Freight Demand Forecast for a Proposed Railway in Canada With New Approach to Freight Rail Assignment

This research examined the freight demand forecast for a new short railway linking the Okanagan Valley in southern British Columbia to American railways in the South (Orville), and to Canadian railways in the North (Kamloops). An Origin-Destination (O-D) table including local, domestic and international demands for the Okanagan freight rail was developed based on available surveys and observed truck freight data. In the absence of data to derive utility functions, the current mode share for each commodity in the base year as well as current elasticities between truck and rail was used to forecast the mode share in the future year. Rail assignment techniques are among the forgotten problems of freight demand forecasting due to their complexities, including: 1) written and unwritten practices of the rail industry, and 2) cost functions that are classically employed in truck or auto assignments. In this study, a comprehensive review was conducted on the rail freight demand assignment techniques. A new assignment procedure was introduced by combining the available mathematical choice models and new initiatives of the Canadian government toward rail industry. Finally, the predicted share of freight rail was assigned to the rail network using three methods, which provided three independent freight demand forecasts. The mid-range forecast was selected as the freight demand for the Okanagan Valley while two others (low/high) were used for sensitivity analysis.

Influence of Embankments With Parapets on the Cross-Wind Turbulence Intensity at the Contact Wire of Railway Overheads

Winds as an environmental factor can cause significant difficulties for the railway system operation. The railway overhead has been particularly vulnerable to cross-winds related problems, such as development of undamped oscillations due to galloping phenomenon. The installation of windbreaks to decrease the aerodynamic loads on the train can affect the loads on railway overheads triggering cable galloping. One essential parameter to indicate the influence of the parapet wake on the catenary contact wire is the turbulence intensity. In this paper the results of an experimental analysis of the turbulence intensity due to the presence of parapets carried out in a wind tunnel are reported. Embankments equipped with different parapets have been tested and turbulence intensity has been measured at both contact wire locations, windward and leeward. The relative influence of the parapets is measured through a reduced turbulence intensity, defined as the ratio between the turbulence intensity measured with parapet and the turbulence intensity in the case without any parapet on the embankment. In general the reduced turbulence intensity increases as the height of the parapet increases.

High Speed Locomotive Development: A European Experience

Europe has a long history of high speed locomotive and power unit development. This paper focuses on these developments in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Spain starting from high speed locomotives for 125 mph and ending with the AVE S112 high speed power unit for 206 mph. The major technical objectives starting in the 1970’s were to increase the speed and performance, while reducing the axle load from typically 21t at 125 mph to 17t at ≥ 156 mph. Developments of the propulsion system and vehicle concepts took place in many incremental steps, constantly improving the performance of high speed services. It is shown how American high speed locomotives relate to these developments and how one can learn from the European experience going forward.

Nondestructive Inspection Methods for Railroad Castings

Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) has investigated various nondestructive inspection (NDI) methods to determine if they are capable of reliably inspecting side frames, bolsters, knuckles, and couplers. The NDI methods used for this investigation include dry and wet (fluorescent) magnetic particle, liquid penetrant, alcohol wipe, visual, ultrasonic (pulse-echo and phased array), and radiography. Inspection results from all methods were used to determine which methods produced repeatable results. From the initial inspection analysis, TTCI engineers determined that the magnetic particle inspection method is the most capable for detecting defects in railroad castings. Further investigation of the magnetic particle technique was completed to develop reliable inspection methods for use on bolsters, side frames, knuckles, and couplers. Each of the inspection techniques have been used for inspections in the field. Using the results of the field tests, procedures were developed by TTCI and submitted to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) Coupling Systems and Truck Castings Committee for review and implementation. The inspection procedures can be used by manufacturers, railroads, and car repair shops. Limitations of the inspection procedures include the amount of time necessary to perform the inspection and the reliability of detecting certain types of defects below the surface of the casting. Although these limitations exist, the procedures developed by TTCI are expected to improve the quality of in-service castings and reduce the number of train partings and derailments due to broken or cracked components.

The Altamont Corridor Rail Project Joint Use Corridor

The Altamont Rail Corridor Project will develop a new dedicated regional passenger rail link within Northern California for joint use by regional intercity and commuter trains connecting between the northern San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area as well as statewide intercity trains fully compatible with the 200+ mph system being developed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (the Authority). The corridor, which follows portions of the transcontinental railway, is presently served by the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) operated by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (the Commission) and is eligible to receive California High-Speed Rail bond funds. The Authority and Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the project which will greatly improve the existing service by providing a new dedicated passenger line separate from the Union Pacific Railroad over which the current ACE service operates. The strategic geographic location of the corridor within the Northern California network allows operation of a wide variety of services through Altamont Pass including commuter trains to the Bay Area, intercity corridor trains and regional intercity trains between Sacramento and San Jose` with the possibility that high-speed “bullet” trains from the statewide network could ultimately operate along the route. Although the shared-use potential broadens interest in the project, concomitant planning challenges include identifying workable, cost-effective solutions to incrementally develop the 80+ mile corridor over time while migrating the service presently provided by standard heavyweight diesel locomotive-drawn consists to a fully electrified, grade separated operation capable of supporting operation of 220+ mph lightweight trainsets.

Key Issues on Train Line Planning for Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway

The Beijing-Shanghai High speed railway line (Hereinafter referred to as “Jing-Hu HSL”) is one of the most important railway lines in the Chinese rapid passenger transportation network and will be put into operation at the end of 2011. Train line planning directly reflects the quality and competition ability of train services. The characteristics of operational conditions and passenger flow of this corridor HSL bring about a few new issues on train line planning like night train operation, train OD sets, cyclic operation, and train stop schedule. For the first issue, a large amount of long distance travel demand put forward the demand for night services, which causes great conflict with the time-window for maintenance work. The confliction can be solved by harmoniously utilizing the parallel lines. For the second one, in view of the differences of technical and economic factors between HSL and conventional railways, high frequency and medium-long distance train will dominate HSL’s train service plan rather than low frequency and long distance trains on conventional railways. Thus, part of long-distance passenger flow has to transfer at some stations. Considering the whole possible ODs over Jing-Hu HSL and the transfer condition of related stations, the optimal OD sets and corresponding transfer plan is suggested. High frequency makes HSL possible to operate trains cyclically to improve service quality. However, with too many train ODs and some special trains, e.g. night train, an incomplete cyclic train operation mode is more practical. The ODs which can provide cyclic service for Jing-Hu HSL need to be identified. For the last issue, although non-stop long-distance train is a very popular kind of service in China, it should be reconsidered for Jing-Hu HSL line because of massive intercity travel demand and regular stops required. Each of the above issues is very complex. What is more, they have close relationship between each other. Due to limited space, the methods used to solve these issues are given in conceptual way rather than detailed description of mathematical model. The research paves the way for future integration study to design an efficient, economic, convenient, and regular train service plan for Jing-Hu HSL.

Cross Wind Protection Systems for High Speed Railway Lines

Higher operating rail speeds and lighter rolling stock means that cross wind, a factor that had not been considered for railway operations until recent times, has acquired vital importance in keeping adequate safety levels for railway transport of passengers. The overturn risk for a train circulating on a high speed line is determined by three key issues: • TRAIN: its aerodynamic and dynamic characteristics. • LINE: radius, azimuth, type of infrastructure, etc. • WIND: speed and angle with the train: – Wind statistics at the cross wind detection stations. – Wind models with spatial extrapolation for estimating average and actual wind on each section of the line. – Temporal forecast models at the cross wind detection stations. The combination of a certain rail line and a specific vehicle allows the determination of the criticality of each site. Once the authoritative safety target has been defined, according to this overturn risk, the adequate operating procedures must be defined. There are three possible types of protection systems: • Passive protection: protection walls or wind screens. • Active protection: short term (minutes) wind alert systems that impose restrictions to train speed when strong cross wind conditions are predicted. • Special procedures to regulate railway traffic under critical wind conditions. This paper presented hereby describes the studies to determine the susceptible sections to be protected, focus afterwards, specifically on active protection systems themselves, and main actions for its implementation.

Wheel-Rail Dynamic Model and Stochastic Analysis of the Friction in the Contact Patch

The coefficient of friction (CoF) is one of the most important parameters for characterizing the contact between the wheel and the rail. The assumption of a constant CoF is still used in most theoretical studies, although experimental work indicates that the CoF depends on material and dynamic parameters. In the real world, accurate estimation of the CoF is not simple due to various uncertainties. In this paper we present a new 3D nonlinear dry CoF model at the wheel-rail contact. In addition, a stochastic analysis using the polynomial chaos theory is performed with the CoF model. The maximum amplitude of rail roughness and the lateral displacement of the wheel are considered as uncertain parameters in this study. One of the novelties in this study is that our CoF model captures the maximum CoF value (an initial peak) when the wheel starts to move. The stochastic analysis results show that the CoF probability density function (PDF) of a combination of two uncertain parameters has wider PDF ranges than the PDF obtained for only one uncertain parameter. The current work demonstrates that the CoF is strongly affected by the stochastic variation of dynamic parameters. In reality, the CoF is critical to rail tractive performance and efficiency. Thus, the PDF distribution of the CoF must be accounted for in the design of the wheel-rail system.

Strategic Capacity Planning Process for Intercity Passenger Rail

The demand for railway transportation is expected to be significantly increased worldwide; hence railway agencies are looking for better tools to allocate their capital investments on capacity planning in the best possible way. We presented a capacity planning process to help planners enumerate possible expansion options and determine the optimal network investment plan to meet the future demand. This process was applied to the conventional railway system in Taiwan to demonstrate its potential use. Using this capacity planning process will help railway agencies maximize their return from capacity expansion projects and thus be better able to provide reliable service to their customers, and return on shareholder investment.

Track Maintenance Scheduling and Its Interactions With Operations: Dedicated and Mixed High-Speed Rail (HSR) Scenarios

HSRs are a complex system not only in terms of technical specifications, but also with respect to operations and maintenance over the track structure. Also, track structure is basically considered as the most important and costly railway asset. Its maintenance is vital to assure safety and operating practices are also of great importance to assure that a good level of service is provided. Considering track maintenance considerations over a new HSR line, one important and critical feature is the operational regime and the question of whether the line will be operated as mixed (passenger and freight) or dedicated only to passenger traffic. This can influence the maintenance patterns: preventive maintenance planning, maintenances scheduling and assignment issues. This will be different for the dedicated and mixed HSR traffic scenarios. In this research, the main approach is focused on the interactions between track maintenance planning and operational concerns and influences in these two scenarios. With this aim and within the current paper, a model of the preventive maintenance scheduling problem (PMSP) has been selected initially from Budai (2006) and then an upgraded revision of this model (Multi-segment assignment and scheduling of preventive maintenance problem) is introduced. Furthermore, the upgraded model of PMSP has been run over a given HSR line (Tehran-Qom HSR corridor in Iran) based on the comparison between the two scenarios of dedicated HSR and upgraded mixed HSR patterns. The main requirements, similarities and differences between these two scenarios are analyzed based on preventive maintenance scheduling and assignment requisites and interactions over the operating restrictions and considerations such as track possession patterns for maintenance activities. We conclude that decision making between these two scenarios through PMSP modeling are quite complicated and depends on the technical and operational specifications of the given HSR corridor, although some general comments on tradeoffs are possible.