Railway Freight Research Articles

Impact Resistance of Fibre Reinforced Composite Railway Freight Tank Wagons

The use of fibre reinforced composite materials is one method by which the lightweighting of rail vehicles can be achieved. However, the issue of impact damage, amongst other challenges, limits their safety certification. This issue is accentuated by the high levels of loading a rail vehicle may be subjected to during service. This paper addresses the significance of pre-tension on large composite structures, specifically for a composite redesign of a pressure vessel for a freight tank wagon. Preloading was determined to be detrimental to the overall impact resistance of a large composite vessel. At 15.71 J of impact energy, there was a 22% increase in mean absorbed energy for a uniaxially loaded panel over an unloaded panel. However, there was only a 4% difference in penetration depth between uniaxial and biaxial loading. A novel finding from these results is that the effects of preloading are more profound if the loading does not act parallel to a principal fibre direction. Matrix cracking and delaminations are the most common failure modes observed for specimens under low-velocity impact and are intensified by preload.

Research on identification algorithm of railway freight train number based on GSO-BP algorithm

In the stage of character recognition, it is necessary to select the algorithm that matches the character features of train number. The train number characters of railway freight trains are all printed in straight style. Compared with handwritten characters, each character has relatively fixed features. However, due to the complex operation environment of railway freight trains, the character regions are cracked, tilted and partially missing. Therefore, it is very important to select an algorithm with good robustness. In view of the above analysis, this paper proposes a research on railway freight car number recognition algorithm based on GSO-BP algorithm, the experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in character recognition.

Legal regulation of the railway freight transportation and criminal liability for disabling communication lines or transport in Russia

The purpose of the study is to consider the legal regulation of railway freight transportation (on the example of Russia and some European countries), as well as study the peculiarities of criminal prosecution for disabling communication lines or transport on the example of the legislation of the Russian Federation. The leading method was the deductive. The method of systems analysis, the historical method, the method of induction, etc. were used. The study concludes that today, an increase in transport significantly increases the prevalence and danger of crimes that encroach on the functioning of transport that is safe for people and society. The chapter uniting these crimes is located in Section IX of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: “Crimes against Public Safety and Public Order”, placed in third place after the section on crimes against the person and in the economic sphere.

Comparative analysis of conventional diesel-electric and hypothetical battery-electric heavy haul locomotive operation in terms of fuel savings and emissions reduction potentials

The paper considers a novel approach to heavy-haul of railway freight by means of combined operation of conventional diesel-electric and battery-electric locomotives either in single or joint (tandem) operation. A backward-looking quasi-static model of a battery-electric locomotive is proposed, based on the undercarriage of a decommissioned conventional diesel-electric locomotive equipped with a sufficiently-sized battery energy storage system. In order to facilitate power flow control from the battery-electric locomotive and to avoid deep battery discharges a suitable control rule is introduced aimed at modulating the driver power (throttle Notch) command in order to maintain the battery state-of-charge above the safe lower limit during discharging. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been verified by means of simulations for the considered mountainous railway route driving scenario, including realistic railway track slope and speed limitations. The results show that between 22% and 30% fuel cost savings may be achieved, along with reduced emissions of exhaust gases by using the proposed battery-electric locomotive in combination (tandem) with the conventional diesel-electric one.

Comparative Analysis of the Factors Influencing Land Use Change for Emerging Industry and Traditional Industry: A Case Study of Shenzhen City, China

Analyzing the factors influencing emerging industry land use change is important for promoting industrial transformation and for upgrading and improving the level of intensive use of emerging industry land. In recent years, to solve the problem of land resource shortage and expansion space, Shenzhen has implemented a strategy of promoting urban development through technological innovation and has actively promoted the transformation of inefficient industrial land to emerging industry. This article introduces the development, land use types, and spatial distribution of Shenzhen’s emerging industries. Based on the logistic regression model, we analyze the differences between the factors influencing changes in land use for both emerging and traditional industry. The research results show that the distance from public roads, the distance from highways, the distance from railway freight stations, the proportion of secondary industry, and the proportion of tertiary industry are important explanatory variables for the two types of land use change. Traditional industrial land use is also affected by the land slope, the distance from ports, the population, and fixed asset investment. Emerging industry land use is also affected by the distance from the airport, the number of railway stations, the quality of the population, and innovation-driving forces. These results provide a reference for government to rationally plan emerging industry land and differentiated management of this, in order to fill the current research gap in the field of land use change, and to contribute to research revealing the mechanisms driving changes in emerging industrial land.

Network Optimization of Railway Cold Chain Logistics Based on Freight Subsidy

The proportion of railway cold chain transportation in the overall cold chain logistics transportation market is relatively small in China. Freight subsidies and cold chain train operations are typically effective approaches to guide the public transit of cold chain cargo flow and grow the railway cold chain transportation market. We analyzed the cost structure of a cold chain transportation network. We established a network optimization model of the railway cold chain logistics based on a freight subsidy and designed an adaptive genetic–simulated annealing algorithm (A-SAGA). Taking the cold chain transportation between the Yangtze river delta urban agglomerations and the Chengdu–Chongqing city group as an example, we determined the optimal cold chain logistics transportation scheme using the traditional genetic algorithm and the A-SAGA. Moreover, we conducted sensitivity analysis on freight subsidies, train travel speeds, soft time windows, and carbon tax rates. The results showed that for medium- and long-distance cold chain transportation, the railway market share increased from 17.55% to 18.75% with an increase in the railway freight rate subsidy share from 0% to 30%. More cold chain goods were transported by rail when the soft time window or the carbon tax rate increased. Moreover, the railway market share increased from 17.55% to 43.75% with an increase in the train travel speed from 60 km/h to 120 km/h. Thus, compared with freight subsidy, increasing the train travel speed is a better approach to improve the competitiveness of railway cold chain logistics.

Design and validation of a self-powered device for wireless electronically controlled pneumatic brake and onboard monitoring in freight wagons

Electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake system achieves better brake consistency because of fast braking command transmission, but the practical application is limited by the lack of power transmission in standard railway freight wagons. This paper presents the excitations analysis, design, modelling and experimental validation of a novel self-powered device (SPD) utilizing vertical mechanical energy of freight car for onboard power supply. The device with ball crew, mechanical motion rectifier, gearbox and generator converts the bi-directional vertical translation between the car body and bogie into the unidirectional rotation of generator. The electromechanical coupled model of SPD is established to predict the performance versus different load conditions and train speeds. A peak voltage of 29.3 V and an average power of 50.26 W with 16 Ω external resistance are obtained when the full-loaded vehicle speed is 100 km/h, which indicates the potential of single device to power the wireless ECP brake system and sensor nodes simultaneously. The experiments are carried out and the results are in good agreement with the simulations. Moreover, the SPD adapts well to the broadband characteristics of railcars vertical vibration. The experimental results show that an average power of 4.6 W is achieved even in unfavorable condition. This onboard SPD as distributed power supply in unpowered freight car will realize the popularization of more smart devices and improve the overall performance of heavy-haul trains with long group.

Precision Scheduled Railroading and the Need for Improved Estimates of Yard Capacity and Performance Considering Traffic Complexity

Multiple North American freight railroads have adopted concepts of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) that attempt to reduce costs by maximizing train length and minimizing railcar transit time. To achieve these objectives, PSR emphasizes pre-blocking traffic and operating general-purpose trains. These changes have altered the nature of operations at many classification yards, leading to yard closures and conversions to different yard types. Difficulty in implementing PSR-inspired operating practices at yards suggests the industry requires improved estimates of classification yard performance and capacity. While volume-based approaches may be adequate when yard operations are consistent with historical experience, it is hypothesized that approaches considering overall traffic complexity will offer improved predictions when changes are also made to the number of blocks and trains assembled in the yard. An original simulation model of a classification yard pull-down process is used to investigate this hypothesis. The simulation results suggest that a combination of factors describing yard traffic complexity can be a better predictor of yard performance than volume alone. The results are also transformed into a capacity constraint that describes the interaction between the maximum allowable daily number of railcars, blocks, and trains processed by a classification yard. Better understanding of these relationships can aid practitioners and researchers in improving network blocking models and developing train plans that properly use available yard capacity under PSR and other operating plans, reducing the likelihood of future network disturbances and congestion events.

Procurement and technological innovations of India’s new dedicated freight railways

Indian Railways is investing INR 814.590 billion (£8.15 billion) in two new dedicated freight corridors to decongest its heavily used national railway network. Due for completion in 2022, the new 1839 km eastern corridor runs fro. DFCCIL, Delhi to Kolkata while the 1499 km western corridor, capable of carrying double-stack containers, link. DFCCIL, Delhi to Mumbai. This paper describes the procurement process and the new technologies being adopted on the project. These include the first use in India of 32.5 t axle loads, continuous welded track, twin 25 kV overhead electrification, and automatic signalling and centralised train control for 100 km/h line speeds. The project is expected to shift a significant amount of freight transport from road to rail, saving an estimated 455 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years of operation.

Türkiye’nin Demiryolu Yük Taşımacılığı Talebinin Zaman Serisi Analizi ile Tahmini

Taşıma modları içinde yatırım maliyeti yüksek olmasına rağmen kütlesel taşımada navlun maliyeti oldukça düşük olan mod demiryolu taşımacılığıdır. Demiryolunda taşınacak yük miktarının tahmin edilmesi etkin planlama yapılmasını sağlar. Bu çalışma Türkiye’de demiryolu yük taşımacılığına oluşacak talep modeli 1978-2018 arasındaki yıllık zaman serisi verilerini kullanarak analiz edilmiştir. Johansen eşbütünleşme analizi ve varyans hata düzeltme modeli ile tahminin belirleyicilerinin kısa ve uzun dönem esneklikleri tahmin edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre demiryolu yük talebinin en önemli belirleyicisi navlun oranı olmuştur. Demiryolu yük talebinin navlun oranına göre uzun dönem ve kısa dönem esneklikleri - 0,181 ve -0,184 ile çok yakındır. Demiryolu yükü talebinin uzun dönemli dış ticaret hacmi esnekliği anlamlı ve pozitiftir, yani ticaret hacmi arttıkça demiryoluna oluşacak yük talebi artacaktır. Fakat demiryolu yükü talebinin uzun dönemli Gayrisafi Katma Değer ve Yakıt Fiyatı esneklikleri anlamlı ve negatiftir. Yani bu değişkenlerdeki artık demiryolu yük talebini azaltacaktır. Hata düzeltme modeline göre demiryolu yük talebindeki herhangi bir son dönem sapmasının 55%’i bir yıl içinde düzeltilmekte ve uzun dönem denge ilişkisi eski haline gelebilmektedir.

Effect of Viscoelastic Deformation for CA Mortar on Mechanical Responses of Track Structures

The viscoelastic deformation of cement emulsified asphalt mortar (CA mortar) can lead to gaps between the mortar and track slab, thereby adversely affecting the mechanical capability and deformation behavior of the track structures. According to the time hardening rate method, a solid model of the China Railway Track System I (CRTS-I) slab track was established to study the viscoelastic characteristics of mortar. What’s more, this paper also analyzed the influence of viscoelastic deformation of mortar on the mechanical responses of track structures. The results obtained indicate that the viscoelastic deformation of CA mortar under train loading occurs mainly in the area from the track slab end to the third fastener, which is about 1.5 m long. Its viscoelastic deformation can reach nearly 0.6 mm. The maximum mortar stresses under passenger train and freight train loads with considering the viscoelastic deformation of mortar 0.6 mm, are 0.382 MPa and 0.566 MPa, respectively, which are both 2 to 3 times greater than those under normal conditions (without CA mortar failure, namely none vertical deformation of mortar). Besides, the vertical accelerations of rail and track slab are also significantly larger than those under normal conditions when the viscoelastic deformation of CA mortar is taken into account. And these values under the freight train load are greater than those under the passenger train load. Therefore, we suggest that future research should take the adverse impact of viscoelastic deformation of CA mortar into account when studying the mechanical responses of track structures. Furthermore, for the shared passenger and freight railway lines, the passage of freight trains should be strictly controlled.

A deep learning model S-Darknet suitable for small target detection

In order to solve the problem of low accuracy of small target detection in target detection, a small target detection model S-Darknet is proposed. The algorithm is designed based on the Darknet-53 network. First, a new backbone network is proposed, which fully extracts the feature of small objects and adapts to multi-scale detection. Then, in order to enhance the feature information of the target after the fusion, a feature enhancement module is added before each upsampling. Finally, the proposed algorithm was verified on the VOC2007, VOC2012 data sets and the actual data sets of railway freight locks. Experimental results show that this method has high detection accuracy under the premise of ensuring real-time performance.

Model of effective market and technology of freight railway transportation

Background: Liberalization processes, an attempt of the railway industry to transition to a new market model (free competition market) without corresponding changes in the component of the model, negatively affect the efficiency of the railway industry and the efficiency of the freight railway service market.
 This article proposes to look at the problem not from the standpoint of changing the form of ownership in the industry and the formation of a free competition market, but from the standpoint of finding an equilibrium between the technology of work and the applied model of the freight rail transport market. The research is based on the well-known Industrial organization concept. The author views the market as a living mechanism that responds to changes in its components within its own field, not only as a place for transactions. The efficiency of the freight rail transport market largely depends on the technology for creating a freight rail service. It is proposed to form a market model focusing not on the type of competition, but on a certain harmony of the technology of freight railway service and the market, or rather the balance of the components of the service market.
 Aim: to define a model of an efficient rail freight market. in which the railway industry can show maximum efficiency.
 Methods: expert assessment of attempt to change the model of the railway freight market; analysis of the reasons for the imbalance in the economic mechanism of transportation activities in the field of freight railway transportation; attempt to structure goals of an efficient railway freight market.
 Results: the author's interpretation of the concepts is presented: "The market of freight rail transportation", "The economy of freight rail transportation", "The owner of the process of freight rail transportation", "Participant of the process of freight rail transportation"; a model is proposed, the image and goals of an effective freight railway service market are formed.
 Conclusions: Based on the results of the study, recommendations can be formulated on the formation of a balanced model of the rail freight market and adjusting the goals and the existing market model.

철도화차 소요량 산정 방법 정립에 관한 연구

철도화차를 과다하게 도입하면 예산의 낭비를 초래하게 되고 과소하게 도입하면 화물수송 차질로 인한 수입결손을 초래하게 된다. 따라서 철도경영 측면에서 적정한 철도화차 소요량 산정은 매우 중요한 의미를 가진다. 하지만 철도화차 소요에 영향을 미치는 지표 도출과 산정방식이 체계화되지 못한 한계로 인하여 철도화차 소요량을 산정할 경우에 철도화차 과부족과 같은 많은 문제점이 초래되고 있다. 이에 본 연구는 철도운영기관이 철도화차 운용효율을 향상시킬 수 있도록 철도화차 소요량 산정에 영향을 미치는 요인을 도출하고 적정 철도화차 소요량을 산정하는 방법을 정립하기 위한 목적으로 연구를 수행하였다. 연구의 목적을 달성하기 위해 철도운영기관 철도화차 관리자를 대상으로 한심층면담을 통해 실제 적용하고 있는 철도화차 소요 판단 방법과 적용상의 문제점을 도출하고, 향상된 화차소요량 산정방법을 제시하였다. 마지막으로 2019년 화차 운용실적을 기반으로 기존 화차소요량 산식과 본 연구에서 제시한 산식을 비교 검증해 본 결과, 본 연구에서 제시한 산식에 의한 결과값이 실제 과부족량과의 차이가 적어 본 연구에서 제시한 산식이 기존방법 보다 정확한 화차 소요량을 산정할 수 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 본 연구의 결과는 철도운영기관이 화차 소요량을 산정할 때 적용할 수 있는 방법을 정립하여 제시함으로서 철도운영기관이 적정한 철도화차 소요량을 산정하고, 철도화차 도입시기를 판단하는 데 유용하게 활용될 것이다.

Route planning model of rail transit network facing the railway freight transport deadline

The railway freight period seriously affected the overall operating efficiency of the railway network. As a complex dynamic system of the Internet of Things and Intelligent Transportation System, rail transit networks are currently mainly based on static network index analysis. This paper compares the results of CIGA with the optimal solution of the mixed-integer linear programming model based on small-scale test cases to test the optimality of CIGA. Then three meta-heuristic algorithms that have good results in solving classic FSGS problems are selected, and the results of CIGA are compared with the three algorithms based on large-scale test cases to test the effectiveness of CIGA. This paper takes the basic data of railway routes in our country as a reference and expands its format. All algorithms in the experiment are implemented using Matlab language programming. The results of the study show that the intermediate values of the five important intervals determined by the interval between values are between 11.555 and 18.40%, indicating that these five intervals can individually affect 11.55 to 18.40% of the shortest paths in the railway track network. The efficiency can have a greater impact. There are five important intervals determined by the proportion of goods affected by the interval. The proportion of goods individually affected by each interval is between 12.24 and 13.96%, and the corresponding cargo transportation volume affected is 42630 to 48,621. These intervals have an impact on cargo transportation.

ATTRACTION AREA DIVISION AND FREIGHT FLOW ORGANIZATION OPTIMIZATION OF INLAND RAILWAY CONTAINER TERMINAL

The attraction area division is the foundation of distribution and organization of freight flow among railway stations. The development of railway container terminal, large railway freight distribution center, is closely related to logistics planning and economy development of local city. In this study, we divide freight flow attraction area of inland railway container terminal by using gravity model, break-point model and weighted-Voronoi-diagram with SPSS and ArcGIS. And then under the target of minimal cost and time window limitations, we develop 0–1 integer programming model for freight flow organization optimization between inland terminal and its attraction area. Finally, this paper takes railway container terminal in Harbin as an example to test model feasibility under different speeds from different transportation modes. The results show that it is necessary to divide attraction area when choosing reasonable transportation mode from feeder nodes to railway container terminal. The improvement of feeder transportation speed is an effective method to improve freight volume, increase railway revenue and realize sustainable development of China Railway (CR) Express.

Optimized design to adverse transportation conditions for railway freight system

This study proposed a method for transportation agencies to efficiently and accurately formulate or revise rules for the movement of railway transport while ensuring safety under adverse conditions. Determining such a method in general requires trial-and-error experimentation, which consumes large amounts of time and money. We used the uniform experiment (UE) and generalized linear autoregression (GLAR) to establish our method. Based on it, a series of numerical models were proposed to examine the association between the operational indices of safety (derailment coefficient and rate of wheel unloading) and such factors as the type of wagon, cargo weight, partial loading (covering longitudinal and lateral offset), line condition, and operating speed. The models were used to determine the worst transportation conditions. The results of analysis showed the following: 1) the effect of the speed of operation on the safety indices followed a parabolic law, those of cargo weight and part loading followed a linear law, the type of wagon and line condition exhibited no clear regularity, and some of these factors have an interactive influence. 2) A combination of the UE and GLAR helped deal with the complex multivariate process using the fewest multilevel experiments to accurately determine the most adverse conditions for railway freight transportation. The proposed method provided reference schemes for governmental agencies to study and revise freight management regulations.

The role of Integrated Logistics Centers (ILCs) in modelling the flows of goods in urban areas based on the example of Italy

The article presents the results of research on the role of Integrated Logistics Centers (ILCs) in urban logistics. Italian ILCs constitute an example of a comprehensive approach to economic development of regions. The main aim of the article was to identify the function of ILCs and assess whether they could perform additional tasks of Urban Consolidation Centers (UCCs), in accordance with the assumptions of Sustainable Urban Freight Transport (SUFT). To this end, the following research methods were used: literature review, documentary method, and case study. The area of research focused on selected Italian ILCs, including: Interporto Qadrante Europa, Verona and Cityporto Padova, Padua. The research process proved the possibility of introducing new environmentally friendly solutions in Italian urban logistics. As an example, the authors presented the possibility of using innovative Light Freight Railway (LFR) system for handling transport between Interporto Sud Europa and selected cities. The case study showed that implementing LFR in the delivery of goods in urban areas may increase the functionality of Italian ILCs, thus enabling the implementation of SUFT assumptions and benefiting the environment and quality of life in society. The results can be used both in subsequent research stages as well as in business practice.

Modeling of Railway Stations Based on Queuing Networks

Among the micro-logistic transport systems, railway stations should be highlighted, such as one of the most important transport infrastructure elements. The efficiency of the transport industry as a whole depends on the quality of their operation. Such systems have a complex multi-level structure, and the incoming traffic flow often has a stochastic character. It is known that the most effective approach to study the operation of such systems is mathematical modeling. Earlier, we proposed an approach to transport hub modeling using multiphase queuing systems with a batch Markovian arrival process (BMAP) as an incoming flow. In this paper, we develop the method by applying more complex models based on queuing networks that allow us to describe in detail the route of requests within an object with a non-linear hierarchical structure. This allows us to increase the adequacy of modeling and explore a new class of objects—freight railway stations and marshalling yards. Here we present mathematical models of two railway stations, one of which is a freight railway station located in Russia, and the other is a marshalling yard in the USA. The models have the form of queuing networks with BMAP flow. They are implemented as simulation software, and a numerical experiment is carried out. Based on the numerical results, some “bottlenecks” in the structure of the studied stations are determined. Moreover, the risk of switching to an irregular mode of operation is assessed. The proposed method is suitable for describing a wide range of cargo and passenger transport systems, including river ports, seaports, airports, and multimodal transport hubs. It allows a primary analysis of the hub operation and does not need large statistical information for parametric identification.

A Theory Approach towards Tradable Rail Freight Option

For railway freight pricing, this paper proposes a new tradable rail freight option (RFO). A multiphase trigeminal tree pricing model is established to analyze the optimal pricing decision of RFO. The main parameters of the model are identified theoretically through nonparametric Ito stochastic approach. The paper expands the theory of railway freight pricing. The aim of this paper is to construct the railway freight option theory to help railway transportation enterprise cope with fierce competition and challenge from other modes of transportation in China. The most significant feature of this method is its simplicity in analyzing the optimal pricing decision using only the algebraic category and Ito’s lemma.