JR East Research Articles

OS2 JR東日本における新幹線高速化への取組み

Since the establishment of the Shinkansen Speed-up Project in 2002, JR East has been developing various technologies seeking for world top level Shinkansen not only in operating speed but also in safety, environmental friendliness and riding quality. In this project, JR East has developed two high speed experimental train sets, Fastech360S and Fastech360Z. The technological target of Fastech360 is to realize 360km/h commercial operation. After a 2-year test running of them, JR East decided to increase the maximum operation speed of Tohoku Shinkansen from 275km/h to 320km/h. This paper describes the overview of the R&D project and the developed technologies, and the subjects to be solved for further speedup for the future as well.

Closing Surge and Surge Propagation at SHINKANSEN Changeover Section

In some substations and sectioning posts of Shinkansen power system in JR East area, the electrical transient phenomena when the Shinkansen train passes through the changeover section are reported during the last a few years. In this paper, the closing surge phenomena of the Shinkansen changeover section are elucidated based on both the detail measurement of the surge phenomena at substations and computer simulation. It is clarified that the surge propagation and the reflection at open end of the contact wire system cause the over-voltage at changeover section and result in the discharge of the lightning arresters at some substations.

The Future of High-Speed Train

High-speed intercity railways have grown into profitable business, achieving a renaissance in rail transport. High-speed railways need constant updating to new systems if they are to be winners in this age of competing transportation modes. In view of that situation, JR East started an R&D project to achieve even faster speed---more than 300 km/h. A test train that can run at an operational speed of 360 km/h is under development, and JR East plans to commence high-speed tests in the summer of 2005.

Assurance evaluation technology for an autonomous decentralized ATC system

High transport capacity, high safety, and high reliability are required of train control systems in the high-density operational sections. The conventional systems operate as follows. The presence of a train is detected at each fixed section. Based on a decision as to whether or not the train should progress into the section, the velocity of the train is calculated by a centralized control system on the ground, and the result is communicated to the automatic train control device (ATC) of the train. It is difficult to realize high-density transport by this mechanism. This paper proposes an autonomous decentralized ATC system (D-ATC), which works as follows. Each train detects its own position. Only the position at which to stop is communicated from the ground to the train, and the velocity of the train is determined and controlled autonomously on the basis of this instruction. Then, an assurance technology is proposed in which trains with D-ATC are introduced stepwise without disturbing the operation of the whole system, and their testing in on-line operation is assured while they coexist with trains with the existing ATC. The on-train integration and the on-train separation technologies are presented as two methods of stepwise introduction and are evaluated from the viewpoint of assurance. Based on the results obtained in this study, a practical application was performed in the train control system of the JR East Yamanote/Keihin Tohoku line. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 88(10): 46–56, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjc.20194

The Activity of Car Manufacture and Reliability in JR East Niitsu Rolling Stock Manufacturing Factory

The Activity of Car Manufacture and Reliability in JR East Niitsu Rolling Stock Manufacturing Factory

D402 Development of Articulated Trucks for AC Train (Series E993)

AC Train is the first JR East commuter train to adopt the articulated structure. Two types bolster-less articulated trucks (two air springs type and four air springs type) were developed for AC Train. The results of a running test shows that good running safety is obtained in both articulated trucks. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the four air springs type can improve the wheel unloading on running a transition curve. Therefore, it is considered that this is effective for improvement of the safety to the wheelclimb derailment.

JR East takes up the challenge of ‘searching for a railway that is kinder to the Earth’

Although the railways are said to be kind to the environment, they do consume energy and emit carbon dioxides. They must make it their own responsibility to work ceaselessly at further reducing these effects. The most important point in this respect is whether the railway companies have established a means in management for tackling the problem of improving the environment independently and continuously. In Japan, railways have been an important part of Japan's transport system. In 1994, JR East started up the Committee of Ecology and decided on three basic policies. Great strides have been made, for example, with the environment management system, energy-saving efforts, the movement to grow forests and the reduction in rubbish. It should become increasingly important to have firm strategies for this field in the future, especially in the twenty first century which is being called the ‘environment century’.

Efficacy of Safety-Related Investments To Reduce Fatalities on the East Japan Railway

In any organization there is a limit on the amount of resources that can be used for risk reduction. By examining strategies for reducing the risk of fatalities on the East Japan Railway (JR East), a framework in which risk-reduction resources can be used well is described. Basic principles of risk assessment are introduced. Various analyses and models to study collisions, earthquake effects, level-crossing accidents, and operating policies regarding natural hazards are presented. The concept of a global risk assessment of JR East is included. The question of perceived versus objective risk is discussed in the context of safety-related investment.

LEVEL CROSSING SAFETY ON EAST JAPAN RAILWAY COMPANY: APPLICATION OF PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

This paper describes the application of probabilistic risk assessment techniques to level crossing safety on JR East, the largest of the six private railroads in Japan. The risk of a level crossing accident was defined as the product of the accident rate and the expected consequences per accident. Rail traffic volume, road traffic volume, visibility of the crossing from the road, road gradient, width of the crossing and the type of safety devices at the crossing were shown to influence the accident rate and the collective risk. The mean accident rate at all crossings was 0.74 per million trains. The accident rate was 0.59 per million trains at crossings equipped with barriers, 1.25 at crossings equipped with warning bells and 0.76 at pedestrian crossings. Crossings equipped with obstacle detectors had a lower accident rate (0.12 per million trains) than crossings without detectors (0.43 per million trains). Crossings with visibility less than 20 m had a 50% higher mean accident rate than crossings with visibility greater than 20 m. As the number of tracks increased, the accident rate monotonically increased due to the increased accident exposure. Risk assessment techniques were applied to determine the efficacy of the various level crossing safety devices. In addition to upgrading the safety of crossings, the management techniques stressed the importance of education campaigns in warning the public about the dangers of illegal crossings.

Development of Autonomous Decentralized Transport Operation Control System for Super High-density Railway Lines

East Japan Railway Company (JR EAST) has developed advanced transport operation control system supporting super high-density railway in Tokyo metropolitan area. The system target is to revolutionize existing railway operation and to realize new safe and high efficient railway system. Autonomous Decentralized Transport Operation Control System has many features, including safe and steady traffic control, improved customers service and step by step system construction used by autonomous decentralized system technology. The system has been already introduced to Chuo-line in December of 1996 and is now under construction to expand to all of Tokyo metropolitan area.

Development and evaluation of Three-Level Power Converter System using IGBTs with Water Cooling Apparatus for Shinkansen Trains

Power converter systems using GTOs (Gate Turn Off thyristors) are widely used as traction systems for Shinkansen trains. However, it is difficult to reduce harmonic currents of a catenary line, acoustic noise from a transformer and motors of the traction systems, because of the relatively low switching frequency of GTOs.This paper proposes a three level power converter system using IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) for Shinkansen trains. This system is capable of reducing the harmonic currents of the catenary line, and the acoustic noise, because of the relatively high switching frequency of the IGBTs and the three-level output voltage of the converters. The power converter was installed in the STAR21 (Superior Train for the Advanced Railway toward the 21th Century) which is a high speed testing train for the Shinkansen routes of JR East (East Japan Railway Company). The superiority of the new power converter system was verified by test results.

Current Collecting Performance of Overhead Contact Line-Pantograph System at 425km/h.

In Japan speed tests in 300km/h region have been carried out since Oyama Test Line recorded a 319km/h run in 1979. Meanwhile TGV recorded a 515.3km/h run by an electric locomotive installed with a pantograph in 1990 and ICE did 406.9km/h using similar train in 1988. High speed current collection tests over 400km/h using electric railcars have been desired in Japan. Problems of high speed tests are: train speed approaching wave propagation velocity, multi-pantographs resonance, and too large uplift of contact wires caused by lift. It is necessary to keep wave propagation velocity of contact wire higher than train speed. CS contact wire and TA contact wire were compared in high speed tests because it was impossible to get a good current collecting performance by using hard-drawn copper contact wires. In December, 1993 using these contact wires we carried out high speed running tests of 400km/h region on Jyoetsu Shinkansen with the test train STAR 21 which JR EAST built for high speed tests. This paper gives the current collecting performance of these contact wires predicted by simulation and running tests at 425km/h.

The Development Of A Cost-effective AutomaticTrain Protection System For Safety Operation OnSuburban Lines In The Tokyo Metropolitan Area

In East Japan Railway Company(JR East), the ATP system based on the transponder technology is applied to upgrade the safety on commuter lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area since 1989. This ATP system was named ATS-P(the Automatic Train Stop with on-board Pattern) in Japanese National Railway. This ATS-P performs the wayside-to-train communication by the transponder technology. The coded message transmitted from a ground coil enables the on-board devices to perform a continuous supervision of the train speed. The lines equipped with the ATS-P system accounted for 706 kilometers as of December 31,1995. Applying the ATS-P to moderate traffic lines, it would be necessary to develop a cost-effective on-board equipment and wayside equipment. In February, 1994 authors decided to develop the wayside equipment of such a system at first and named the developed unit the ATS-P(N> in October, 1995. ATS-P(N) also uses the transponder technology and especially makes full use of the ground coils without power supply cable. The ATS-P(N> system is constructed of several ground coils and relay-modules to change the train control telegrams according to signal indications. It's really significant that the ATS-P(N) system is simpler than the ATS-P ground system. So, the total cost of ATS-P(N)is less than 50% of the ATS-P ground system. The ATS-P(N> will be applied on two conventional lines in 1997. 1 ATS-P system Transponders are generally used as repeating devices in communication satellites and for identifying an aircraft. But as shown in Fig.l, it serves as a digital communication device for sending and receiving information between ground coils and on-board coils. Some transmission specifications for the transponder are illustrated in Table 1. The fixed information such as a station name, etc., can be transmitted using Transactions on the Built Environment vol 18, © 1996 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509