyun; Lee, Tae Kwon

2018-09-01

Railways are typically considered polluted from years of train operation. However, the pollution level of railway in a rural area, which is less exposed to hazardous material from trains and freights, is rarely assessed. This study evaluated common railway pollutants such as heavy metals, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their chemical properties in the waste soil generated from the renovation of an old railway in rural area of Wonju, South Korea. Furthermore, lab-scale cultivation tests of peas (Pisum sativum) were performed to assess reusability of the waste soil as a soil amendment. Carbonaceous materials were found in the upper layer of the railway (0 to -40 cm) and the concentration of common railway pollutants was comparable to those of the agricultural land nearby. Specifically, total aromatic and aliphatic TPHs were below detection limit; and total PAHs < 1.0 mg kg -1 was 1000-times less than railway functional parts. Applying the carbonaceous waste soil improved the water holding capacity of soil by approximately 10% and sprouts formed on the soil with 10% waste soil composition had greater fresh weight, stem length, and root length than the control. Although this investigation was confined to a small length of the railway route, the results confirm environmental safety and the potential value of the waste generated from rural railways for the first time. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A naturalistic study of railway controllers.

PubMed

Farrington-Darby, T; Wilson, John R; Norris, B J; Clarke, Theresa

There is an increasing prevalence for work to be analysed through naturalistic study, especially using ethnographically derived methods of enquiry and qualitative field research. The relatively unexplored domain of railway control (in comparison to signalling) in the UK is described in terms of features derived from observations and semi-structured interviews. In addition, task diagrams (a technique taken from the Applied Cognitive Task Analysis toolkit) are used to represent controllers' core elements of work, i.e. to manage events or incidents, and to identify the challenging steps in the process. The work features identified, the task diagrams, and the steps identified as challenging form a basis from which future ergonomics studies on railway controllers in the UK will be carried out.

65. CALIFORNIA STREET CABLE RAILWAY WINDING MACHINERY: Photocopy of ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

65. CALIFORNIA STREET CABLE RAILWAY - WINDING MACHINERY: Photocopy of February 1955 photograph showing the winding machinery of the California Street Cable Railroad. The two suspended sheaves on the right of the photograph bore down on the cable as it left the winders, supplying tension to the cable and eliminating the need for a long tension run. - San Francisco Cable Railway, Washington & Mason Streets, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA

Visual attention is required for multiple object tracking.

PubMed

Tran, Annie; Hoffman, James E

2016-12-01

In the multiple object tracking task, participants attempt to keep track of a moving set of target objects embedded in an identical set of moving distractors. Depending on several display parameters, observers are usually only able to accurately track 3 to 4 objects. Various proposals attribute this limit to a fixed number of discrete indexes (Pylyshyn, 1989), limits in visual attention (Cavanagh & Alvarez, 2005), or "architectural limits" in visual cortical areas (Franconeri, 2013). The present set of experiments examined the specific role of visual attention in tracking using a dual-task methodology in which participants tracked objects while identifying letter probes appearing on the tracked objects and distractors. As predicted by the visual attention model, probe identification was faster and/or more accurate when probes appeared on tracked objects. This was the case even when probes were more than twice as likely to appear on distractors suggesting that some minimum amount of attention is required to maintain accurate tracking performance. When the need to protect tracking accuracy was relaxed, participants were able to allocate more attention to distractors when probes were likely to appear there but only at the expense of large reductions in tracking accuracy. A final experiment showed that people attend to tracked objects even when letters appearing on them are task-irrelevant, suggesting that allocation of attention to tracked objects is an obligatory process. These results support the claim that visual attention is required for tracking objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Effect of situational, attitudinal and demographic factors on railway vibration annoyance in residential areas.

PubMed

Peris, Eulalia; Woodcock, James; Sica, Gennaro; Sharp, Calum; Moorhouse, Andrew T; Waddington, David C

2014-01-01

Railway induced vibration is an important source of annoyance among residents living in the vicinity of railways. Annoyance increases with vibration magnitude. However, these correlations between the degree of annoyance and vibration exposure are weak. This suggests that railway vibration induced annoyance is governed by more than just vibration level and therefore other factors may provide information to understand the wide variation in annoyance reactions. Factors coming into play when considering an exposure-response relationship between level of railway vibration and annoyance are presented. The factors investigated were: attitudinal, situational and demographic factors. This was achieved using data from field studies comprised of face-to-face interviews and internal vibration measurements (N = 755). It was found that annoyance scores were strongly influenced by two attitudinal factors: Concern of property damage and expectations about future levels of vibration. Type of residential area and age of the respondent were found to have an important effect on annoyance whereas visibility of the railway and time spent at home showed a significant but small influence. These results indicate that future railway vibration policies and regulations focusing on community impact need to consider additional factors for an optimal assessment of railway effects on residential environments.

18. Historic view, Test of Marine Railway, USS Grebe and ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

18. Historic view, Test of Marine Railway, USS Grebe and USS Acushnet. View to soutwest, June 10, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #5080, 6/10/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

17. Historic view, Test of Marine Railway, USCC Ossippee. View ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. Historic view, Test of Marine Railway, USCC Ossippee. View to southeast, June 2, 1919. Photographic copy of photo. Boston National Historical Park Archives, Charlestown Navy Yard. BOSTS 8962, USN #5054, 6/7/19 - Charlestown Navy Yard, Marine Railway, Between Piers 2 & 3, on Charlestown Waterfront at west end of Navy Yard, Boston, Suffolk County, MA

The School Car: Bringing the Three R's to Newfoundland's Remote Railway Settlements (1936-1942).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noseworthy, Randy P.

During the mid-1930s, the main line of the Newfoundland (Canada) Railway stretched 547 miles from St. John's to Port aux Basques, and railway workers and their families lived along the line in small isolated settlements. The provincial department of education, the Newfoundland Railway, and the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company devised an…

Physiological effects of railway vibration and noise on sleep

PubMed Central

Smith, Michael G.; Croy, Ilona; Ögren, Mikael; Hammar, Oscar; Lindberg, Eva; Persson Waye, Kerstin

2017-01-01

This paper evaluates the relative contribution of vibration and noise from railway on physiological sleep outcomes. Vibration from railway freight often accompanies airborne noise, yet is almost totally absent in the existing literature. In an experimental investigation, 23 participants, each sleeping for six nights in the laboratory, were exposed to 36 simulated railway freight pass-bys per night with vibration alone (aWd,max = 0.0204 ms−2), noise alone (LAF,max = 49.8 dB), or both vibration and noise simultaneously. A fourth exposure night involved 52 pass-bys with concurrent vibration and noise. Sleep was measured with polysomnography. Cardiac activity was measured with electrocardiography. The probability of cortical arousals or awakenings was greater following all exposures, including vibration alone, than spontaneous reaction probability (p < 0.05). The effects of vibration exposure and noise exposure on changes of sleep stage and arousals were directly additive. Vibration and noise exposure both induced heart rate acceleration above spontaneously expected fluctuations at baseline. The results indicate that vibration and noise are processed in the brain separately yet in parallel, with both contributing towards the likelihood of sleep disruption. The findings show that vibration is of importance when considering the impact of railway freight on sleep. PMID:28599531

[Comparison of railway employees and college students as evaluator of vibration discomfort].

PubMed

Suzuki, Hiroaki

2002-06-01

Typically, vibration discomfort of railway cars was studied with railway employees as evaluator, because of their availability and interest, as well as various study requirements. However, it has not been shown that employees are appropriate for the task. In this study, railway employees were compared with college students in order to find how their ratings compared with those by ordinary passengers. An experiment was conducted in a running train, and 41 persons participated; about a half were railway employees and the other college students who were invited as non-specialists. Their task was to rate vibration discomfort on a scale of 1 to 4, continuously at an interval of 5 seconds. Results indicated that employee ratings showed smaller individual differences and in general were more cautious than the student ratings.

Color Vision and the Railways: Part 3. Comparison of FaLant, OPTEC 900, and Railway LED Lantern Tests.

PubMed

Dain, Stephen J; Casolin, Armand; Long, Jennifer

2015-02-01

The Farnsworth Lantern (FaLant) and the OPTEC 900 are nominated in the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) Color Vision Standard 2. Neither test uses the railway signal color code of red, yellow, and green, and only the OPTEC 900 is commercially available. The Railway LED Lantern Test (RLLT) is based on railway signaling practices in New South Wales, Australia, and is nominated in the Australian railway medical standard. The objective of this study is to compare the performance of the three lantern tests. The RLLT, FaLant, and OPTEC 900 were administered to 46 color vision-normal and 37 color vision-deficient (CVD) subjects. The pattern of errors on the RLLT was different from that of the FaLant and OPTEC 900. This may be accounted for, at least in part, by the different colors and the use of blank presentations in the RLLT. The three lanterns showed agreement in failing 21 and passing 6 of the CVD subjects (72.9%). The lanterns gave different results for 10 CVD subjects (27.9%): n = 5 passed only the RLLT and n = 3 passed only the FaLant; n = 1 failed only the FaLant and n = 1 failed only the RLLT. The overall failure rate by CVD for each lantern was 67.6% (RLLT), 73.0% (FaLant), and 78.4% (OPTEC 900). Despite the different construction principles, the pass/fail levels of the RLLT, FaLant, and OPTEC 900 are comparable and consistent with the performance of other lanterns listed by the CIE for Color Vision Standard 2. The RLLT may be a little easier to pass and is based on the signal color code used and actual signaling practice. We propose that the RLLT is also an appropriate lantern for CIE Color Vision Standard 2.

Fuzzy Temporal Logic Based Railway Passenger Flow Forecast Model

PubMed Central

Dou, Fei; Jia, Limin; Wang, Li; Xu, Jie; Huang, Yakun

2014-01-01

Passenger flow forecast is of essential importance to the organization of railway transportation and is one of the most important basics for the decision-making on transportation pattern and train operation planning. Passenger flow of high-speed railway features the quasi-periodic variations in a short time and complex nonlinear fluctuation because of existence of many influencing factors. In this study, a fuzzy temporal logic based passenger flow forecast model (FTLPFFM) is presented based on fuzzy logic relationship recognition techniques that predicts the short-term passenger flow for high-speed railway, and the forecast accuracy is also significantly improved. An applied case that uses the real-world data illustrates the precision and accuracy of FTLPFFM. For this applied case, the proposed model performs better than the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. PMID:25431586

29 CFR 1915.75 - Access to and guarding of dry docks and marine railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 7 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Access to and guarding of dry docks and marine railways... railways. The provisions of this section shall apply to ship repairing, shipbuilding and shipbreaking. (a... applicable requirements of § 1915.72. (g) Catwalks on stiles of marine railways shall be no less than 20...

Railway obstacle detection algorithm using neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Mingyang; Yang, Peng; Wei, Sen

2018-05-01

Aiming at the difficulty of detection of obstacle in outdoor railway scene, a data-oriented method based on neural network to obtain image objects is proposed. First, we mark objects of images(such as people, trains, animals) acquired on the Internet. and then use the residual learning units to build Fast R-CNN framework. Then, the neural network is trained to get the target image characteristics by using stochastic gradient descent algorithm. Finally, a well-trained model is used to identify an outdoor railway image. if it includes trains and other objects, it will issue an alert. Experiments show that the correct rate of warning reached 94.85%.

[Railway medical hygiene and health protection system in Croatia between 1945 and 1953].

PubMed

Lajnert, Sinisa

2014-01-01

This paper describes the system of medical hygiene and health care adopted by the Croatian section of Yugoslav Railways in the aftermath of World War Two until 1953, based on archival information. In 1945, the human resources section of the Railway Administration in Zagreb included the Department of Social Welfare with offices that managed health insurance in cases of illness and accidents, workers' pension fund, and sanitary care‥ On 19 June 1947, the regional railway executive board established a medical section within the so called Secretariat and appointed Dr Marijan Derkos as its head. On 3 July 1948, central and regional healthcare offices for traffic staff were established to manage and oversee the activities of health institutions providing services for railway workers. The seat of the regional office in Zagreb was in Grgurova street. After the dismantlement of the central healthcare office in charge of railway health institutions in 1953, regional boards established new institutions, that were now self-financed.

77 FR 49862 - Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railway Company-Assignment of Lease Exemption-Union Pacific Railroad...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-17

... Monterey Bay Railway Company--Assignment of Lease Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company and Sierra Northern Railway Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railway Company (SCMB), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire by assignment from Sierra Northern Railway its lease...

Study on high reliability safety valve for railway vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Random vibration analysis of train-bridge under track irregularities and traveling seismic waves using train-slab track-bridge interaction model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Zhi-Ping; Zhao, Yan-Gang; Xu, Wen-Tao; Yu, Zhi-Wu; Chen, Ling-Kun; Lou, Ping

2015-04-01

The frequent use of bridges in high-speed railway lines greatly increases the probability that trains are running on bridges when earthquakes occur. This paper investigates the random vibrations of a high-speed train traversing a slab track on a continuous girder bridge subjected to track irregularities and traveling seismic waves by the pseudo-excitation method (PEM). To derive the equations of motion of the train-slab track-bridge interaction system, the multibody dynamics and finite element method models are used for the train and the track and bridge, respectively. By assuming track irregularities to be fully coherent random excitations with time lags between different wheels and seismic accelerations to be uniformly modulated, non-stationary random excitations with time lags between different foundations, the random load vectors of the equations of motion are transformed into a series of deterministic pseudo-excitations based on PEM and the wheel-rail contact relationship. A computer code is developed to obtain the time-dependent random responses of the entire system. As a case study, the random vibration characteristics of an ICE-3 high-speed train traversing a seven-span continuous girder bridge simultaneously excited by track irregularities and traveling seismic waves are analyzed. The influence of train speed and seismic wave propagation velocity on the random vibration characteristics of the bridge and train are discussed.

Annoyance evaluation due to overall railway noise and vibration in Pisa urban areas.

PubMed

Licitra, Gaetano; Fredianelli, Luca; Petri, Davide; Vigotti, Maria Angela

2016-10-15

The noise impact of the whole railway infrastructure was characterized in the urban environment of Pisa, Italy. The ordinary train transits were considered, nevertheless it was given particular attention also to the noise sources referable to railway operations like manoeuvring, loading and unloading, truck movements, braking, squeals and whistles. These kinds of noise are usually neglected in the noise modelling and are hereafter called "unconventional noises". The characteristics of the railway infrastructure and the receptors' distribution guided the measuring point selection and led to a survey with a sample of 119 people ranging between the ages of 35 and 70 and residents in the area for at least 5 years. The differences between the ordinary noise modelling and the measured noise, including the unconventional ones, were investigated. Dose-effect relationships for %HA and measured or simulated railways noise were calculated and compared with others in literature. The last paragraph of this paper is dedicated to the exposure to railway vibration and its relation with noise exposure. The results show the limitations of traditional noise mapping for railway epidemiological studies based exclusively on ordinary transits and confirm the role of vibrations as enhancing factor for disturbance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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

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. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A rough set-based measurement model study on high-speed railway safety operation.

PubMed

Hu, Qizhou; Tan, Minjia; Lu, Huapu; Zhu, Yun

2018-01-01

Aiming to solve the safety problems of high-speed railway operation and management, one new method is urgently needed to construct on the basis of the rough set theory and the uncertainty measurement theory. The method should carefully consider every factor of high-speed railway operation that realizes the measurement indexes of its safety operation. After analyzing the factors that influence high-speed railway safety operation in detail, a rough measurement model is finally constructed to describe the operation process. Based on the above considerations, this paper redistricts the safety influence factors of high-speed railway operation as 16 measurement indexes which include staff index, vehicle index, equipment index and environment. And the paper also provides another reasonable and effective theoretical method to solve the safety problems of multiple attribute measurement in high-speed railway operation. As while as analyzing the operation data of 10 pivotal railway lines in China, this paper respectively uses the rough set-based measurement model and value function model (one model for calculating the safety value) for calculating the operation safety value. The calculation result shows that the curve of safety value with the proposed method has smaller error and greater stability than the value function method's, which verifies the feasibility and effectiveness.

The Development of Model for Measuring Railway Wheels Manufacturing Readiness Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inrawan Wiratmadja, Iwan; Mufid, Anas

2016-02-01

In an effort to grow the railway wheel industry in Indonesia and reduce the dependence on imports, Metal Industries Development Center (MIDC) makes the implementation of the railway wheel manufacturing technology in Indonesia. MIDC is an institution based on research and development having a task to research the production of railway wheels prototype and acts as a supervisor to the industry in Indonesia, for implementing the railway wheel manufacturing technology. The process of implementing manufacturing technology requires a lot of resources. Therefore it is necessary to measure the manufacturing readiness process. Measurement of railway wheels manufacturing readiness was in this study done using the manufacturing readiness level (MRL) model from the United States Department of Defense. MRL consists of 10 manufacturing readiness levels described by 90 criteria and 184 sub-criteria. To get a manufacturing readiness measurement instrument that is good and accurate, the development process involved experts through expert judgment method and validated with a content validity ratio (CVR). Measurement instrument developed in this study consist of 448 indicators. The measurement results show that MIDC's railway wheels manufacturing readiness is at the level 4. This shows that there is a gap between the current level of manufacturing readiness owned by MIDC and manufacturing readiness levels required to achieve the program objectives, which is level 5. To achieve the program objectives at level 5, a number of actions were required to be done by MIDC. Indicators that must be improved to be able to achieve level 5 are indicators related to the cost and financing, process capability and control, quality management, workers, and manufacturing management criteria.

77 FR 2127 - Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C.-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Birmingham Southern...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-13

... Terminal Railway, L.L.C.--Acquisition and Operation Exemption--Birmingham Southern Railroad Company Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C. (BHRR), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49... Exemption--Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C., wherein Watco Holdings, Inc., seeks Board approval to...

Large-scale application of the flood damage model RAilway Infrastructure Loss (RAIL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellermann, Patric; Schönberger, Christine; Thieken, Annegret H.

2016-11-01

Experience has shown that river floods can significantly hamper the reliability of railway networks and cause extensive structural damage and disruption. As a result, the national railway operator in Austria had to cope with financial losses of more than EUR 100 million due to flooding in recent years. Comprehensive information on potential flood risk hot spots as well as on expected flood damage in Austria is therefore needed for strategic flood risk management. In view of this, the flood damage model RAIL (RAilway Infrastructure Loss) was applied to estimate (1) the expected structural flood damage and (2) the resulting repair costs of railway infrastructure due to a 30-, 100- and 300-year flood in the Austrian Mur River catchment. The results were then used to calculate the expected annual damage of the railway subnetwork and subsequently analysed in terms of their sensitivity to key model assumptions. Additionally, the impact of risk aversion on the estimates was investigated, and the overall results were briefly discussed against the background of climate change and possibly resulting changes in flood risk. The findings indicate that the RAIL model is capable of supporting decision-making in risk management by providing comprehensive risk information on the catchment level. It is furthermore demonstrated that an increased risk aversion of the railway operator has a marked influence on flood damage estimates for the study area and, hence, should be considered with regard to the development of risk management strategies.

An overview: modern techniques for railway vehicle on-board health monitoring systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chunsheng; Luo, Shihui; Cole, Colin; Spiryagin, Maksym

2017-07-01

Health monitoring systems with low-cost sensor networks and smart algorithms are always needed in both passenger trains and heavy haul trains due to the increasing need for reliability and safety in the railway industry. This paper focuses on an overview of existing approaches applied for railway vehicle on-board health monitoring systems. The approaches applied in the data measurement systems and the data analysis systems in railway on-board health monitoring systems are presented in this paper, including methodologies, theories and applications. The pros and cons of the various approaches are analysed to determine appropriate benchmarks for an effective and efficient railway vehicle on-board health monitoring system. According to this review, inertial sensors are the most popular due to their advantages of low cost, robustness and low power consumption. Linearisation methods are required for the model-based methods which would inevitably introduce error to the estimation results, and it is time-consuming to include all possible conditions in the pre-built database required for signal-based methods. Based on this review, future development trends in the design of new low-cost health monitoring systems for railway vehicles are discussed.

Rail-lex Slovenia--A Modern Railway Dictionary (Joint Venture Case Study).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jakopin, Primoz

Rail-lex Slovenia is a project to develop a dictionary of railway terminology in the Slovenian language, part of a larger undertaking of the International Union of Railways to develop a modern, multilingual communication infrastructure. Participating organizations represent 22 European languages. Two partners in the Rail-lex Slovenia venture are…

Seismic impact of the railway on the geotechnical constructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Instructor Training on British Railways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, J. D.

1970-01-01

The value of instructor training was recognized by British Railways as early as 1950 with the setting up of a training center at Darlington. This article shows the results of this continuous training experience in the benefits to be obtained from re-appraisal techniques and practical work. (Author/EB)

Exposure-response relationships for annoyance due to freight and passenger railway vibration exposure in residential environments.

PubMed

Sharp, Calum; Woodcock, James; Sica, Gennaro; Peris, Eulalia; Moorhouse, Andrew T; Waddington, David C

2014-01-01

In this work, exposure-response relationships for annoyance due to freight and passenger railway vibration exposure in residential environments are developed, so as to better understand the differences in human response to these two sources of environmental vibration. Data for this research come from a field study comprising interviews with respondents and measurements of their vibration exposure (N = 752). A logistic regression model is able to accurately classify 96% of these measured railway vibration signals as freight or passenger based on two signal properties that quantify the duration and low frequency content of each signal. Exposure-response relationships are then determined using ordinal probit modeling with fixed thresholds. The results indicate that people are able to distinguish between freight and passenger railway vibration, and that the annoyance response due to freight railway vibration is significantly higher than that due to passenger railway vibration, even for equal levels of exposure. In terms of a community tolerance level, the population studied is 15 dB (re 10(-6) m s(-2)) more tolerant to passenger railway vibration than freight railway vibration. These results have implications for the expansion of freight traffic on rail, or for policies to promote passenger railway.

Machine vision inspection of railroad track

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-10

North American Railways and the United States Department of Transportation : (US DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) require periodic inspection of railway : infrastructure to ensure the safety of railway operation. This inspection is a critic...

Two Reconfigurable Flight-Control Design Methods: Robust Servomechanism and Control Allocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burken, John J.; Lu, Ping; Wu, Zheng-Lu; Bahm, Cathy

2001-01-01

Two methods for control system reconfiguration have been investigated. The first method is a robust servomechanism control approach (optimal tracking problem) that is a generalization of the classical proportional-plus-integral control to multiple input-multiple output systems. The second method is a control-allocation approach based on a quadratic programming formulation. A globally convergent fixed-point iteration algorithm has been developed to make onboard implementation of this method feasible. These methods have been applied to reconfigurable entry flight control design for the X-33 vehicle. Examples presented demonstrate simultaneous tracking of angle-of-attack and roll angle commands during failures of the fight body flap actuator. Although simulations demonstrate success of the first method in most cases, the control-allocation method appears to provide uniformly better performance in all cases.

A semi-active control suspension system for railway vehicles with magnetorheological fluid dampers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Xiukun; Zhu, Ming; Jia, Limin

2016-07-01

The high-speed train has achieved great progress in the last decades. It is one of the most important modes of transportation between cities. With the rapid development of the high-speed train, its safety issue is paid much more attention than ever before. To improve the stability of the vehicle with high speed, extra dampers (i.e. anti-hunting damper) are used in the traditional bogies with passive suspension system. However, the curving performance of the vehicle is undermined due to the extra lateral force generated by the dampers. The active suspension systems proposed in the last decades attempt to solve the vehicle steering issue. However, the active suspension systems need extra actuators driven by electrical power or hydraulic power. There are some implementation and even safety issues which are not easy to be overcome. In this paper, an innovative semi-active controlled lateral suspension system for railway vehicles is proposed. Four magnetorheological fluid dampers are fixed to the primary suspension system of each bogie. They are controlled by online controllers for enhancing the running stability on the straight track line on the one hand and further improving the curving performance by controlling the damper force on the other hand. Two control strategies are proposed in the light of the pure rolling concept. The effectiveness of the proposed strategies is demonstrated by SIMPACK and Matlab co-simulation for a full railway vehicle with two conventional bogies.

Prediction of vibrations induced by underground railway traffic in Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, S.; Liu, W. F.; Degrande, G.; Lombaert, G.; Liu, W. N.

2008-02-01

This paper examines the problem of subway induced vibrations on line 4 of Beijing metro, which is currently under construction and is planned to pass in close proximity of the Physics Laboratory of Beijing University. The laboratory has a lot of equipment that is very sensitive to traffic induced vibrations and future operation of metro line 4 is a matter of concern. Hence, it is important to study the influence of subway induced vibrations inside the laboratory and to propose a viable solution to mitigate the vibrations. In this paper, the tunnel north of Chengfulu station is modelled using a coupled periodic FE-BE model and the free-field response due to moving trains is predicted. In addition, vibration measurements have been performed on the site of the Physics Laboratory to estimate the existing vibration levels due to road traffic. The predicted and measured vibrations are superimposed to assess the vibrations due to the combined effect of road and railway traffic in the vicinity of the Physics Laboratory. Apart from the numerical investigations, vibration measurements have also been performed on a similar site at line 1 of Beijing metro to substantiate the estimated results on metro line 4. Finally, it is studied how the vibrations can be controlled using a floating slab track, which is widely used as an effective measure of vibration isolation in tunnels. The efficiency of a 7.9 Hz floating slab track as a vibration countermeasure is assessed in this paper. This study demonstrates the applicability of the numerical model for the relevant assessment of subway induced vibrations and its use to study the performance of different track structures in the tunnel.

Research in software allocation for advanced manned mission communications and tracking systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warnagiris, Tom; Wolff, Bill; Kusmanoff, Antone

1990-01-01

An assessment of the planned processing hardware and software/firmware for the Communications and Tracking System of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) was performed. The intent of the assessment was to determine the optimum distribution of software/firmware in the processing hardware for maximum throughput with minimum required memory. As a product of the assessment process an assessment methodology was to be developed that could be used for similar assessments of future manned spacecraft system designs. The assessment process was hampered by changing requirements for the Space Station. As a result, the initial objective of determining the optimum software/firmware allocation was not fulfilled, but several useful conclusions and recommendations resulted from the assessment. It was concluded that the assessment process would not be completely successful for a system with changing requirements. It was also concluded that memory requirements and hardware requirements were being modified to fit as a consequence of the change process, and although throughput could not be quantitized, potential problem areas could be identified. Finally, inherent flexibility of the system design was essential for the success of a system design with changing requirements. Recommendations resulting from the assessment included development of common software for some embedded controller functions, reduction of embedded processor requirements by hardwiring some Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) to make better use of processor capabilities, and improvement in communications between software development personnel to enhance the integration process. Lastly, a critical observation was made regarding the software integration tasks did not appear to be addressed in the design process to the degree necessary for successful satisfaction of the system requirements.

Flow assignment model for quantitative analysis of diverting bulk freight from road to railway

PubMed Central

Liu, Chang; Wang, Jiaxi; Xiao, Jie; Liu, Siqi; Wu, Jianping; Li, Jian

2017-01-01

Since railway transport possesses the advantage of high volume and low carbon emissions, diverting some freight from road to railway will help reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with transport. This paper develops a flow assignment model for quantitative analysis of diverting truck freight to railway. First, a general network which considers road transportation, railway transportation, handling and transferring is established according to all the steps in the whole transportation process. Then general functions which embody the factors which the shippers will pay attention to when choosing mode and path are formulated. The general functions contain the congestion cost on road, the capacity constraints of railways and freight stations. Based on the general network and general cost function, a user equilibrium flow assignment model is developed to simulate the flow distribution on the general network under the condition that all shippers choose transportation mode and path independently. Since the model is nonlinear and challenging, we adopt a method that uses tangent lines to constitute envelope curve to linearize it. Finally, a numerical example is presented to test the model and show the method of making quantitative analysis of bulk freight modal shift between road and railway. PMID:28771536

Highway-railway at-grade crossing structures : trackbed and surface pressure measurements and assessments.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

Techniques are described for installing instrumentation within highway/railway crossings - to measure vertical pressures under moving highway and railway loadings - using earth pressure cells. Also, techniques are described for installing instrumenta...

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

PubMed

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

PubMed Central

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

A new method of power load prediction in electrification railway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dun, Xiaohong

2018-04-01

Aiming at the character of electrification railway, the paper mainly studies the problem of load prediction in electrification railway. After the preprocessing of data, and the similar days are separated on the basis of its statistical characteristics. Meanwhile the accuracy of different methods is analyzed. The paper provides a new thought of prediction and a new method of accuracy of judgment for the load prediction of power system.

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

PubMed

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

76 FR 31010 - Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.-Trackage Rights Exemption-Maine Northern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-27

... rights to Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (MMA) over approximately 151 miles of rail line owned... Madawaska, ME (Subject Trackage).\\1\\ MMA states that, as of January 14, 2011, it sold the Subject Trackage... operate these lines. \\1\\ The Subject Trackage was formerly part of the Madawaska Subdivision of MMA...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

PubMed

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.

PubMed

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.

Strategic Gang Scheduling for Railroad Maintenance

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-08-14

We address the railway track maintenance scheduling problem. The problem stems from the : significant percentage of the annual budget invested by the railway industry for maintaining its railway : tracks. The process requires consideration of human r...

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

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

Space Weather Effects on Mid-Latitude Railways: a Statistical Study of Anomalies observed in the Operation of Signaling and Train Control Equipment on the East-Siberian Railway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasinskii, V. V.; Ptitsyna, N. G.; Lyahov, N. N.; Dorman, L. I.; Villoresi, G.; Iucci, N.

The end result of a long chain of space weather events beginning on the Sun is the induction of currents in ground-based long conductors as power lines pipelines and railways Intense geomagnetically induced currents GIC can hamper rail traffic by disturbing signaling and train control systems In few cases induced voltages were believed to have affected signaling equipment in Sweden Jansen et al 2000 and in the North of Russia Belov et al 2005 GIC threats have been a concern for technological systems at high-latitude locations due to disturbances driven by electrojet intensifications However other geomagnetic storm processes such as SSC and ring current enhancement can also cause GIC concerns for the technological systems Objective of this report is to continue our research Ptitsyna et al 2005 on possible influence of geomagnetic storms on mid-latitude railways and to perform a statistical research in addition to case studies This will help in providing a basis for railway companies to evaluate the risk of disruption to signaling and train control equipment and devise engineering solutions In the present report we analyzed anomalies in operation of automatic signaling and train control equipment occurred in 2004-2005 on the East-Siberian Railway located at mid-latitudes latitudes 51N-56N longitudes 96E-114E The anomalies consist mainly in unstable functioning and false operations in traffic automatic control systems rail chain switches locomotive control devices etc often resulting in false engagement of railway

[Work condition of electricians servicing railway shunting and maneuvering yards].

PubMed

Talivanova, R V; Elizarov, B B; Kudrin, V A; Ovechkina, Zh V

1995-01-01

The article represents main occupational hazards and work conditions of such railway occupation as electromechanic and electromounter of shunting yards of railway stations. Complete hygienic evaluation of the occupational activities is given for individuals working at Moskovskaya, Oktjabrskaya and Sevemaya railroads. Health state of the workers was studied according to transitory disablement materials, the morbidity and its structure were analyzed. The authors outline some suggestions to improve the work conditions and decrease the morbidity.

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

PubMed

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.

An investigation of neighborhood-level social, economic and physical factors for railway suicide in Victoria, Australia.

PubMed

Too, Lay San; Spittal, Matthew J; Bugeja, Lyndal; Milner, Allison; Stevenson, Mark; McClure, Roderick

2015-09-01

This study investigates the associations between railway suicide and neighborhood social, economic, and physical determinants using postcode-level data. It also examines whether the associations are influenced by having high concentration of high-risk individuals in a neighborhood area. Railway suicide cases from Victoria, Australia for the period of 2001-2012, their age, sex, year of death, usual residential address and suicide location were obtained from the National Coronial Information System. Univariate negative binomial regression models were used to estimate the association between railway suicide and neighborhood-level social, economic and physical factors. Variables which were significant in these univariate models were then assessed in a multivariate model, controlling for age and sex of the deceased and other known confounders. Findings from the multivariate analysis indicate that an elevated rate of railway suicide was strongly associated with neighborhood exposure of higher number of railway stations (IRR=1.30 95% CI=1.16-1.46). Other significant neighborhood risk factors included patronage volume (IRR=1.06, 95% CI=1.02-1.11) and train frequency (IRR=1.02, 95% CI=1.01-1.04). An increased number of video surveillance systems at railway stations and carparks was significantly associated with a modest reduction in railway suicide risk (IRR=0.93, 95% CI=0.88-0.98). These associations were independent of concentration of high-risk individuals. Railway suicide may be under-reported in Australia. Interventions to prevent railway suicide should target vulnerable individuals residing in areas characterized by high station density, patronage volume and train frequency. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vibro-acoustic performance of newly designed tram track structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haladin, Ivo; Lakušić, Stjepan; Ahac, Maja

2017-09-01

Rail vehicles in interaction with a railway structure induce vibrations that are propagating to surrounding structures and cause noise disturbance in the surrounding areas. Since tram tracks in urban areas often share the running surface with road vehicles one of top priorities is to achieve low maintenance and long lasting structure. Research conducted in scope of this paper gives an overview of newly designed tram track structures designated for use on Zagreb tram network and their performance in terms of noise and vibration mitigation. Research has been conducted on a 150 m long test section consisted of three tram track types: standard tram track structure commonly used on tram lines in Zagreb, optimized tram structure for better noise and vibration mitigation and a slab track with double sleepers embedded in a concrete slab, which presents an entirely new approach of tram track construction in Zagreb. Track has been instrumented with acceleration sensors, strain gauges and revision shafts for inspection. Relative deformations give an insight into track structure dynamic load distribution through the exploitation period. Further the paper describes vibro-acoustic measurements conducted at the test site. To evaluate the track performance from the vibro-acoustical standpoint, detailed analysis of track decay rate has been analysed. Opposed to measurement technique using impact hammer for track decay rate measurements, newly developed measuring technique using vehicle pass by vibrations as a source of excitation has been proposed and analysed. Paper gives overview of the method, it’s benefits compared to standard method of track decay rate measurements and method evaluation based on noise measurements of the vehicle pass by.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Space Network Control Conference on Resource Allocation Concepts and Approaches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moe, Karen L. (Editor)

1991-01-01

The results are presented of the Space Network Control (SNC) Conference. In the late 1990s, when the Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is operational, Space Network communication services will be supported and controlled by the SNC. The goals of the conference were to survey existing resource allocation concepts and approaches, to identify solutions applicable to the Space Network, and to identify avenues of study in support of the SNC development. The conference was divided into three sessions: (1) Concepts for Space Network Allocation; (2) SNC and User Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) Human-Computer Interface Concepts; and (3) Resource Allocation Tools, Technology, and Algorithms. Key recommendations addressed approaches to achieving higher levels of automation in the scheduling process.

75 FR 56161 - Stillwater Central Railroad, Inc.-Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-15

... Railroad, Inc.--Trackage Rights Exemption-- BNSF Railway Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement (Trackage Agreement) dated December 29, 2004, BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) granted approximately 5.5 miles of incidental overhead trackage rights to Stillwater Central Railroad, Inc. (SLWC...

Educational Systems and the Trade-Off between Labor Market Allocation and Equality of Educational Opportunity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bol, Thijs; van de Werfhorst, Herman G.

2013-01-01

Educational systems with a high level of tracking and vocational orientation have been shown to improve the allocation of school-leavers in the labor market. However, tracked educational systems are also known to increase inequality of educational opportunity. This presumed trade-off between equality and labor market preparation is clearly rooted…

20 CFR 202.13 - Electric railways.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

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...

78 FR 63564 - BNSF Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Union Pacific Railroad Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35770] BNSF Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement, Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has agreed to grant overhead trackage rights to BNSF Railway...

77 FR 14058 - BNSF Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Union Pacific Railroad Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-08

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35601] BNSF Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement, Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has agreed to grant trackage rights to BNSF Railway Company...

76 FR 31009 - BNSF Railway Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Yellowstone Valley Railroad, Inc.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-27

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35503] BNSF Railway Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--Yellowstone Valley Railroad, Inc. Yellowstone Valley Railroad, Inc... local and overhead trackage rights to BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) over a rail line that it leases from...

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

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. PMID:28441768

76 FR 73776 - Wiregrass Central Railway, LLC-Abandonment Exemption-in Coffee County, AL

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-29

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. AB 1077X] Wiregrass Central Railway, LLC--Abandonment Exemption--in Coffee County, AL On November 9, 2011, Wiregrass Central Railway... railroad extending between milepost 820.0 and milepost 821.2 in Enterprise, in Coffee County, Ala. (the...

Experimental investigation of railway train-induced vibrations of surrounding ground and a nearby multi-story building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, He; Chen, Jianguo; Wei, Pengbo; Xia, Chaoyi; de Roeck, G.; Degrande, G.

2009-03-01

In this paper, a field experiment was carried out to study train-induced environmental vibrations. During the field experiment, velocity responses were measured at different locations of a six-story masonry structure near the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and along a small road adjacent to the building. The results show that the velocity response levels of the environmental ground and the building floors increase with train speed, and attenuate with the distance to the railway track. Heavier freight trains induce greater vibrations than lighter passenger trains. In the multi-story building, the lateral velocity levels increase monotonically with floor elevation, while the vertical ones increase with floor elevation in a fluctuating manner. The indoor floor vibrations are much lower than the outdoor ground vibrations. The lateral vibration of the building along the direction of weak structural stiffness is greater than along the direction with stronger stiffness. A larger room produces greater floor vibrations than the staircase at the same elevation, and the vibration at the center of a room is greater than at its corner. The vibrations of the building were compared with the Federal Transportation Railroad Administration (FTA) criteria for acceptable ground-borne vibrations expressed in terms of rms velocity levels in decibels. The results show that the train-induced building vibrations are serious, and some exceed the allowance given in relevant criterion.

Prediction of pilot reserve attention capacity during air-to-air target tracking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Onstott, E. D.; Faulkner, W. H.

1977-01-01

Reserve attention capacity of a pilot was calculated using a pilot model that allocates exclusive model attention according to the ranking of task urgency functions whose variables are tracking error and error rate. The modeled task consisted of tracking a maneuvering target aircraft both vertically and horizontally, and when possible, performing a diverting side task which was simulated by the precise positioning of an electrical stylus and modeled as a task of constant urgency in the attention allocation algorithm. The urgency of the single loop vertical task is simply the magnitude of the vertical tracking error, while the multiloop horizontal task requires a nonlinear urgency measure of error and error rate terms. Comparison of model results with flight simulation data verified the computed model statistics of tracking error of both axes, lateral and longitudinal stick amplitude and rate, and side task episodes. Full data for the simulation tracking statistics as well as the explicit equations and structure of the urgency function multiaxis pilot model are presented.

Assessment of railway wagon suspension characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

PubMed

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.

Predicting surface vibration from underground railways through inhomogeneous soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Simon; Hunt, Hugh

2012-04-01

Noise and vibration from underground railways is a major source of disturbance to inhabitants near subways. To help designers meet noise and vibration limits, numerical models are used to understand vibration propagation from these underground railways. However, the models commonly assume the ground is homogeneous and neglect to include local variability in the soil properties. Such simplifying assumptions add a level of uncertainty to the predictions which is not well understood. The goal of the current paper is to quantify the effect of soil inhomogeneity on surface vibration. The thin-layer method (TLM) is suggested as an efficient and accurate means of simulating vibration from underground railways in arbitrarily layered half-spaces. Stochastic variability of the soil's elastic modulus is introduced using a K-L expansion; the modulus is assumed to have a log-normal distribution and a modified exponential covariance kernel. The effect of horizontal soil variability is investigated by comparing the stochastic results for soils varied only in the vertical direction to soils with 2D variability. Results suggest that local soil inhomogeneity can significantly affect surface velocity predictions; 90 percent confidence intervals showing 8 dB averages and peak values up to 12 dB are computed. This is a significant source of uncertainty and should be considered when using predictions from models assuming homogeneous soil properties. Furthermore, the effect of horizontal variability of the elastic modulus on the confidence interval appears to be negligible. This suggests that only vertical variation needs to be taken into account when modelling ground vibration from underground railways.

Amtrak performance tracking (APT) system : methodology summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-09-15

The Volpe Center collaborated with Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to develop a cost accounting system named Amtrak Performance Tracking (APT) used by Amtrak to manage, allocate, and report its costs. APTs initial development ...

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

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...

All Aboard the Information Super...Railway!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klassen, Frank, Jr.

1994-01-01

New information technology is viewed as analogous to a railway network that serves many, in diverse areas, and leads users to new frontiers. It is suggested that higher education can contribute to this system by developing useful new applications, providing guidelines for appropriate "passenger" behavior, and enhancing quality. (MSE)

Vehicle response-based track geometry assessment using multi-body simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraft, Sönke; Causse, Julien; Coudert, Frédéric

2018-02-01

The assessment of the geometry of railway tracks is an indispensable requirement for safe rail traffic. Defects which represent a risk for the safety of the train have to be identified and the necessary measures taken. According to current standards, amplitude thresholds are applied to the track geometry parameters measured by recording cars. This geometry-based assessment has proved its value but suffers from the low correlation between the geometry parameters and the vehicle reactions. Experience shows that some defects leading to critical vehicle reactions are underestimated by this approach. The use of vehicle responses in the track geometry assessment process allows identifying critical defects and improving the maintenance operations. This work presents a vehicle response-based assessment method using multi-body simulation. The choice of the relevant operation conditions and the estimation of the simulation uncertainty are outlined. The defects are identified from exceedances of track geometry and vehicle response parameters. They are then classified using clustering methods and the correlation with vehicle response is analysed. The use of vehicle responses allows the detection of critical defects which are not identified from geometry parameters.

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

PubMed

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.

Methodology for quantification of waste generated in Spanish railway construction works

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guzman Baez, Ana de; Villoria Saez, Paola; Rio Merino, Mercedes del

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Two equations for C and D waste estimation in railway construction works are developed. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Mixed C and D waste is the most generated category during railway construction works. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Tunnel construction is essential to quantify the waste generated during the works. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer There is a relationship between C and D waste generated and railway functional units. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer 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,more » 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.« less

77 FR 55898 - Norfolk Southern Railway Company-Abandonment Exemption-in Beaufort County, NC

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-11

...)] Norfolk Southern Railway Company--Abandonment Exemption--in Beaufort County, NC Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F-Exempt...) underlying the line. It seeks this abandonment at the behest of the ROW owner, PCS Phosphate, which wants to...

Fault Detection and Diagnosis of Railway Point Machines by Sound Analysis

PubMed Central

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

An automatic method for detecting sliding railway wheels and hot bearings using thermal imagery.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-05-03

One of the most important safety-related tasks in the rail industry is early detection of defective rolling : stock components. Railway wheels and wheel bearings are two components prone to damage due to : their interactions with brakes and railway t...

The use of decay rates to analyse the performance of railway track in rolling noise generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, C. J. C.; Thompson, D. J.; Diehl, R. J.

2006-06-01

Through the development and testing of theoretical models for rolling noise in the past, it has been well demonstrated that the rate of decay of vibration along the rail is closely linked to the noise performance of the track, since it controls the effective radiating length of the rail. The decay rates of vibration along the rail have long been used by researchers as an intermediate, measurable parameter by which to test and improve the accuracy of prediction models. Recently, it has been suggested that the decay rates should be used as a criterion for the selection of track for noise measurements that are part of the acceptance testing of interoperable trains in Europe. In this context, a more detailed understanding of the factors that affect the measurement of decay rates and a consistent approach to the data processing have become important topics. Here, a method is suggested for the calculation of decay rates from frequency response measurements. Different effects are shown in the measured decay rates of a ballasted track with mono-bloc sleepers, a slab track and a ballasted track with bi-bloc sleepers. In the last case, a model for a periodically supported track is used to study the effects observed. It is shown that a peak in the decay rate just above the pinned-pinned frequency may be overestimated because of the measurement procedure that has been used.

Wind tunnel analysis of the aerodynamic loads on rolling stock over railway embankments: the effect of shelter windbreaks.

PubMed

Avila-Sanchez, Sergio; Pindado, Santiago; Lopez-Garcia, Oscar; Sanz-Andres, Angel

2014-01-01

Wind-flow pattern over embankments involves an overexposure of the rolling stock travelling on them to wind loads. Windbreaks are a common solution for changing the flow characteristic in order to decrease unwanted effects induced by the presence of cross-wind. The shelter effectiveness of a set of windbreaks placed over a railway twin-track embankment is experimentally analysed. A set of two-dimensional wind tunnel tests are undertaken and results corresponding to pressure tap measurements over a section of a typical high-speed train are herein presented. The results indicate that even small-height windbreaks provide sheltering effects to the vehicles. Also, eaves located at the windbreak tips seem to improve their sheltering effect.

Wind Tunnel Analysis of the Aerodynamic Loads on Rolling Stock over Railway Embankments: The Effect of Shelter Windbreaks

PubMed Central

Avila-Sanchez, Sergio; Lopez-Garcia, Oscar; Sanz-Andres, Angel

2014-01-01

Wind-flow pattern over embankments involves an overexposure of the rolling stock travelling on them to wind loads. Windbreaks are a common solution for changing the flow characteristic in order to decrease unwanted effects induced by the presence of cross-wind. The shelter effectiveness of a set of windbreaks placed over a railway twin-track embankment is experimentally analysed. A set of two-dimensional wind tunnel tests are undertaken and results corresponding to pressure tap measurements over a section of a typical high-speed train are herein presented. The results indicate that even small-height windbreaks provide sheltering effects to the vehicles. Also, eaves located at the windbreak tips seem to improve their sheltering effect. PMID:25544954

Research on high-speed railway's vibration analysis checking based on intelligent mobile terminal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Peigang; Xie, Shulin; Zhao, Xuefeng

2017-04-01

Recently, the development of high-speed railway meets the requirement of society booming and it has gradually become the first choice for long-length journey. Since ensuring the safety and stable operation are of great importance to high-speed trains owing to its unique features, vibration analysis checking is one of main means to be adopted. Due to the popularization of Smartphone, in this research, a novel public-participating method to achieve high-speed railway's vibration analysis checking based on smartphone and an inspection application of high-speed railway line built in the intelligent mobile terminal were proposed. Utilizing the accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS and other high-performance sensors which were integrated in smartphone, the application can obtain multiple parameters like acceleration, angle, etc and pinpoint the location. Therefore, through analyzing the acceleration data in time domain and frequency domain using fast Fourier transform, the research compared much of data from monitoring tests under different measure conditions and measuring points. Furthermore, an idea of establishing a system about analysis checking was outlined in paper. It has been validated that the smartphone-based high-speed railway line inspection system is reliable and feasible on the high-speed railway lines. And it has more advantages, such as convenience, low cost and being widely used. Obviously, the research has important practical significance and broad application prospects.

Water Development, Allocation, and Institutions: A Role for Integrated Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, F. A.

2008-12-01

Many parts of the world suffer from inadequate water infrastructure, inefficient water allocation, and weak water institutions. Each of these three challenges compounds the burdens imposed by inadequacies associated with the other two. Weak water infrastructure makes it hard to allocate water efficiently and undermines tracking of water rights and use, which blocks effective functioning of water institutions. Inefficient water allocation makes it harder to secure resources to develop new water infrastructure. Poorly developed water institutions undermine the security of water rights, which damages incentives to develop water infrastructure or use water efficiently. This paper reports on the development of a prototype basin scale economic optimization, in which existing water supplies are allocated more efficiently in the short run to provide resources for more efficient long-run water infrastructure development. Preliminary results provide the basis for designing water administrative proposals, building effective water infrastructure, increasing farm income, and meeting transboundary delivery commitments. The application is to the Kabul River Basin in Afghanistan, where food security has been compromised by a history of drought, war, damaged irrigation infrastructure, lack of reservoir storage, inefficient water allocation, and weak water institutions. Results illustrate increases in economic efficiency achievable when development programs simultaneously address interdependencies in water allocation, development, and institutions.

75 FR 3523 - Union Pacific Railroad Company-Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-21

... Pacific Railroad Company--Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement dated December 22, 2009, BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has agreed to grant temporary nonexclusive overhead trackage rights to Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) over BNSF lines...

Track-based event recognition in a realistic crowded environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Huis, Jasper R.; Bouma, Henri; Baan, Jan; Burghouts, Gertjan J.; Eendebak, Pieter T.; den Hollander, Richard J. M.; Dijk, Judith; van Rest, Jeroen H.

2014-10-01

Automatic detection of abnormal behavior in CCTV cameras is important to improve the security in crowded environments, such as shopping malls, airports and railway stations. This behavior can be characterized at different time scales, e.g., by small-scale subtle and obvious actions or by large-scale walking patterns and interactions between people. For example, pickpocketing can be recognized by the actual snatch (small scale), when he follows the victim, or when he interacts with an accomplice before and after the incident (longer time scale). This paper focusses on event recognition by detecting large-scale track-based patterns. Our event recognition method consists of several steps: pedestrian detection, object tracking, track-based feature computation and rule-based event classification. In the experiment, we focused on single track actions (walk, run, loiter, stop, turn) and track interactions (pass, meet, merge, split). The experiment includes a controlled setup, where 10 actors perform these actions. The method is also applied to all tracks that are generated in a crowded shopping mall in a selected time frame. The results show that most of the actions can be detected reliably (on average 90%) at a low false positive rate (1.1%), and that the interactions obtain lower detection rates (70% at 0.3% FP). This method may become one of the components that assists operators to find threatening behavior and enrich the selection of videos that are to be observed.

78 FR 79726 - Norfolk Southern Railway Company-Abandonment Exemption-in Gaston County, NC

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-31

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. AB 290 (Sub-No. 339X)] Norfolk Southern Railway Company--Abandonment Exemption--in Gaston County, NC Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F-Exempt Abandonments to abandon approximately 0.5 miles of rail...

Linear Quadratic Tracking Design for a Generic Transport Aircraft with Structural Load Constraints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burken, John J.; Frost, Susan A.; Taylor, Brian R.

2011-01-01

When designing control laws for systems with constraints added to the tracking performance, control allocation methods can be utilized. Control allocations methods are used when there are more command inputs than controlled variables. Constraints that require allocators are such task as; surface saturation limits, structural load limits, drag reduction constraints or actuator failures. Most transport aircraft have many actuated surfaces compared to the three controlled variables (such as angle of attack, roll rate & angle of side slip). To distribute the control effort among the redundant set of actuators a fixed mixer approach can be utilized or online control allocation techniques. The benefit of an online allocator is that constraints can be considered in the design whereas the fixed mixer cannot. However, an online control allocator mixer has a disadvantage of not guaranteeing a surface schedule, which can then produce ill defined loads on the aircraft. The load uncertainty and complexity has prevented some controller designs from using advanced allocation techniques. This paper considers actuator redundancy management for a class of over actuated systems with real-time structural load limits using linear quadratic tracking applied to the generic transport model. A roll maneuver example of an artificial load limit constraint is shown and compared to the same no load limitation maneuver.

Influence of tunnel and soil parameters on vibrations from underground railways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, S.; Stanus, Y.; Lombaert, G.; Degrande, G.

2009-10-01

A parametric study is performed to identify the key parameters which have an important influence on the generation and propagation of vibrations from underground railways. In this paper, the parameters related to the tunnel and the soil are considered and their influence on the free field response is studied. The coupled periodic finite element-boundary element model and the pipe-in-pipe model have been used for this study. Both models account for the dynamic interaction between the train, the track, the tunnel and the soil. A general analytical formulation is used to compute the response of three-dimensional invariant or periodic media that are excited by moving loads. The response to moving loads is written in terms of the axle loads and the transfer functions. The parametric study can be carried out by separately analyzing the variations in the axle loads and the transfer functions. The axle loads are mainly influenced by the parameters related to the vehicle and the track, while the transfer functions are influenced by the properties of the track, the tunnel and the soil. In the present paper, the parameters related to the tunnel and soil are investigated. It is observed that the material damping and the shear modulus of the soil have an important influence on the propagation of vibrations. The influence of structural changes to the tunnel as well as geometrical properties such as the size and shape of the tunnel is investigated. It is observed that a larger tunnel results in a smaller response above the tunnel as more energy is radiated downwards. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the tunnel geometry has a considerable influence on the response closer to the tunnel.

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

PubMed

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 <0.01) . There were significant differences in the positive rate of mental health status between workers with different ages, marital status, education levels, histories of abortion, or annual family income levels ( P <0.01) . The scores of somatization (1.54±0.62) and horror (1.28±0.47) in SCL-90 were significantly higher than the Chinese adult norm ( P <0.01) . The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that exposure to occupational hazardous factors, night shift, overwork, and carrying heavy objects were associated with 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

77 FR 67442 - Soo Line Railroad Company-Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-09

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35687] Soo Line Railroad Company--Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption-- BNSF Railway Company BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), pursuant... rights to Soo Line Railroad Company d/b/a Canadian Pacific (Soo Line) over BNSF's line of railroad...

Free vibration analysis of composite railway wheels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganesan, N.; Ramesh, T. C.

1992-02-01

Composite materials have been finding increasing applications in the field of transportation. A U.S.A. patent suggesting the use of composite materials for railway wheels is the basis for this paper. In thispaper, the natural vibrations of railway wheels made of composite materials have been theoretically estimated by the finite element method and compared with those in wheels made of steel. A thick conical shell element with displacements in the axial, radial and circumferential directions has been used in the analysis. This element brings out the coupling between the different modes of vibration, and this aspect is important in the dynamic analysis of composite wheels. Three geometries of wheels and two materials (Kevlar-epoxy and graphite-epoxy) have been used in the study. For each of these materials, two fiber orientations (radial and circumferential) have been taken up and their natural frequencies determined.

Bottom to Top Approach for Railway KPI Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The Dynamic Tensile Behavior of Railway Wheel Steel at High Strain Rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jing, Lin; Han, Liangliang; Zhao, Longmao; Zhang, Ying

2016-11-01

The dynamic tensile tests on D1 railway wheel steel at high strain rates were conducted using a split Hopkinson tensile bar (SHTB) apparatus, compared to quasi-static tests. Three different types of specimens, which were machined from three different positions (i.e., the rim, web and hub) of a railway wheel, were prepared and examined. The rim specimens were checked to have a higher yield stress and ultimate tensile strength than those web and hub specimens under both quasi-static and dynamic loadings, and the railway wheel steel was demonstrated to be strain rate dependent in dynamic tension. The dynamic tensile fracture surfaces of all the wheel steel specimens are cup-cone-shaped morphology on a macroscopic scale and with the quasi-ductile fracture features on the microscopic scale.

Lateralized electrical brain activity reveals covert attention allocation during speaking.

PubMed

Rommers, Joost; Meyer, Antje S; Praamstra, Peter

2017-01-27

Speakers usually begin to speak while only part of the utterance has been planned. Earlier work has shown that speech planning processes are reflected in speakers' eye movements as they describe visually presented objects. However, to-be-named objects can be processed to some extent before they have been fixated upon, presumably because attention can be allocated to objects covertly, without moving the eyes. The present study investigated whether EEG could track speakers' covert attention allocation as they produced short utterances to describe pairs of objects (e.g., "dog and chair"). The processing difficulty of each object was varied by presenting it in upright orientation (easy) or in upside down orientation (difficult). Background squares flickered at different frequencies in order to elicit steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs). The N2pc component, associated with the focusing of attention on an item, was detectable not only prior to speech onset, but also during speaking. The time course of the N2pc showed that attention shifted to each object in the order of mention prior to speech onset. Furthermore, greater processing difficulty increased the time speakers spent attending to each object. This demonstrates that the N2pc can track covert attention allocation in a naming task. In addition, an effect of processing difficulty at around 200-350ms after stimulus onset revealed early attention allocation to the second to-be-named object. The flickering backgrounds elicited SSVEPs, but SSVEP amplitude was not influenced by processing difficulty. These results help complete the picture of the coordination of visual information uptake and motor output during speaking. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation of a piezoelectric energy harvester in railway health monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jingcheng; Jang, Shinae; Tang, Jiong

2014-03-01

With development of wireless sensor technology, wireless sensor network has shown a great potential for railway health monitoring. However, how to supply continuous power to the wireless sensor nodes is one of the critical issues in long-term full-scale deployment of the wireless smart sensors. Some energy harvesting methodologies have been available including solar, vibration, wind, etc; among them, vibration-based energy harvester using piezoelectric material showed the potential for converting ambient vibration energy to electric energy in railway health monitoring even for underground subway systems. However, the piezoelectric energy harvester has two major problems including that it could only generate small amount of energy, and that it should match the exact narrow band natural frequency with the excitation frequency. To overcome these problems, a wide band piezoelectric energy harvester, which could generate more power on various frequencies regions, has been designed and validated with experimental test. Then it was applied to a full-scale field test using actual railway train. The power generation of the wide band piezoelectric array has been compared to a narrow-band, resonant-based, piezoelectric energy harvester.

76 FR 22746 - Wiregrass Central Railway, LLC-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Wiregrass Central Railroad...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-22

... Railway, LLC--Acquisition and Operation Exemption--Wiregrass Central Railroad Company, Inc. Wiregrass Central Railway, LLC (WCR), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire from Wiregrass Central Railroad Company, Inc. (WGCR), and to operate approximately 21.2 miles of...

Behaviour patterns preceding a railway suicide: Explorative study of German Federal Police officers' experiences

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Constant high-level numbers of railway suicides indicate that prevention strategies against railway suicides are urgently needed. The main question of the present study was whether pre-crash railway suicide behaviour can be identified, using German Federal Police officers experience with suicidal events in railway related environments. Methods To collect information on pre-crash railway suicide behaviour, a questionnaire was used and made available on the German Federal Police intranet. A total of 202 subjects (mean age: 41 years, sex: 84.9% male) were included in the analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to predict the prevention of suicide (first model) or demand for counselling (second model) as outcomes. Sex, age, years of service, number of experienced suicides, suicides personally observed, information on suicides obtained from witnesses and finally either counselling/debriefing (first model) or whether officers had prevented a suicide (second model) were used as predictors. Results A considerable proportion of police officers reported behavioural patterns preceding a suicide. Half of them observed the dropping or leaving behind of personal belongings or the avoidance of eye contact, more than a third erratic gesture, mimic or movement. Erratic communication patterns and general confusion were each reported by about one quarter. One fifth indicated the influence of alcohol. Less frequently observed behaviour was aimlessly wandering (14.3%) and out of the ordinary clothing (4%). About one third of all railway suicide victims committed suicide in stations. Of those, 70% had chosen an eminent spot. The multivariate logistic regression model using prevented suicides as the outcome identified the number of suicides experienced, counselling/debriefing and having personally observed a suicide as variables with significant impact. The model using counselling/debriefing as the outcome identified age and having prevented a

Experimental analysis of a high-speed railway bridge under Thalys trains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, H.; De Roeck, G.; Zhang, N.; Maeck, J.

2003-11-01

In this paper dynamic experiments on the Antoing Bridge located on the high-speed railway line between Paris and Brussels are reported. The experiments were co-operatively carried out by the Northern Jiaotong University from China, the Catholic University of Leuven, the Free University of Brussels and the Belgium Railway Company NMBS-SNCB from Belgium. The bridge is composed of multi-span simply supported PC girders with spans of 50 m and U-shaped sections. The loads are the high-speed Thalys trains with articulated vehicles. The speeds of the Thalys trains were between 265 and 310 km/h. In the experiments, the dynamic responses of the bridge such as the deflections, the accelerations and the strains that were measured by a laser velocity displacement transducer accelerometers and strain gauges, respectively. Many useful results have been obtained from the analysis of the recorded data. The tests and the measured results can be a reference for the study and the design of high-speed railway bridges.

Studies on motion sickness caused by high curve speed railway vehicles. Evaluation of the swing and its effects on passengers and conductors.

PubMed

Ueno, M; Ogawa, T; Nakagiri, S; Arisawa, T; Mino, Y; Oyama, K; Kodera, R; Taniguchi, T; Kanazawa, S; Ohta, T

1986-07-01

The high curve speed railway vehicles (HCSRVs) of the Japanese National Railway have been operating since 1973 with the aim of increasing speed on ordinary routes with many curve track sections. Although the aim of increased speed has been attained, it has been pointed out that the swing of HCSRVs is stronger than that of ordinary-type trains and it may increase motion sickness among the passengers and conductors. In this study, the authors examined motion sickness symptoms among 119 passengers and 100 conductors of both trains with a self-administered questionnaire, and evaluated the vibration acceleration on the floor by using the 1/3 Octave Band Analyzer and the Fast Fourier Transform method (FFT). The results can be summarized as follows: There were more passengers and conductors suffering from motion sickness riding on HCSRVs than those on the control trains. HCSRVs had the peak values of vibration acceleration within the range of 0.5 Hz and 1 Hz at horizontal, although the control train showed them above 1.0 Hz. These results suggest that the high rates of subjective complaints of passengers and conductors riding on HCSRVs were affected by vibration acceleration of frequency lower than 1 Hz.

Ultrasonic detection of plate cracks in railway wheels

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-07-31

The results of experimental efforts established the feasibility of the detection of railway wheel plate cracks by an ultrasonic pulse echo testing technique from the tread surface. Feasibility and test sensitivities were established using artificial ...

High-speed railway signal trackside equipment patrol inspection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Nan

2018-03-01

High-speed railway signal trackside equipment patrol inspection system comprehensively applies TDI (time delay integration), high-speed and highly responsive CMOS architecture, low illumination photosensitive technique, image data compression technique, machine vision technique and so on, installed on high-speed railway inspection train, and achieves the collection, management and analysis of the images of signal trackside equipment appearance while the train is running. The system will automatically filter out the signal trackside equipment images from a large number of the background image, and identify of the equipment changes by comparing the original image data. Combining with ledger data and train location information, the system accurately locate the trackside equipment, conscientiously guiding maintenance.

The Development and Implementation of Noise Control Measures on AN Urban Railway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitzgerald, B. M.

1996-05-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of noise control measures by Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London, to meet obligations set out in its Noise and Vibration Policy, adherence to which is set by an Act of the U. K. Parliament. Noise levels from the operational railway exceeded targets given in the policy at two noise-sensitive urban residential sites. Following diagnosis by noise survey of the problems specific to each site and by noise reduction predictions, acoustic absorbent screens were installed which, it was subsequently demonstrated, succeeded in providing the required level of noise reduction. These schemes needed to accommodate the requirements of the railway for maintenance (leading to the barriers having to be fully demountable), safe trackside walking routes and easy passenger evacuation from trains. During construction, liaison was developed with the local authority for the control of environmental pollution (primarily noise) and hours of working (which had to suit railway possessions) and good relations were fostered with local residents through regular contact. Fulfilment of project objectives was demonstrated by a programme of post-installation noise measurements. The paper concludes with an evaluation of noise mitigation performance achieved together with a suggested alternative strategy for addressing the noise problem from a system-wide perspective.

Dynamics of vehicles in variable velocity runs over non-homogeneous flexible track and foundation with two point input models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, D.; Upadhyay, H. C.

1992-07-01

Vehicles obtain track-induced input through the wheels, which commonly number more than one. Analysis available for the vehicle response in a variable velocity run on a non-homogeneously profiled flexible track supported by compliant inertial foundation is for a linear heave model having a single ground input. This analysis is being extended to two point input models with heave-pitch and heave-roll degrees of freedom. Closed form expressions have been developed for the system response statistics. Results are presented for a railway coach and track/foundation problem, and the performances of heave, heave-pitch and heave-roll models have been compared. The three models are found to agree in describing the track response. However, the vehicle sprung mass behaviour is predicted to be different by these models, indicating the strong effect of coupling on the vehicle vibration.

Railway/highway at-grade crossing management : an overview.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

This report draws on data from around the United States to describe the features of a successful : railway/highway at-grade crossing management program; it emphasizes the highway/trackbed structures : and crossing surfaces. Developing a structurally ...

[Railway use of asbestos-containing rubble: environmental hygienic aspects].

PubMed

Kaptsov, V A; Kashanskiĭ, S V; Domnin, S G; Tikhova, T S; Trofimova, E V; Novoselova, T A; Bogdanov, G B

2003-01-01

The paper presents the results of a study of the gravimetric and counting concentrations of respirable asbestos fibers while working with sand-and-crushed stone mixtures, obtained from the concentration of chrysotile asbestos, at distances of 25, 50, and 100 m from the working place, as well as in a car saloon when the electric train passes along the area of these operations following an hour, a day, and a year after the completion of work, in warm and colds seasons of a year. It is concluded that the use of asbestos-containing sand-and-crushed stone mixtures on the railway leads to a higher anthropogenic asbestos load on the population living in the railway right-of-way, on railway workers and passengers. In this connection, it is necessary to evaluate risk factors of asbestos-induced diseases among the above contingents. The authors consider that due to the fact that asbestos-containing sand-and-crushed stone mixtures are well wetted with water, followed by the formation of a firm surface crust that prevents dust formation, as well as the short duration and rare frequency of operations relating their change, it is necessary to irrigate the repair areas with water or surfactant liquids after work termination.

The relative importance of noise and vibration from railways.

PubMed

Howarth, H V; Griffin, M J

1990-06-01

An experiment was conducted to determine the subjective equivalence of railway noise and railway-induced building vibration, and hence the relative importance of the two stimuli. Six magnitudes of whole-body, vertical (z-axis) vibration and six levels of noise were presented simultaneously to each of 30 subjects in all 36 possible paired combinations. The stimuli were reproductions of the noise and vibration recorded inside a house during the passage of a train. The subjects were asked to indicate, after each presentation, which of the two stimuli (noise and vibration) they would prefer to be reduced. A seven-point scale was employed to indicate the total annoyance produced by the two stimuli. A subjective equivalence contour was determined from the levels at which 50% of the subjects preferred the reduction of noise and 50% preferred the reduction of vibration. The contour may be described by the relation L(AE) = 29.3 log10 VDV + 89.2, where L(AE) is the sound exposure level and VDV is the vibration dose value. This relation may be used to determine whether a reduction of noise or a reduction of vibration would be more beneficial to residents near railways. The total annoyance due to simultaneous noise and vibration was shown to depend on the magnitude of both stimuli.

75 FR 12329 - Union Pacific Railroad Company-Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-15

.... 13)] Union Pacific Railroad Company--Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption--BNSF Railway Company AGENCY... 49 CFR 1180.2(d)(7). The notice covered the agreement by BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) to extend to... railroad extending from BNSF milepost 579.3 near Mill Creek, OK, to BNSF milepost 631.1 near Joe Junction...

77 FR 20882 - Manning Grain Company; Acquisition and Operation Exemption; Fillmore Western Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-06

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35612] Manning Grain Company; Acquisition and Operation Exemption; Fillmore Western Railway Company Manning Grain Company (MGC), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire from Fillmore Western Railway Company (FWRC) and operate a...

[Sociomedical aspects of reduction of risk in the development of occupational diseases and industrial trauma in railway transport].

PubMed

Pankova, V B; Ivanov, V K; Kutovoĭ, V S

2001-01-01

The paper outlines the main constituents of occupational risk in railway workers, which are based on the sanitary and biomedical criteria of injury safety. Sociomedical aspects of the incidence of railway occupational diseases and injuries are discussed. A list of major occupational factors and causes that determine a high occupational risk in railway workers is given.

Profile of child labor in Indian railways.

PubMed

Mondal, Rakesh; Sarkar, Sumantra; Bhattacharya, Somnath; Sabui, Tapas; Mandal, Kalyanbrata; Ghosh, Jayanta; Bag, Toshibananda; Kumar, Nitish; Nandi, Madhumita

2012-10-01

To determine the socio-medical profile of child workers in Indian railways. This was a prospective longitudinal survey over one year. The children up to the age of 14 y entering the reserved second class sleeper compartment of long distance trains in Indian railways were included. The data were collected regarding their profile by the investigators either by interviewing or observation as per situation in the moving train in a predesigned proforma. Data pertaining to the social, demographic and medical aspects were collected. A total of eighty one children were noted in 22500 kilometers of train journey. Sex distribution (8:1) was unequal with males outnumbering females. This study, first of its kind, attempted to delineate a distinctive socio-medical profile in a special group of children. It might, on the behalf of social pediatrics, increase the awareness and help the society to formulate a rehabilitation policy in collaboration with national and international organizations.

Salmonella outbreak among railway and airline passengers.

PubMed

Hatakka, M

1992-01-01

A widespread outbreak by Salmonella infantis, infecting a total of 226 people, occurred in Finland at the beginning of August 1986. Of those infected, 107 were railway passengers, 91 were airline passengers and 28 were employed in a food processing establishment. The outbreak among the railway passengers was caused by egg sandwiches, the airline passengers were infected by a meal served on board and the catering employees by the breakfast served in the establishment. The outbreak was caused by food prepared in the establishment's kitchen. The employees' breakfasts had probably been contaminated by an employee who was a symptom-free Salmonella infantis carrier, and a number of the employees subsequently became infected, leading to widespread contamination of the food prepared in the establishment. The spread of the outbreak was further influenced by a heatwave at the time and by shortcomings in the cold storage facilities. The kitchen's hygiene supervision and the quality control of its output were reorganized after the outbreak.

Effect of railway safety education on the safety knowledge and behaviour intention of schoolchildren.

PubMed

Silla, Anne; Kallberg, Veli-Pekka

2016-04-01

This study was designed to evaluate whether railway safety lessons are effective in increasing schoolchildren's safety knowledge and behaviour intention. The railway safety education in schools included a 45-min lesson on safe behaviour in a railway environment directed at 8-11 year old schoolchildren. The lessons were held in four schools located near railway lines in Finland. The effectiveness of this measure was evaluated based on a short survey directed at pupils before the lesson (base level) and around 2-3 months later (post-lesson) based on three variables which are considered as strong determinants of actual behaviour: behaviour intention, estimated dangerousness of the behaviour, and level of knowledge on the legality of the behaviour. The results show that the change in the share of correct answers was positive regarding all questions except for one question in which the difference was not significant. Based on this we can reasonably assume that railway safety education in schools can have a positive effect for all the measured variables, although the effect is not necessarily large. The results indicate that these positive changes can have a positive effect on the frequency of trespassing (i.e. fewer unsafe crossings in the future). We can further assume that reduction in the frequency of trespassing would reduce the frequency of trespassing accidents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

77 FR 17122 - Indiana Southern Railroad, LLC-Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-23

... Railroad, LLC--Temporary Trackage Rights Exemption--Norfolk Southern Railway Company Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR), pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement (Agreement), has agreed to grant overhead temporary trackage rights to Indiana Southern Railroad, LLC (ISRR) over NSR's line of railroad...

75 FR 25313 - Stillwater Central Railroad, Inc.-Trackage Rights Exemption-Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-07

... Railroad, Inc.--Trackage Rights Exemption-- Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway Company, Inc., and Hollis & Eastern Railroad Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement (Trackage Agreement) dated January 22, 1992, Wichita, Tillman & Jackson Railway Co. (WTJ) granted approximately 4.6 miles of...

75 FR 12808 - Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.-Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment-In Aroostook...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-17

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [STB Docket No. AB-1043 (Sub-No. 1)] Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.--Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment--In Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, ME On February 25, 2010, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (MMA) filed with the...

77 FR 58218 - BNSF Railway Company-Abandonment Exemption-in McKinley County, N.M.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-19

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. AB 6 (Sub-No. 485X)] BNSF Railway Company--Abandonment Exemption--in McKinley County, N.M. BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has filed a... rail line located between milepost 14.50 and milepost 19.61, north of Defiance, in McKinley County, N.M...

75 FR 80894 - Wichita, Tillman & Jackson Railway Company-Lease Renewal Exemption-Union Pacific Railroad Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-23

... & Jackson Railway Company--Lease Renewal Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company Wichita, Tillman & Jackson Railway Company (WTJR) has filed a verified notice of exemption to renew its lease of... by Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP),\\2\\ extending between milepost 0.99 at Wichita Falls, Tex...

76 FR 31009 - Iowa Northern Railway Company-Operation Exemption-North Central Iowa Rail Corridor, LLC

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-27

... Railway Company--Operation Exemption--North Central Iowa Rail Corridor, LLC Iowa Northern Railway Company...) Docket No. FD 35507, North Central Iowa Rail Corridor, LLC--Acquisition Exemption--Union Pacific Railroad Company, in which North Central Iowa Rail Corridor, LLC seeks to acquire from Union Pacific Railroad...

Strain monitoring of a newly developed precast concrete track for high speed railway traffic using embedded fiber optic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crail, Stephanie; Reichel, D.; Schreiner, U.; Lindner, E.; Habel, Wolfgang R.; Hofmann, Detlef; Basedau, Frank; Brandes, K.; Barner, A.; Ecke, Wolfgang; Schroeder, Kerstin

2002-07-01

In a German slab track system (Feste Fahrbahn FF, system Boegl) for speeds up to 300 km/h and more different fiber optic sensors have been embedded in several levels and locations of the track system. The track system consists of prestressed precast panels of steel fiber concrete which are supported by a cat-in-situ concrete or asphalt base course. The sensors are to measure the bond behavior or the stress transfer in the track system. For that, tiny fiber-optic sensors - fiber Fabry-Perot and Bragg grating sensors - have been embedded very near to the interface of the layers. Measurements were taken on a full scale test sample (slab track panel of 6.45 m length) as well as on a real high speed track. The paper describes the measurement task and discusses aspects with regard to sensor design and prefabrication of the sensor frames as well as the embedding procedure into the concrete track. Results from static and dynamic full scale tests carried out in the testing laboratory of BAM and from measurements on a track are given.

Integral Sensor Fault Detection and Isolation for Railway Traction Drive.

PubMed

Garramiola, Fernando; Del Olmo, Jon; Poza, Javier; Madina, Patxi; Almandoz, Gaizka

2018-05-13

Due to the increasing importance of reliability and availability of electric traction drives in Railway applications, early detection of faults has become an important key for Railway traction drive manufacturers. Sensor faults are important sources of failures. Among the different fault diagnosis approaches, in this article an integral diagnosis strategy for sensors in traction drives is presented. Such strategy is composed of an observer-based approach for direct current (DC)-link voltage and catenary current sensors, a frequency analysis approach for motor current phase sensors and a hardware redundancy solution for speed sensors. None of them requires any hardware change requirement in the actual traction drive. All the fault detection and isolation approaches have been validated in a Hardware-in-the-loop platform comprising a Real Time Simulator and a commercial Traction Control Unit for a tram. In comparison to safety-critical systems in Aerospace applications, Railway applications do not need instantaneous detection, and the diagnosis is validated in a short time period for reliable decision. Combining the different approaches and existing hardware redundancy, an integral fault diagnosis solution is provided, to detect and isolate faults in all the sensors installed in the traction drive.

Integral Sensor Fault Detection and Isolation for Railway Traction Drive

PubMed Central

del Olmo, Jon; Poza, Javier; Madina, Patxi; Almandoz, Gaizka

2018-01-01

Due to the increasing importance of reliability and availability of electric traction drives in Railway applications, early detection of faults has become an important key for Railway traction drive manufacturers. Sensor faults are important sources of failures. Among the different fault diagnosis approaches, in this article an integral diagnosis strategy for sensors in traction drives is presented. Such strategy is composed of an observer-based approach for direct current (DC)-link voltage and catenary current sensors, a frequency analysis approach for motor current phase sensors and a hardware redundancy solution for speed sensors. None of them requires any hardware change requirement in the actual traction drive. All the fault detection and isolation approaches have been validated in a Hardware-in-the-loop platform comprising a Real Time Simulator and a commercial Traction Control Unit for a tram. In comparison to safety-critical systems in Aerospace applications, Railway applications do not need instantaneous detection, and the diagnosis is validated in a short time period for reliable decision. Combining the different approaches and existing hardware redundancy, an integral fault diagnosis solution is provided, to detect and isolate faults in all the sensors installed in the traction drive. PMID:29757251

40 CFR 96.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 96.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in...

40 CFR 96.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 96.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in...

40 CFR 96.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 96.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in...

40 CFR 96.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 96.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in...

40 CFR 96.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 96.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in...

76 FR 5648 - Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.-Modified Rail Certificate-in Aroostook and Penobscot...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-01

... Penobscot Counties, Me.; Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.--Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment--in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, ME. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (MMA) has requested..., approximately 233 miles of rail line in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, Me. This line was the subject of the...

Clutter in electronic medical records: examining its performance and attentional costs using eye tracking.

PubMed

Moacdieh, Nadine; Sarter, Nadine

2015-06-01

The objective was to use eye tracking to trace the underlying changes in attention allocation associated with the performance effects of clutter, stress, and task difficulty in visual search and noticing tasks. Clutter can degrade performance in complex domains, yet more needs to be known about the associated changes in attention allocation, particularly in the presence of stress and for different tasks. Frequently used and relatively simple eye tracking metrics do not effectively capture the various effects of clutter, which is critical for comprehensively analyzing clutter and developing targeted, real-time countermeasures. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were chosen as the application domain for this research. Clutter, stress, and task difficulty were manipulated, and physicians' performance on search and noticing tasks was recorded. Several eye tracking metrics were used to trace attention allocation throughout those tasks, and subjective data were gathered via a debriefing questionnaire. Clutter degraded performance in terms of response time and noticing accuracy. These decrements were largely accentuated by high stress and task difficulty. Eye tracking revealed the underlying attentional mechanisms, and several display-independent metrics were shown to be significant indicators of the effects of clutter. Eye tracking provides a promising means to understand in detail (offline) and prevent (in real time) major performance breakdowns due to clutter. Display designers need to be aware of the risks of clutter in EMRs and other complex displays and can use the identified eye tracking metrics to evaluate and/or adjust their display. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Prevention of railway trespassing by automatic sound warning-A pilot study.

PubMed

Kallberg, Veli-Pekka; Silla, Anne

2017-04-03

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a sound warning system on the frequency of trespassing at 2 pilot test sites in Finland. The effect of automatic prerecorded sound warning on the prevention of railway trespassing was evaluated based on observations at 2 test sites in Finland. At both sites an illegal footpath crossed the railway, and the average daily number of trespassers before implementation of the measures was about 18 at both sites. The results showed that trespassing was reduced at these sites by 18 and 44%, respectively. Because of the lack of proper control sites, it is possible that the real effects of the measure are somewhat smaller. The current study concludes that automatic sound warning may be efficient and cost effective at locations where fencing is not a viable option. However, it is not likely to be a cost-effective panacea for all kinds of sites where trespassing occurs, especially in countries like Finland where trespassing is scattered along the railway network rather than concentrated to a limited number of sites.

GSM-Railway as part of the European Rail Traffic Management System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bibac, Ionut

2007-05-01

GSM-R is a vital component inside the ERTMS which is also an essential element of European Community rail projects; investment in equipping and the rolling stock with ERTMS could reach 5 billion eurodollars in the period 2007-2016. GSM-R is the result of over ten years of collaboration between the various European railway companies, the railway communication industry and the different standardization bodies. GSM-R provides a secure platform for voice and data communication between the operational staff of the railway companies including drivers, dispatchers, shunting team members, train engineers, and station controllers. It delivers advanced features such as group calls, voice broadcast, location based connections, and call pre-emption in case of an emergency, which significantly improves communication, collaboration, and security management across operational staff members. Taking into account the above mentioned, the paper will permit to audience to discover the GSM-R network architecture, services and applications proposed by this technology together with the future development and market situation due to the market liberalization.

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

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...

78 FR 71037 - New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway Company, Inc.-Lease Exemption Containing Interchange Commitment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-27

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35777] New Orleans & Gulf... Company New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway Company, Inc. (NOGC), a Class III rail carrier, has filed a... to a third-party railroad, BNSF Railway Company and the New Orleans Public Belt are located in very...

Investigation of rail irregularity effects on wheel/rail dynamic force in slab track: Comparison of two and three dimensional models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadeghi, Javad; Khajehdezfuly, Amin; Esmaeili, Morteza; Poorveis, Davood

2016-07-01

Rail irregularity is one of the most significant load amplification factors in railway track systems. In this paper, the capability and effectiveness of the two main railway slab tracks modeling techniques in prediction of the influences of rail irregularities on the Wheel/Rail Dynamic Force (WRDF) were investigated. For this purpose, two 2D and 3D numerical models of vehicle/discontinuous slab track interaction were developed. The validation of the numerical models was made by comparing the results of the models with those obtained from comprehensive field tests carried out in this research. The effects of the harmonic and non-harmonic rail irregularities on the WRDF obtained from 3D and 2D models were investigated. The results indicate that the difference between WRDF obtained from 2D and 3D models is negligible when the irregularities on the right and left rails are the same. However, as the difference between irregularities of the right and left rails increases, the results obtained from 2D and 3D models are considerably different. The results indicate that 2D models have limitations in prediction of WRDF; that is, a 3D modeling technique is required to predict WRDF when there is uneven or non-harmonic irregularity with large amplitudes. The size and extent of the influences of rail irregularities on the wheel/rail forces were discussed leading to provide a better understanding of the rail-wheel contact behavior and the required techniques for predicting WRDF.

Human Factors Countermeasures to Improve Highway-Railway Intersection Safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-07-01

A field demonstration study in support of the evaluation of alternative railway-highway grade crossing accident countermeasures was conducted. Guidelines were provided for the development of countermeasure concepts. Investigations of the causative fa...

Investigations and results concerning railway-induced ground-borne vibrations in Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Degen, K. G.; Behr, W.; Grütz, H.-P.

2006-06-01

Besides noise reduction, ground-borne vibrations induced by railways are another important environmental issue associated with the construction of new or the reconstruction of existing railway lines that had to be tackled during the last decade. Annoyance can occur, particularly for lines in urban areas at small distances to neighbouring houses or lines in shallow depth tunnels under buildings. The ground-borne vibrations can be perceived by the inhabitants via the floor vibrations, as well as via the air-borne noise radiated inside the building by the vibrating building structures (secondary noise). At present, legal specifications for judging railway-induced ground-borne vibrations do not exist in Germany. In order to review common practices, an experimental psycho-physical laboratory study was performed. To estimate the annoyance of railway-induced vibrations, the mean vibration energy of a train pass-by seems much more significant and related to the annoyance than the commonly used RMS value according to the German standard DIN 4150-2. The minimum difference in vibration that can be felt by people was found at a signal difference of 25%. This paper will review results of a project performed in cooperation with the engineering office Obermeyer in Munich and the Technical University of Munich [A. Said, D. Fleischer, H. Kilcher, H. Fastl, H.-P. Grütz, Zur Bewertung von Erschütterungsimmissionen aus dem Schienenverkehr, Zeitschrift fuer Lärmbekämpfung, Vol. 48(6), Springer VDI Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2001.] and will link them to further demands on research and on development of suitable guiding principles and legislative regulations.

Evaluation of odometry algorithm performances using a railway vehicle dynamic model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allotta, B.; Pugi, L.; Ridolfi, A.; Malvezzi, M.; Vettori, G.; Rindi, A.

2012-05-01

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. Simplified two-dimensional models of railway vehicles have been usually used for Hardware in the Loop test rig testing of conventional odometry algorithms and of on-board safety relevant subsystems (like the Wheel Slide Protection braking system) in which the train speed is estimated from the measures of the wheel angular speed. Two-dimensional models are not suitable to develop solutions like the inertial type localisation algorithms (using 3D accelerometers and 3D gyroscopes) and the introduction of Global Positioning System (or similar) or the magnetometer. In order to test these algorithms correctly and increase odometry performances, a three-dimensional multibody model of a railway vehicle has been developed, using Matlab-Simulink™, including an efficient contact model which can simulate degraded adhesion conditions (the development and prototyping of odometry algorithms involve the simulation of realistic environmental conditions). In this paper, the authors show how a 3D railway vehicle model, able to simulate the complex interactions arising between different on-board subsystems, can be useful to evaluate the odometry algorithm and safety relevant to on-board subsystem performances.

Development and management of a radon assessment strategy suitable for underground railway tunnelling projects.

PubMed

Purnell, C J; Frommer, G; Chan, K; Auch, A A

2004-01-01

The construction of underground tunnels through radon-bearing rock poses a radiation health risk to tunnelling workers from exposure to radon gas and its radioactive decay products. This paper presents the development and practical application of a radon assessment strategy suitable for the measurement of radon in tunnelling work environments in Hong Kong. The assessment strategy was successfully evaluated on a number of underground railway tunnelling projects over a 3 y period. Radon measurements were undertaken using a combination of portable radon measurement equipment and track etch detectors (TEDs) deployed throughout the tunnels. The radon gas monitoring results were used to confirm that ventilation rates were adequate or identified, at an early stage, when further action to reduce radon levels was required. Exposure dose estimates based on the TED results showed that the exposure of tunnel workers to radon did not exceed 3 mSv per annum for the duration of each project.

An analytical design approach for self-powered active lateral secondary suspensions for railway vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Peng; Li, Hong; Zhang, Jiye; Mei, TX

2015-10-01

In this paper, an analytical design approach for the development of self-powered active suspensions is investigated and is applied to optimise the control system design for an active lateral secondary suspension for railway vehicles. The conditions for energy balance are analysed and the relationship between the ride quality improvement and energy consumption is discussed in detail. The modal skyhook control is applied to analyse the energy consumption of this suspension by separating its dynamics into the lateral and yaw modes, and based on a simplified model, the average power consumption of actuators is computed in frequency domain by using the power spectral density of lateral alignment of track irregularities. Then the impact of control gains and actuators' key parameters on the performance for both vibration suppressing and energy recovery/storage is analysed. Computer simulation is used to verify the obtained energy balance condition and to demonstrate that the improved ride comfort is achieved by this self-powered active suspension without any external power supply.

Seismic Retrofitting of an Existing Steel Railway Bridge by Fluid Viscous Dampers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gangopadhyay, Avijit; Ghosh, Aparna Dey

2016-09-01

There are over a lakh of bridges in the Indian Railways, many of which have become seismically deficient, either through aging or due to inadequate seismic design considerations. The extensive damage of bridges all over the world in recent earthquakes has propelled significant advancement in earthquake protection and retrofitting of bridges. Amongst various passive control systems that are reliable as well as cost-effective, Fluid Viscous Dampers (FVDs) are proving to be successful in bridge vibration control. Orificed FVDs, commercially available as Taylor Devices, have already been successfully installed in several bridges worldwide. However, there has been no such application or study related to Indian railway bridges. In this paper, an existing thirty years' old railway bridge in Jharkhand, India, has been analyzed in SAP2000v14 considering reduced stiffness and found deficient when subjected to spectrum-compatible accelerograms. Subsequent retrofitting of the bridge superstructure with FVDs has been carried out and the results indicate substantial reductions in the responses of the bridge deck.

Color Vision and the Railways: Part 2. Comparison of the CN Lantern Used on the Canadian Railways and Railway LED Lantern Tests.

PubMed

Dain, Stephen J; Casolin, Armand; Long, Jennifer

2015-02-01

There are two currently available lantern tests that have their design based solely on the practices of the rail industry. These are the CN Lantern (CNLAN) used on the Canadian Railways and the Railway LED Lantern Tests (RLLT). In the same way that the signaling practices differ in the two jurisdictions, the design of the lanterns also differ. The CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage)-recommended color vision standards for transport predate both lanterns. The study was undertaken to assess the appropriateness of these lanterns in CIE Color Vision Standard 1. CIE Standard 1 is called "Normal color vision" but some very mild anomalous trichromats may pass the specified "lantern test that presents a high level of difficulty." The lantern tests were undertaken by 46 color vision-normal and 37 color vision-deficient subjects. Subjects made more errors on the RLLT, and the pattern of errors is different, partly because there are blank presentations in the RLLT and "no light" is an acceptable response. The two lanterns showed agreement on the pass/fail categorization of 73 of the 83 subjects. The RLLT fails more color vision-normal subjects. Despite the different construction principles, the RLLT and CNLAN have pass/fail levels that are comparable with the Holmes-Wright Type B lantern, which is nominated in CIE Color Vision Standard 1 but is no longer commercially available. The higher failure rate of color vision-normal subjects on the RLLT has been addressed by changing the intensities of the two darkest red lights.

Experimental evidence of a risk-sensitive reproductive allocation in a long-lived mammal.

PubMed

Bårdsen, Bard-Jørgen; Fauchald, Per; Tveraa, Torkild; Langeland, Knut; Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles; Ims, Rolf Anker

2008-03-01

When reproduction competes with the amount of resources available for survival during an unpredictable nonbreeding season, individuals should adopt a risk-sensitive regulation of their reproductive allocation. We tested this hypothesis on female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), which face a trade-off between reproduction and acquisition of body reserves during spring and summer, with autumn body mass functioning as insurance against stochastic winter climatic severity. The study was conducted in a population consisting of two herds: one that received supplementary winter feeding for four years while the other utilized natural pastures. The females receiving additional forage allocated more to their calves. Experimental translocation of females between the herds was conducted to simulate two contrasting rapid alterations of winter conditions. When females receiving supplementary feeding were moved to natural pastures, they promptly reduced their reproductive allocation the following summer. However, when winter conditions were improved, females were reluctant to increase their reproductive allocation. This asymmetric response to improved vs. reduced winter conditions is consistent with a risk-averse adjustment in reproductive allocation. The ability of individuals to track their environment and the concordant risk-sensitive adjustment of reproductive allocation may render subarctic reindeer more resilient to climate change than previously supposed.

Long-Term Deflection Prediction from Computer Vision-Measured Data History for High-Speed Railway Bridges

PubMed Central

Lee, Jaebeom; Lee, Young-Joo

2018-01-01

Management of the vertical long-term deflection of a high-speed railway bridge is a crucial factor to guarantee traffic safety and passenger comfort. Therefore, there have been efforts to predict the vertical deflection of a railway bridge based on physics-based models representing various influential factors to vertical deflection such as concrete creep and shrinkage. However, it is not an easy task because the vertical deflection of a railway bridge generally involves several sources of uncertainty. This paper proposes a probabilistic method that employs a Gaussian process to construct a model to predict the vertical deflection of a railway bridge based on actual vision-based measurement and temperature. To deal with the sources of uncertainty which may cause prediction errors, a Gaussian process is modeled with multiple kernels and hyperparameters. Once the hyperparameters are identified through the Gaussian process regression using training data, the proposed method provides a 95% prediction interval as well as a predictive mean about the vertical deflection of the bridge. The proposed method is applied to an arch bridge under operation for high-speed trains in South Korea. The analysis results obtained from the proposed method show good agreement with the actual measurement data on the vertical deflection of the example bridge, and the prediction results can be utilized for decision-making on railway bridge maintenance. PMID:29747421

Long-Term Deflection Prediction from Computer Vision-Measured Data History for High-Speed Railway Bridges.

PubMed

Lee, Jaebeom; Lee, Kyoung-Chan; Lee, Young-Joo

2018-05-09

Management of the vertical long-term deflection of a high-speed railway bridge is a crucial factor to guarantee traffic safety and passenger comfort. Therefore, there have been efforts to predict the vertical deflection of a railway bridge based on physics-based models representing various influential factors to vertical deflection such as concrete creep and shrinkage. However, it is not an easy task because the vertical deflection of a railway bridge generally involves several sources of uncertainty. This paper proposes a probabilistic method that employs a Gaussian process to construct a model to predict the vertical deflection of a railway bridge based on actual vision-based measurement and temperature. To deal with the sources of uncertainty which may cause prediction errors, a Gaussian process is modeled with multiple kernels and hyperparameters. Once the hyperparameters are identified through the Gaussian process regression using training data, the proposed method provides a 95% prediction interval as well as a predictive mean about the vertical deflection of the bridge. The proposed method is applied to an arch bridge under operation for high-speed trains in South Korea. The analysis results obtained from the proposed method show good agreement with the actual measurement data on the vertical deflection of the example bridge, and the prediction results can be utilized for decision-making on railway bridge maintenance.

40 CFR 97.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 97.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in the CAIR NOX Ozone Season sources...

40 CFR 97.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 97.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in the CAIR NOX Ozone Season sources...

40 CFR 97.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 97.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in the CAIR NOX Ozone Season sources...

40 CFR 97.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 97.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in the CAIR NOX Ozone Season sources...

40 CFR 97.353 - Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season... CAIR NOX Ozone Season Allowance Tracking System § 97.353 Recordation of CAIR NOX Ozone Season allowance allocations. (a) By September 30, 2007, the Administrator will record in the CAIR NOX Ozone Season sources...

76 FR 27173 - Carolina Coastal Railway, Inc.-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Rocky Mount & Western Railroad...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-10

... Railway, Inc.--Acquisition and Operation Exemption--Rocky Mount & Western Railroad Co., Inc. d/b/a Nash County Railroad Carolina Coastal Railway, Inc. (CLNA), a Class III rail carrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.41 to acquire from Rocky Mount & Western Railroad Co., Inc. d/b/a...

Mathematical models of functioning and allocation indicators of road-transport complex resources in the fuel and raw materials region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buyvis, V. A.; Novichikhin, A. V.; Temlyantsev, M. V.

2017-09-01

A number of features of coal industry functioning was determined for the conditions of Kemerovo region, and the specifics of planning and organization of coal transportation were revealed. The analysis of indicators of motor and railway types of transport in the process of coal transportation was executed. The necessity of improving the tools of coal products transportation in the modern conditions is substantiated. Specific features of functioning of a road-transport complex in the fuel and raw material region (on the example of Kemerovo region) are determined. The modern scientific and applied problems of functioning and allocation of the road-transport complex resources are identified. To justify the management decisions on the development and improvement of road-transport complex a set of indicators are proposed: infrastructural, transportation performance, operating, social and economic. Mathematical models of indicators are recommended for formulation and justification of decisions made during operational and strategic planning of development, evaluation and development of algorithms of functioning and allocation of road-transport sector in Kemerovo region in the future.

Edge-filter technique and dominant frequency analysis for high-speed railway monitoring with fiber Bragg gratings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouroussis, Georges; Kinet, Damien; Mendoza, Edgar; Dupuy, Julien; Moeyaert, Véronique; Caucheteur, Christophe

2016-07-01

Structural health and operation monitoring are of growing interest in the development of railway networks. Conventional systems of infrastructure monitoring already exist (e.g. axle counters, track circuits) but present some drawbacks. Alternative solutions are therefore studied and developed. In this field, optical fiber sensors, and more particularly fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, are particularly relevant due to their immunity to electromagnetic fields and simple wavelength-division-multiplexing capability. Field trials conducted up to now have demonstrated that FBG sensors provide useful information about train composition, positioning, speed, acceleration and weigh-in-motion estimations. Nevertheless, for practical deployment, cost-effectiveness should be ensured, specifically at the interrogator side that has also to be fast (>1 kHz repetition rate), accurate (∼1 pm wavelength shift) and reliable. To reach this objective, we propose in this paper to associate a low cost and high-speed interrogator coupled with an adequate signal-processing algorithm to dynamically monitor cascaded wavelength-multiplexed FBGs and to accurately capture the parameters of interest for railway traffic monitoring. This method has been field-tested with a Redondo Optics Inc. interrogator based on the well-known edge-filter demodulation technique. To determine the train speed from the raw data, a dominant frequency analysis has been implemented. Using this original method, we show that we can retrieve the speed of the trains, even when the time history strain signature is strongly affected by the measurement noise. The results are assessed by complimentary data obtained from a spectrometer-based FBG interrogator.

78 FR 23634 - Union Pacific Railroad Company-Trackage Rights Exemption-Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-19

... Railroad Company--Trackage Rights Exemption--Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company Pursuant to a written trackage rights agreement dated December 18, 2012, Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) \\1\\ has agreed to grant overhead trackage rights to Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) over...

76 FR 22746 - Conecuh Valley Railway, LLC-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Conecuh Valley Railroad Co., Inc.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-22

... Railway, LLC--Acquisition and Operation Exemption--Conecuh Valley Railroad Co., Inc. Conecuh Valley Railway, LLC (CVR), a noncarrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.31 to acquire from Conecuh Valley Railroad Co., Inc. (COEH), and to operate [[Page 22747

76 FR 22745 - Three Notch Railway, LLC-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Three Notch Railroad Co., Inc.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-22

... Railway, LLC--Acquisition and Operation Exemption-- Three Notch Railroad Co., Inc. Three Notch Railway... from Three Notch Railroad Co., Inc. (TNHR) and to operate approximately 34 miles of rail line \\1... assigned TNHR's agreement with Andalusia & Conecuh Railroad Company, which was assigned to TNHR by the...

76 FR 35947 - Maine Northern Railway Company-Modified Rail Certificate-in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, ME

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-20

... Railway Company--Modified Rail Certificate--in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, ME On June 7, 2011, Maine..., Me. The Line was the subject of an abandonment application granted by the Board in Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.--Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment--in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, Me...

The impact of personality on driving safety among Chinese high-speed railway drivers.

PubMed

Guo, Ming; Wei, Wei; Liao, Ganli; Chu, Fulei

2016-07-01

This study explored the impact of personality traits on driving safety in high-speed railway drivers. A sample of high-speed railway drivers in Beijing (N=214) completed a questionnaire, including information on personality traits and background variables. The NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was administered to characterize participants based on five personality traits: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness. The survey data were combined with naturalistic data of accident involvement and risky driving behavior in China. Poisson regression results show that drivers with high Conscientiousness and Extraversion caused fewer accidents. Higher Conscientiousness and lower Agreeableness were related to less frequent risky driving behavior. Education level and age negatively moderated the relation between certain personality traits and driving safety. The findings suggest that personality traits should be considered when selecting and training high-speed railway drivers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel optical investigation technique for railroad track inspection and assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabato, Alessandro; Beale, Christopher H.; Niezrecki, Christopher

2017-04-01

Track failures due to cross tie degradation or loss in ballast support may result in a number of problems ranging from simple service interruptions to derailments. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of railway track is important for safety reasons and to reduce downtime and maintenance costs. For this reason, novel and cost-effective track inspection technologies for assessing tracks' health are currently insufficient and needed. Advancements achieved in recent years in cameras technology, optical sensors, and image-processing algorithms have made machine vision, Structure from Motion (SfM), and three-dimensional (3D) Digital Image Correlation (DIC) systems extremely appealing techniques for extracting structural deformations and geometry profiles. Therefore, optically based, non-contact measurement techniques may be used for assessing surface defects, rail and tie deflection profiles, and ballast condition. In this study, the design of two camera-based measurement systems is proposed for crossties-ballast condition assessment and track examination purposes. The first one consists of four pairs of cameras installed on the underside of a rail car to detect the induced deformation and displacement on the whole length of the track's cross tie using 3D DIC measurement techniques. The second consists of another set of cameras using SfM techniques for obtaining a 3D rendering of the infrastructure from a series of two-dimensional (2D) images to evaluate the state of the track qualitatively. The feasibility of the proposed optical systems is evaluated through extensive laboratory tests, demonstrating their ability to measure parameters of interest (e.g. crosstie's full-field displacement, vertical deflection, shape, etc.) for assessment and SHM of railroad track.

An evaluation method of power quality about electrified railways connected to power grid based on PSCAD/EMTDC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Weibin; Ouyang, Sen; Huang, Xiang; Su, Weijian

2017-05-01

The existing modeling process of power quality about electrified railways connected to power grid is complicated and the simulation scene is incomplete, so this paper puts forward a novel evaluation method of power quality based on PSCAD/ETMDC. Firstly, a model of power quality about electrified railways connected to power grid is established, which is based on testing report or measured data. The equivalent model of electrified locomotive contains power characteristic and harmonic characteristic, which are substituted by load and harmonic source. Secondly, in order to make evaluation more complete, an analysis scheme has been put forward. The scheme uses a combination of three-dimensions of electrified locomotive, which contains types, working conditions and quantity. At last, Shenmao Railway is taken as example to evaluate the power quality at different scenes, and the result shows electrified railways connected to power grid have significant effect on power quality.

The railway suicide death of a famous German football player: impact on the subsequent frequency of railway suicide acts in Germany.

PubMed

Ladwig, Karl-Heinz; Kunrath, Sabine; Lukaschek, Karoline; Baumert, Jens

2012-01-01

The railway suicide of Robert Enke, an internationally respected German football goal keeper, sent shockwaves throughout the world of football. We analyzed its impact on the frequency of subsequent railway suicide acts (RS). Two analytic approaches were performed applying German Railway Event database Safety (EDS) data: first, an inter-year approach comparing the incidence of RS during a predefined "index period" with identical time windows in 2006 to 2008; second, an intra-year approach comparing the number of RS 28 days before and after the incidence. To analyze a possible "compensatory deficit", the number of RS in the subsequent first quarter of 2010 was compared with the identical time windows in the preceding three years. Incidence ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated by Poisson regression. Findings were controlled for temperature. Compared to the preceding three years, the incidence ratio (IR) of the number of RS in the index period increased by 1.81 (1.48-2.21; p<0.001), leading to an overall percentage change of 81% (48-121%; p<0.001). Comparing the number of suicides 28 days before and after the incidence revealed an even more pronounced increase of IR (2.2; 1.6-3.0). No modifications of these associations were observed by daytime, by location of the suicide and fatality. No compensatory deficit occurred in the post-acute period. The substantial increase of RS in the aftermath of the footballer's suicide death brought about copycat behavior in an unforeseen amount, even though the media reporting was largely sensitive and preventive measures were taken. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Zinc allocation and re-allocation in rice.

PubMed

Stomph, Tjeerd Jan; Jiang, Wen; Van Der Putten, Peter E L; Struik, Paul C

2014-01-01

Agronomy and breeding actively search for options to enhance cereal grain Zn density. Quantifying internal (re-)allocation of Zn as affected by soil and crop management or genotype is crucial. We present experiments supporting the development of a conceptual model of whole plant Zn allocation and re-allocation in rice. Two solution culture experiments using (70)Zn applications at different times during crop development and an experiment on within-grain distribution of Zn are reported. In addition, results from two earlier published experiments are re-analyzed and re-interpreted. A budget analysis showed that plant zinc accumulation during grain filling was larger than zinc allocation to the grains. Isotope data showed that zinc taken up during grain filling was only partly transported directly to the grains and partly allocated to the leaves. Zinc taken up during grain filling and allocated to the leaves replaced zinc re-allocated from leaves to grains. Within the grains, no major transport barrier was observed between vascular tissue and endosperm. At low tissue Zn concentrations, rice plants maintained concentrations of about 20 mg Zn kg(-1) dry matter in leaf blades and reproductive tissues, but let Zn concentrations in stems, sheath, and roots drop below this level. When plant zinc concentrations increased, Zn levels in leaf blades and reproductive tissues only showed a moderate increase while Zn levels in stems, roots, and sheaths increased much more and in that order. In rice, the major barrier to enhanced zinc allocation towards grains is between stem and reproductive tissues. Enhancing root to shoot transfer will not contribute proportionally to grain zinc enhancement.

Zinc allocation and re-allocation in rice

PubMed Central

Stomph, Tjeerd Jan; Jiang, Wen; Van Der Putten, Peter E. L.; Struik, Paul C.

2014-01-01

Aims: Agronomy and breeding actively search for options to enhance cereal grain Zn density. Quantifying internal (re-)allocation of Zn as affected by soil and crop management or genotype is crucial. We present experiments supporting the development of a conceptual model of whole plant Zn allocation and re-allocation in rice. Methods: Two solution culture experiments using 70Zn applications at different times during crop development and an experiment on within-grain distribution of Zn are reported. In addition, results from two earlier published experiments are re-analyzed and re-interpreted. Results: A budget analysis showed that plant zinc accumulation during grain filling was larger than zinc allocation to the grains. Isotope data showed that zinc taken up during grain filling was only partly transported directly to the grains and partly allocated to the leaves. Zinc taken up during grain filling and allocated to the leaves replaced zinc re-allocated from leaves to grains. Within the grains, no major transport barrier was observed between vascular tissue and endosperm. At low tissue Zn concentrations, rice plants maintained concentrations of about 20 mg Zn kg−1 dry matter in leaf blades and reproductive tissues, but let Zn concentrations in stems, sheath, and roots drop below this level. When plant zinc concentrations increased, Zn levels in leaf blades and reproductive tissues only showed a moderate increase while Zn levels in stems, roots, and sheaths increased much more and in that order. Conclusions: In rice, the major barrier to enhanced zinc allocation towards grains is between stem and reproductive tissues. Enhancing root to shoot transfer will not contribute proportionally to grain zinc enhancement. PMID:24478788

Robust optimization model and algorithm for railway freight center location problem in uncertain environment.

PubMed

Liu, Xing-Cai; He, Shi-Wei; Song, Rui; Sun, Yang; Li, Hao-Dong

2014-01-01

Railway freight center location problem is an important issue in railway freight transport programming. This paper focuses on the railway freight center location problem in uncertain environment. Seeing that the expected value model ignores the negative influence of disadvantageous scenarios, a robust optimization model was proposed. The robust optimization model takes expected cost and deviation value of the scenarios as the objective. A cloud adaptive clonal selection algorithm (C-ACSA) was presented. It combines adaptive clonal selection algorithm with Cloud Model which can improve the convergence rate. Design of the code and progress of the algorithm were proposed. Result of the example demonstrates the model and algorithm are effective. Compared with the expected value cases, the amount of disadvantageous scenarios in robust model reduces from 163 to 21, which prove the result of robust model is more reliable.

Recommendations for KYTC's railway/highway at-grade crossing management practices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

An ideal Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Management program involves selecting cost-effective : practices when designing new crossings and rehabilitating existing crossings. This report outlines two : strategies to enhance KYTCs existing program...

39. TUNNEL BORE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. VIEW SHOWS LIGHT CONSTRUCTION RAILWAY ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

39. TUNNEL BORE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. VIEW SHOWS LIGHT CONSTRUCTION RAILWAY FOR HAULING MUCK AND SPOIL - Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, Tunnel, Two miles east of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, Springdale, Washington County, UT

Measuring driver responses at railway level crossings.

PubMed

Tey, Li-Sian; Ferreira, Luis; Wallace, Angela

2011-11-01

Railway level crossings are amongst the most complex of road safety control systems, due to the conflicts between road vehicles and rail infrastructure, trains and train operations. Driver behaviour at railway crossings is the major collision factor. The main objective of the present paper was to evaluate the existing conventional warning devices in relation to driver behaviour. The common conventional warning devices in Australia are a stop sign (passive), flashing lights and a half boom-barrier with flashing lights (active). The data were collected using two approaches, namely: field video recordings at selected sites and a driving simulator in a laboratory. This paper describes and compares the driver response results from both the field survey and the driving simulator. The conclusion drawn is that different types of warning systems resulted in varying driver responses at crossings. The results showed that on average driver responses to passive crossings were poor when compared to active ones. The field results were consistent with the simulator results for the existing conventional warning devices and hence they may be used to calibrate the simulator for further evaluation of alternative warning systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. General view of Oregon Electric Railway, view looking north ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. General view of Oregon Electric Railway, view looking north at Hedges Creek trestle. - Oregon Electric Railroad, Hedges Creek Trestle, Garden Home to Wilsonville Segment, Milepost 38.7, Garden Home, Washington County, OR

76 FR 12224 - Autauga Northern Railroad, L.L.C.-Lease and Operation Exemption-Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-04

... Railroad, L.L.C.--Lease and Operation Exemption--Norfolk Southern Railway Company Autauga Northern Railroad... acquire by lease from Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR), and operate approximately 43.62 miles of... Holdings, Inc.--Continuance in Control Exemption-- Autauga Northern Railroad, L.L.C., in which Watco...

Method and apparatus for optimizing a train trip using signal information

DOEpatents

Kumar, Ajith Kuttannair; Daum, Wolfgang; Otsubo, Tom; Hershey, John Erik; Hess, Gerald James

2014-06-10

A system is provided for operating a railway network including a first railway vehicle during a trip along track segments. The system includes a first element for determining travel parameters of the first railway vehicle, a second element for determining travel parameters of a second railway vehicle relative to the track segments to be traversed by the first vehicle during the trip, a processor for receiving information from the first and the second elements and for determining a relationship between occupation of a track segment by the second vehicle and later occupation of the same track segment by the first vehicle and an algorithm embodied within the processor having access to the information to create a trip plan that determines a speed trajectory for the first vehicle. The speed trajectory is responsive to the relationship and further in accordance with one or more operational criteria for the first vehicle.

Annoyance due to railway vibration at different times of the day.

PubMed

Peris, Eulalia; Woodcock, James; Sica, Gennaro; Moorhouse, Andrew T; Waddington, David C

2012-02-01

The time of day when vibration occurs is considered as a factor influencing the human response to vibration. The aim of the present paper is to identify the times of day during which railway vibration causes the greatest annoyance, to measure the differences between annoyance responses for different time periods and to obtain estimates of the time of day penalties. This was achieved using data from case studies comprised of face-to-face interviews and internal vibration measurements (N=755). Results indicate that vibration annoyance differs with time of day and that separate time of day weights can be applied when considering exposure-response relationships from railway vibration in residential environments. © 2012 Acoustical Society of America

77 FR 69542 - V and S Railway, LLC-Acquisition and Operation Exemption-Colorado Department of Transportation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-19

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35664] V and S Railway.... 10502 from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 10902 and 49 CFR 1150.1 et seq., for V and S Railway, LLC (V&S), a Class III rail carrier, to acquire approximately 121.9 miles of rail line between...

The Research on Safety Management Information System of Railway Passenger Based on Risk Management Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Wenmin; Jia, Yuanhua

2018-01-01

Based on the risk management theory and the PDCA cycle model, requirements of the railway passenger transport safety production is analyzed, and the establishment of the security risk assessment team is proposed to manage risk by FTA with Delphi from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The safety production committee is also established to accomplish performance appraisal, which is for further ensuring the correctness of risk management results, optimizing the safety management business processes and improving risk management capabilities. The basic framework and risk information database of risk management information system of railway passenger transport safety are designed by Ajax, Web Services and SQL technologies. The system realizes functions about risk management, performance appraisal and data management, and provides an efficient and convenient information management platform for railway passenger safety manager.

Efficiency measures and output specification : the case of European railways

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-12-01

This study analyzes the sensitivity of the efficiency indicators of a sample of European railway companies to different alternatives in output specification. The results vary according to the specification selected. Investigating the causes of these ...

[Sanitary epidemiologic safety and technical regulations on railway transport].

PubMed

Leksin, A G

2009-01-01

The author necessitated that requirements on sanitary and epidemiologic safety of life support systems for engine driver cabin (microclimate maintainance system, protection from vibration and noise, illumination, workplace ergonomics, etc) should be included into technical regulations for railway vehicles, both newly constructed and modernized.

Homogeneous v. Heterogeneous: Is Tracking a Barrier to Equity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polansky, Harvey B.

1995-01-01

Tracking has contributed considerably to the basic inequality of funding among American schools. To move to a heterogenous environment, districts must understand the concept of resource and program equity, commit to a planning process that allocates time and resources, provide ongoing inservice, downplay standardized test results, and phase-in…

Multi-camera and structured-light vision system (MSVS) for dynamic high-accuracy 3D measurements of railway tunnels.

PubMed

Zhan, Dong; Yu, Long; Xiao, Jian; Chen, Tanglong

2015-04-14

Railway tunnel 3D clearance inspection is critical to guaranteeing railway operation safety. However, it is a challenge to inspect railway tunnel 3D clearance using a vision system, because both the spatial range and field of view (FOV) of such measurements are quite large. This paper summarizes our work on dynamic railway tunnel 3D clearance inspection based on a multi-camera and structured-light vision system (MSVS). First, the configuration of the MSVS is described. Then, the global calibration for the MSVS is discussed in detail. The onboard vision system is mounted on a dedicated vehicle and is expected to suffer from multiple degrees of freedom vibrations brought about by the running vehicle. Any small vibration can result in substantial measurement errors. In order to overcome this problem, a vehicle motion deviation rectifying method is investigated. Experiments using the vision inspection system are conducted with satisfactory online measurement results.

Electrical injuries due to railway high tension cables.

PubMed

Reichl, M; Kay, S

1985-08-01

We have noted a large number of young boys being admitted to our Unit with burns due to railway high tension cables. On review of these cases we have noted: most of the burns were due to arcing, there is a high level of ignorance among the population at risk. We propose some ways of preventing these injuries.

Railway Transportation Engineering (CEE 408) Course updates and online conversion.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-20

The new order of lectures provides students with a sound introduction to the main concepts behind efficiency and economic railway operations. This naturally follows into the design of railcars for safe, efficient and economical operations. With railc...

75 FR 63533 - Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co., Inc., H. Peter Claussen and Linda C. Claussen-Continuance in...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-15

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35414] Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co., Inc., H. Peter Claussen and Linda C. Claussen--Continuance in Control Exemption--Lancaster & Chester Railroad, LLC Gulf & Ohio Railways Holding Co., Inc. (G&O), H. Peter Claussen and Linda...

Three-dimensional train track model for study of rail corrugation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, X. S.; Wen, Z. F.; Wang, K. Y.; Zhou, Z. R.; Liu, Q. Y.; Li, C. H.

2006-06-01

Rail corrugation is a main factor causing the vibration and noise from the structures of railway vehicles and tracks. A calculation model is put forward to analyse the effect of rail corrugation with different depths and wavelengths on the dynamical behaviour of a passenger car and a curved track in detail. Also the evolution of initial corrugation with different wavelengths is investigated. In the numerical analysis, Kalker's non-Hertzian rolling contact theory is modified and used to calculate the frictional work density on the contact area of the wheel and rail in rolling contact. The material loss per unit area is assumed to be proportional to the frictional work density to determine the wear depth of the contact surfaces of the curved rails. The combined influences of the corrugation development and the vertical and lateral coupled dynamics of the passenger car and the curved track are taken into account. The numerical results indicate that: (1) the corrugation with high passing frequencies has a great influence on the dynamical performance of the wheelset and track, but little on the car-body and the bogie frame; (2) the deeper the corrugation depth is, the greater the influence and the rail material wear are; but the longer the corrugation wavelength is, the smaller the influence and the wear are; and (3) the initial corrugation with a fixed wavelength on the rail running surface decreases with increasing number of the passenger car passages.

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-17

... interconnection with Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific Railway Company at milepost 20.4 in Santa Cruz, Cal., and an... Railroad, located in Colorado; (4) Saratoga & North Creek Railway, located in New York; (5) [[Page 49864... in a separate decision. The transaction may be consummated on or after August 31, 2012 (the effective...

Spatial and temporal allocation of ship exhaust emissions in Australian coastal waters using AIS data: Analysis and treatment of data gaps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldsworthy, Brett

2017-08-01

Ship exhaust emissions need to be allocated accurately in both space and time in order to examine many of the associated impacts, including on air quality and health. Data on ship activity from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) allow ship exhaust emissions to be calculated with fine spatial and temporal resolution. However, there are spatial gaps in the coverage afforded by the coastal network of ground stations that are used to collect the AIS data. This paper focuses on the problem of allocating emissions to the coastal gap regions. Allocating emissions to these regions involves generating interpolated ship tracks that both span the gaps and avoid coming too close to land. In most cases, a simple shortest path or straight line interpolation produces tracks that do not overlap or come too close to land. Where the simple method does not produce acceptable results, vessel tracks are steered around land on shortest available paths using a combination of visibility graphs and Dijkstra's algorithm. A geographical cluster analysis is first used to identify the boundary regions of the data gaps. The properties of the data gaps are summarised in terms of the length, duration and speed of the spanning tracks. The interpolation methods are used to improve the spatial distribution of emissions. It is also shown that emissions in the gap regions can contribute substantially to the total ship exhaust emissions in close proximity to highly populated areas.

Resource Balancing Control Allocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frost, Susan A.; Bodson, Marc

2010-01-01

Next generation aircraft with a large number of actuators will require advanced control allocation methods to compute the actuator commands needed to follow desired trajectories while respecting system constraints. Previously, algorithms were proposed to minimize the l1 or l2 norms of the tracking error and of the control effort. The paper discusses the alternative choice of using the l1 norm for minimization of the tracking error and a normalized l(infinity) norm, or sup norm, for minimization of the control effort. The algorithm computes the norm of the actuator deflections scaled by the actuator limits. Minimization of the control effort then translates into the minimization of the maximum actuator deflection as a percentage of its range of motion. The paper shows how the problem can be solved effectively by converting it into a linear program and solving it using a simplex algorithm. Properties of the algorithm are investigated through examples. In particular, the min-max criterion results in a type of resource balancing, where the resources are the control surfaces and the algorithm balances these resources to achieve the desired command. A study of the sensitivity of the algorithms to the data is presented, which shows that the normalized l(infinity) algorithm has the lowest sensitivity, although high sensitivities are observed whenever the limits of performance are reached.

Research on allocation efficiency of the daisy chain allocation algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Jingping; Zhang, Weiguo

2013-03-01

With the improvement of the aircraft performance in reliability, maneuverability and survivability, the number of the control effectors increases a lot. How to distribute the three-axis moments into the control surfaces reasonably becomes an important problem. Daisy chain method is simple and easy to be carried out in the design of the allocation system. But it can not solve the allocation problem for entire attainable moment subset. For the lateral-directional allocation problem, the allocation efficiency of the daisy chain can be directly measured by the area of its subset of attainable moments. Because of the non-linear allocation characteristic, the subset of attainable moments of daisy-chain method is a complex non-convex polygon, and it is difficult to solve directly. By analyzing the two-dimensional allocation problems with a "micro-element" idea, a numerical calculation algorithm is proposed to compute the area of the non-convex polygon. In order to improve the allocation efficiency of the algorithm, a genetic algorithm with the allocation efficiency chosen as the fitness function is proposed to find the best pseudo-inverse matrix.

Development Prospects of Railroad Complex “Belarussky Railway Station” in Moscow with Accessible Environment Device for Disabled People and Other Groups with Limited Mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulakov, A. I.; Krakovtseva, J. V.

2017-11-01

The development and modernization of existing stations is conducted under very cramped conditions. The requirements to space-planning solutions are increasing. The list of premises that must necessarily be in place is enlarging. Transit zones are being adapted to barrier-free access for people with disabilities, the environment is becoming more comfortable. But along with this, the arrangement of vertical communications (lifting devices, elevators, stairs, ramps) is complicated because the existing transit zones overall dimensions are not designed for increased passenger traffic and any restriction is not permissible. The article proposes the concept for the development of the railroad complex “Belorussky Railway Station” in Moscow by increasing the number of storeys and the above tracks space development.

20 CFR 204.7 - Employment relation-service to a local lodge or division of a railway labor organization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... or division of a railway labor organization. 204.7 Section 204.7 Employees' Benefits RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD REGULATIONS UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT EMPLOYMENT RELATION § 204.7 Employment relation—service to a local lodge or division of a railway labor organization. Service by an individual to...

75 FR 74768 - Madison Terminal Railway, LLC-Lease and Operation Exemption-Line of Railroad in Dane County, WI

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-01

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35433] Madison Terminal Railway, LLC--Lease and Operation Exemption-- Line of Railroad in Dane County, WI Madison Terminal Railway... Industrial Lead at milepost 78.02 in Madison, WI, and is located entirely within the property of ProBuild...

Using Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Assessing the Risk of Railway Reconstruction Project in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Yu, Shih-Heng; Chang, Dong-Shang

2014-01-01

This study investigates the risk factors in railway reconstruction project through complete literature reviews on construction project risks and scrutinizing experiences and challenges of railway reconstructions in Taiwan. Based on the identified risk factors, an assessing framework based on the fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (fuzzy MCDM) approach to help construction agencies build awareness of the critical risk factors on the execution of railway reconstruction project, measure the impact and occurrence likelihood for these risk factors. Subjectivity, uncertainty and vagueness within the assessment process are dealt with using linguistic variables parameterized by trapezoid fuzzy numbers. By multiplying the degree of impact and the occurrence likelihood of risk factors, estimated severity values of each identified risk factor are determined. Based on the assessment results, the construction agencies were informed of what risks should be noticed and what they should do to avoid the risks. That is, it enables construction agencies of railway reconstruction to plan the appropriate risk responses/strategies to increase the opportunity of project success and effectiveness. PMID:24772014

Hydrologic Analysis of Ungauged Catchments For The Supply of Water For Irrigation On Railway Embankment Batters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gyasi-Agyei, Y.; Nissen, D.

Water has been identified as a key component to the success of grass establishment on railway embankment batters (side slope) within Central Queensland, Australia, to control erosion. However, the region under study being semi-arid experiences less than 600 mm average annual rainfall occurring on about 60 days of the year. Culverts and bridges are integral part of railway embankments. They are used to cross water courses, be it an ephemeral creek or just a surface runoff path. Surface runoff through an ungauged railway embankment culvert is diverted to a temporary excavated pond located at the downstream side of the hydraulic structure. The temporary excavated pond water is used to feed an automated drip irrigation system, with solar as a source of energy to drive a pump. Railway embankment batter erosion remediation is timed in the wet season when irrigation is used to supplement natural rainfall. Hydrologic analysis of ungauged catchments for sizing the temporary excavated pond is presented. It is based on scenarios of runoff coefficient and curve number, and mass curve (Rippl diagram). Three years of continuous rainfall data (1997/1998 -1999/2000) were used to design a pond. The performance of the designed pond was evaluated in a field experiment during the next wet season (2000/2001). It supplied adequate water for irrigation as predicted by the hydrologic analysis during the grass establishment. This helped to achieve 100% grass cover on the railway embankment batter within 12 weeks. The proposed irrigation system has been demonstrated t o be feasible and cost effective.

17. From left to right: Marine Railway Headhouse and Offices, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. From left to right: Marine Railway Headhouse and Offices, Boiler Room, first skylight, chimney for Boiler, Blacksmith Shop, second skylight, and Pipe, Paint, and Electrical Shops. - Thames Tow Boat Company, Foot of Farnsworth Street, New London, New London County, CT

40. Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, Los Angeles, California, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

40. Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, Los Angeles, California, dated July 1937. (Microfiched drawings located at the Denver Service Center, #113/41906-set of 2) IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWAGE TREATMENT AND FILTER CHAMBER. - Water Reclamation Plant, Grand Canyon, Coconino County, AZ