Railway Department Research Articles

Research on Improvement of Maintenance Quality of Common Speed Railway Public Works Based on Computer Maintenance Technology

With the rapid development of transportation technology, the application of railway transportation is more and more widely, which has become an important livelihood project. Therefore, we need the railway department to continuously strengthen the maintenance work of Railway public Works (hereinafter referred to as RPW) technology. Compared with the operation efficiency of railway, the operation efficiency of common speed line is higher, which requires us to strengthen and improve the maintenance management of common speed line. Through computer technology, the railway department can fully implement the mode of “maintenance and repair”, which will avoid the current situation of high wear and tear of heavy haul railway. By gradually improving the maintenance level, we can improve the equipment support ability, which has a certain promotion value for the railway line workshop maintenance. First of all, this paper analyzes the key points of RPW maintenance, and then, this paper analyzes the construction of comprehensive data platform of RPW maintenance plan. Finally, some suggestions are put forward.

A new seasonal cycle GM (1,1) model and its application in railway passenger volume forecasting

PurposeTo predict the passenger volume reasonably and accurately, this paper fills the gap in the research of quarterly data forecast of railway passenger volume. The research results can also provide references for railway departments to plan railway operation lines reasonably and efficiently.Design/methodology/approachThis paper intends to establish a seasonal cycle first order univariate grey model (GM(1,1) model) combing with a seasonal index. GM (1,1) is termed as the trend equation to fit the railway passenger volume in China from 2014 to 2018. The railway passenger volume in 2019 is used as the experimental data to verify the forecasting effect of the proposed model. The forecasting results of the seasonal cycle GM (1,1) model are compared with the traditional GM (1,1) model, seasonal grey model (SGM(1,1)), Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model, moving average method and exponential smoothing method. Finally, the authors forecast the railway passenger volume from 2020 to 2022.FindingsThe quarterly data of national railway passenger volume have a clear tendency of cyclical fluctuations and show an annual growth trend. According to the comparison of the modeling results, the authors know that the seasonal cycle GM (1,1) model has the best prediction effect with the mean absolute percentage error of 1.32%. It is much better than the other models, reflecting the feasibility of the proposed model.Originality/valueAs the previous grey prediction model could not solve the series prediction problem with seasonal fluctuation, and there are few research studies on quarterly railway passenger volume forecasting, GM (1,1) model is taken as the trend equation and combined with the seasonal index to construct a combination forecasting model for accurate forecasting results in this study. Besides, considering the impact of the epidemic on passenger volume, the authors introduce a disturbance factor to deal with the forecasting results in 2020, making the modeling results more scientific, practical and referential.

Evaluation Scheme of Live Load Standard of Railway Bridge Based on VR Technology

With the rapid development of China’s railways and the extension of high-speed railways in all directions, China’s railway departments have realized that the original design concept and design load can no longer meet the current requirements of railway operation. This paper mainly studies the design of the live load standard evaluation scheme for railway Bridges based on VR technology. This paper first introduces the theory of load experiment and analyzes the live load experiment and its standard in detail. Then, this paper analyzes the live load standard evaluation scheme of railway Bridges under VR technology, and carries out experiments. The experimental results show that when the spacing between main beams is 2.1m and 4m, the empirical distribution does not reject the test of normal distribution, lognormal distribution and extremum-I distribution, but the test value of normal distribution is the smallest, indicating that the distribution type of transverse distribution coefficient of load is closer to normal distribution. The results of this paper are helpful for the railway departments to carry out live load experiments on railway Bridges and promote the development of load evaluation of railway Bridges.

Optimizing Train Timetable Based on Departure Time Preference of Passengers for High-Speed Rails

Passengers would like to choose the most suitable train based on their travel preferences, expenses, and train timetable in the high-speed railway corridor. Meanwhile, the railway department will constantly adjust the train timetable according to the distribution of passenger flows during a day to achieve the optimal operation cost and energy consumption saving plan. The question is how to meet the differential travel needs of passengers and achieve sustainable goals of service providers. Therefore, it is necessary to design a demand-oriented and environment-friendly high-speed railway timetable. This paper formulates the optimization of train timetable for a given high-speed railway corridor, which is based on the interests of both passengers and transportation department. In particular, a traveling time-space network with virtual departure arc is constructed to analyze generalized travel costs of passengers of each origin-destination (OD), and bilevel programming model is used to optimize the problem. The upper integer programming model regards the minimization of the operating cost, which is simplified to the minimum traveling time of total trains, as the goal. The lower level is a user equilibrium model which arranges each OD passenger flow to different trains. A general advanced metaheuristic algorithm embedded with the Frank–Wolfe method is designed to implement the bilevel programming model. Finally, a real-world numerical experiment is conducted to verify the effectiveness of both the model and the algorithm.

Misalignment of interest: An actor-network analysis of a government budgeting practice

Research aim: This paper aims at finding an explanation as to why a government budget operates as a ritual, as has been observed in the Sri Lankan Government budgeting practice and many Less Developed Country (LDC) accounting studies.Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Designed to be a historical study, this study illustrates the government budgeting practice referring to the Sri Lanka Railway Department (SLRD), benefitting from Actor-Network Theory (ANT) using data from archival sources, content analysis of documents, published materials and interviews.Research finding: This research finds that accounting and control practices dysfunction when they do not support the aligned interests of the underlying actor-network.Theoretical contribution/ Originality: This paper focuses on the ‘aligned interest’ of an actor-network, tracking changes of human and non-human actors of a ruling network over three ruling regimes within 1815 to 2019, illuminating the use of ANT in analysing how accounting practices develop over time.Practitioner/ Policy implication: This research reveals to practitioners in the LDC context, a reason for budgeting to operate as a ritual, helping them to formulate necessary action. To the policymaker, this research reveals that for successful performance, the overall policy framework must address the underlying dominant interest.Research limitation: This research focuses on a single aligned interest in an actor-network. However, some public sector institutions operate with multiple interests. Further studies are needed to understand how accounting and control practices in such a context.Keywords: Government budgeting, Actor-Network Theory, Colonial legacies in accounting, LDC accounting and controls, Political interest in public sector accountingType of article: Research paperJEL Classification: H61, H72, H83, M48Received: 3 May 2020Revised: 6 September 2020, 1 October 2020Accepted: 9 October 2020Published online: 29 January 2021

Contested Tracks to Modernity: Negotiating Narratives at Taiwan's Railway Department Park.

This essay looks at the exhibitions of Taipei's Railway Department Park, a museum exhibiting Taiwan's "railway culture." It explores how the history of the island's railway system and the Railway Department as the symbol of modernity have been intricately linked to contested interpretations of Taiwan's history, which is shaped by wars, Japanese imperialism, and Chinese nationalism from the nineteenth century to the present day. It also reviews how the contents of the exhibitions may appeal to the general public, invoking shared memories of railway travel and creating a sense of community in a time when bickering over history has strained relationships among the Taiwanese people.

A Novel Iterative Learning Approach for Tracking Control of High-Speed Trains Subject to Unknown Time-Varying Delay

In this article, a novel iterative learning control scheme is proposed for high-speed trains, aiming to track the desired reference displacement and velocity, where the Krasovskii function is constructed to compensate for the negative influence of unknown time-varying speed delays. The main feature of the proposed approach is that the hyperbolic tangent function and the command filter are integrated into the learning controller to overcome the singularity problem that may occur during the control process and relax the requirement for the derivability of the desired velocity. The stability of control system is strictly proved through establishing the composite energy function, and the effectiveness is confirmed via numerical simulations. Compared with the existing works, the merits of the proposed control scheme lie in that more general nonlinear uncertainties are imposed on the dynamic model of train instead of the Lipschitz condition, and the reference acceleration assigned by the railway department is not required. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —High-speed train always runs periodically on the same railway, e.g., the same tunnels, slopes, and bridges, according to the scheduling plans developed by the railway department. Due to the repetitive operation pattern, the iterative learning control has the prospect of becoming an inherent method for devising the tracking controller of trains. Nevertheless, the unknown speed delays, which are inevitable due to the damping effect of wheel rails, couplers, and so on as well as the disturbance of external environments, may degrade the performance of control system and even cause instability in severe cases. As a result, this article exploits a compensation method to eliminate the effects of unknown delay under the iterative learning control framework, thus guaranteeing the safety of train operation and the comfort of passengers. To enhance the practicability, the hyperbolic tangent function is introduced to keep the continuity of control signal, and the command filter is synthesized to reduce the complexity of controller implementation. Although the stability analysis and numerical simulations have confirmed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed scheme, it is still expected to be verified by experiments in the future.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MALAYA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL SCHOOL KUALA LUMPUR, 1925 – 1940

Technical education is extensively important for government services, infrastructure, urbanization and industrialization. Every countries feel the necessity of technical education to attain prosperity and to achieve development. In Malaya, many vernacular, English and vocational schools were established under the rule of the British during the last period of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Shortly after, the necessity of technical education was observed. As a result, the Treacher Technical School was established in Kuala Lumpur, in 1904. During the first decade of the 20th century, the classes were moved to different buildings; and during the first and second decades of the 20th century, students were trained for some government departments such as the Public Works Department, the Survey Office, the Railway Department and the Forest Department. The school faced several problems, and was closed and re-opened for a few times. In October, 1925, a departmental technical school which can be referred as the Technical School, Kuala Lumpur (TSKL) was opened to train the apprentices for the Railway, Survey and Public Works Departments. In this study, the TSKL which is a successor of the Treacher Technical School and an ancestor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) will be examined, discussed and analyzed from 1925 until 1940 within the context of administration of the school and structure of the curriculum and co-curriculum, construction for the nation and country.

Optimization of Railway Express Freight Trains Operation Plan under the Competition of Highway and Railway

In recent years, China’s economy has developed rapidly, especially in the Internet industry and e-commerce. These have led to the rapid growth of the express industry. The express delivery industry has a huge demand for transportation. However, due to the speed and convenience of highway, the highway transportation occupies a large market share. Due to relevant policies and the inadequate transportation capacity resource allocation, a large number of medium and long-distance freight flows that are suitable for railway transportation choose highway transportation. This not only greatly reduces the profits of the railway transportation department, increases the carbon emission of the transportation system, but also makes the load of some road sections higher than expected. Therefore, in order to protect the environment and enhance the market competitiveness of the railway department, the optimization of the railway express freight train schedule is an urgent task.On the basis of previous research results, this paper first calculates the generalized cost of highway and railway from the perspective of the cargo owner, and finds out whether the cargo owner will choose railway, that is, which freight flow will be attracted to the railway. Then, with the maximization of the profits of the railway department as the objective function, the 0-1 integer programming model is established under the constraints of railway transportation capacity, freight transportation time and decision variable value restrictions, etc. Finally, a small-scale example is designed. After put the data into the model, the optimized operation plan of railway express freight trains is obtained.

An Online Classification Method for Fault Diagnosis of Railway Turnouts.

Railway turnout system is a key infrastructure to railway safety and efficiency. However, it is prone to failure in the field. Therefore, many railway departments have adopted a monitoring system to monitor the operation status of turnouts. With monitoring data collected, many researchers have proposed different fault-diagnosis methods. However, many of the existing methods cannot realize real-time updating or deal with new fault types. This paper—based on imbalanced data—proposes a Bayes-based online turnout fault-diagnosis method, which realizes incremental learning and scalable fault recognition. First, the basic conceptions of the turnout system are introduced. Next, the feature extraction and processing of the imbalanced monitoring data are introduced. Then, an online diagnosis method based on Bayesian incremental learning and scalable fault recognition is proposed, followed by the experiment with filed data from Guangzhou Railway. The results show that the scalable fault-recognition method can reach an accuracy of 99.11%, and the training time of the Bayesian incremental learning model reduces 29.97% without decreasing the accuracy, which demonstrates the high accuracy, adaptability and efficiency of the proposed model, of great significance for labor-saving, timely maintenance and further, safety and efficiency of railway transportation.

Railway freight volume forecasting based on combined DWT-Bi-LSTM model

Railway freight volume forecasting can provide information for National Railway Department to establish effective operation lines, and its research plays an important role in increasing the effective proportion of railway transport. In order to improve the prediction accuracy, this paper proposes a combined model based on wavelet transform (WT) and bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) for high-precision railway freight volume forecasting. In this method, experimental data are first denoised by wavelet transform to extract important signal features that can accurately express the data information, and then Bi-LSTM is utilized to learn from the historical denoised data and iteratively improve upon predictions. To verify the improved prediction performance of DWT-Bi-LSTM, results are compared with those of the single LSTM, GRU, Bi-LSTM model along with the LSTM, GRU model combined with wavelet transform. The experimental results show that the combined DWT-Bi-LSTM model proposed in this paper has higher accuracy in the prediction of railway freight volume than the other forecasting methods.

Government Budgeting and Consensual Spaces: The Case of Sri Lanka Railway

This paper argues that subjectivities occurring within consensual spaces, which are formed by constraints enforced by control systems of organisations. The paper uses a case study on the budgeting practices of Sri Lanka Railways Department (SLRD), owner a state entity of Sri Lanka, to demonstrate the phenomenon. The notion of consensual space is constructed drawing drawing on the Labour Processes Theory and Gramsci's Hegemonic Analysis provides the analytical lens for the study. The research is an ethnographic case study, generating empirical materials mainly through semi-structured interviews, content analysis of documents and secondary data from historical studies. Findings add to the LDC accounting studies and bring an explanation to the common finding in these studies that formal control systems such as budgeting systems become rituals in the face of socio-cultural and political conditions. Finally, this study shows how such organisations continue to be governed by idiosyncratic controls formed within consensual spaces.

Agent Based Modelling and Simulation to estimate movement time of pilgrims from one place to another at Allahabad Jn. Railway Station during Kumbh Mela-2019

Kumbh Mela festival of India is one of the largest mass gathering event of huge religious importance all over the world. Large gatherings in these kind of religious events require rigorous monitoring and attention. Successful organization of such events requires synchronization among officials of different public departments such as police, health, security, communication, railways etc. The railway department plays a significant role in handling huge surge of passengers and their transportation during such events. Every 12-years Kumbh Mela is organized in the city of Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) in northern India. The Allahabad Jn. railway station experiences huge inflow and outflow of pilgrims during Kumbh Mela. The railway authorities deploy predefined crowd movement strategies and boarding procedures for smooth transportation of pilgrims. However, these strategies are outlined based on previous experiences and ground knowledge of stakeholders. The strategies followed by railway authorities are needed to be evaluated and tested for realistic assessment and possible refinement before actual deployment. Our model is able to capture and simulate the real time behaviour of entities such as pilgrims and trains by programming them as synthetic agents. This model is helpful in analyzing the time taken by a group of pilgrims to move from a designated place to their target platform and board the train. The consumed time is calculated by simulating different movement and boarding procedures including the actual plans followed by the railway authorities. In this way it is possible to assess the efficiency of their movement plans and reasons about possible refinement.

We Remember: the Ipswich Railway Workshops War Memorial

The Ipswich Railway Workshops War Memorial stands as a tribute to the men from the workshops who enlisted to serve in the First World War. Research into the efforts to raise funds, construct and dedicate the memorial provides insight into the culture and internal workings of the workshops, its workforce and its role within Queensland Railways. The cost of producing the memorial it was met through contributions from the workshops workforce, as well as in kind donations and provision of materials and equipment from the Railways. It was designed by the Queensland Railways architect Vincent Price. As it was located on Queensland Railway property it was the railway department’s responsibility to ensure it was maintained and cared for just like any other asset in the Railway’s portfolio. Despite these unique qualities the story of this memorial also runs parallel to the efforts of cities, towns and communities across Queensland and Australia to raise funds and build tributes to the members of their communities who served and died in the First World War. Communities across Queensland commissioned 61 similar memorials in response to the significant loss of community members as a result of the war. The Ipswich Workshops Memorial therefore reflects a broader aesthetic and commemorative trend. The legacy of this trend continues to influence aspects of community remembrance today. The Ipswich Workshops Memorial and many like it continue to serve as the focal point for commemorative activities on ANZAC and Remembrance Day.

Duty, Debt and Picket Lines: the Queensland Railway Department during the First World War

The Queensland Railway Department, also known as the Queensland Government Railways or QGR, was one of the state’s largest civil contributors to Queensland’s war effort. The department’s resources would be utilised by both the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments to meet the demands of enlistment quotas, armaments production and moving military personnel and equipment across the state. Throughout the war years QGR would be impacted by falling revenues due to the state’s expectation of network expansion, skyrocketing prices for essential goods, Royal Commissions and the strengthening of trade unions. The Railway Department’s experience of war was challenging in that so much of their operation and business assets became an integral part to the nation’s war effort virtually overnight. On an individual level, one sixth of the department’s workforce enlisted to fight in the war and although at times different groups within the railways were working towards different agendas, the department as a whole came together to support their railway brothers through extensive fundraising initiatives such as the Railway Patriotic Fund.

Modal analysis of FIAT Bogie of LHB railway coach

The Free vibration response of the Railway Bogie is an important area in the design of the Rail coach and to improve the ride comfort of the passengers. In this study, the railway Bogie considered is Fabric Italina de Automobil Torino, Switzerland (FIAT) Bogie of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) AC 3 Tier coach. This paper aims at the study of the vibration response of a FIAT Bogie of coach subjected to free vibration and to find the Natural frequencies of vibration and mode shapes. The geometric model FIAT Bogie and other related components is modelled using Solid works 2016 package and analyzed using numerical simulation package ANSYS 19.1 Workbench. The Primary and Secondary suspension systems and various dampers used in FE analysis are modelled as spring and damper elements respectively. In this work, free vibration analysis or modal analysis of the FIAT railway bogie is carried out to extract the first few modes of vibration. The Natural frequencies obtained along with the corresponding mode shapes of the bogie show that they are within the permissible range specified by the standards of railway department also for better ride comfort of the passenger.

New Scholarship

New Scholarship

Design of a Roller Bearing Grease Removal Device

In the present Scenario, The manual method for Removing grease from the Roller Bearing used in the railway department became a major problem. Chemicals will effect humans while cleaning the railway bearings in manual method. In order to reduce human effect and increase efficiency in cleaning, we are aimed to design a machine which will automatically clean the bearings and will decrease the time of cleaning. In the overhauling process, which will be done manually will be directly apply the kerosene and the compressed air. This suggested machine will clean the bearing automatically by providing kerosene and compressed air with high velocity. The compressed air with high velocity will be provided to rotate the bearing continuously and kerosene will be applied simultaneously, Thus the cleaning of the bearing. Will be done automatically. It works on principle that kerosene air mixture will reduce the density and remove the grease from the bearing completely and it is collected in a drain. After the overhauling process, the parts will be assembled in the railway coaches. So this machine can reduce the time in the working process and avoids the human problems in manual method.

Price Competitiveness of Railway Passenger Transport in Shanghai-Nanjing Passage

As the core area of the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai-Nanjing Passage has contributed greatly to improving the competitiveness of Yangtze River Delta region and ensuring the sustained and stable development of the region's economy, society and urbanization. With the rapid development of railway, investment and financing have intensified. Railway department pays more attention to the economic benefits of operation, which requires railway to rapidly increase its share of the transport market. There are competitions among aviation, highway and railway in present Shanghai-Nanjing passage. So it is necessary for railway to analyze its price competitiveness.

ФОРМУВАННЯ КОНКУРЕНТНОГО СЕРЕДОВИЩА ЯК ФАКТОР ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ ЗАЛІЗНИЧНОГО ТРАНСПОРТУ

Efficient operation of rail transport in modern conditions has a direct dependence on the conditions of market activity. Therefore, the necessary direction of policy in the field of rail transport development, as outlined in relevant programs and concepts, is the focus on the creation of a market with competition between carriers under the conditions of regulating access to infrastructure. Such an approach will contribute to the formation of an effective competitive environment in the transport services market and will encourage the industry to improve its performance. Indeed, the presence of competition in the market encourages enterprises to work more efficiently by expanding market offers, which for transport companies involves the introduction of new forms of service and services in the implementation of transportation work.The activity of transport companies is a complex technological process, because the results of their work are displacement, that is, the beneficial effect is determined by the delivery of goods or customers to the final destination. Under such conditions, the transport service becomes a special commodity and is defined as a means of transfer, which one party (carrier) can provide to another (client).It should be noted that the transport services market is quite monopolistic, even oligopoly, which is due to the presence of a significant number of sellers and buyers and the lack of an effective mechanism for monitoring the cost of the transport process. There is also a specialization in providing the same services. For example, when traveling at small distances, the customer of transport services almost always prefers road transport over the railroad. But the efficiency of such a market is insignificant, as the inseparable component of a modern market economy is the formation and development of a competitive environment as a factor that has a direct impact on the competitor's interaction of all market participants.Ensuring the efficient development of rail transport in today's marketplace has a significant dependence on the formation and development of an effective competitive environment. This is due to the ability of railways to carry out transportation work at market value, which will direct the accumulation of funds for upgrading and further development of the industry, and allows customers to develop their own railway departments in accordance with their needs.