Railway Section Research Articles

Экологическая оценка объектов окружающей среды при проведении инженерно-экологических изысканий

Purpose: To assess the current ecological condition of the survey site located in the Republic of Karelia and intended for laying a non-public railway track. To analyze the component of the environment — the soil, for compliance with the requirements of regulatory documentation. To establish the category of soil pollution in accordance with Sanitary and Epidemiological Standards and Regulations SanPiN 2.1.3684 and the rules for further use in accordance with SanPiN 2.1.3685. Methods: To assess the degree of soil contamination with heavy metals and organic ecotoxicants, samples have been taken from 14 test sites. Assessment of the degree of soil contamination with heavy metals and benz(a)pyrene has been carried out in accordance with SanPiN 1.2.3685. The assessment of the degree of contamination of soils with petroleum products has been carried out in accordance with a letter from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation. The assessment of the danger of soil pollution has been carried out according to several indicators (Tables 4.3–4.5 of SanPiN 2.1.3685): 
 –- a complex of metals for public health is made according to the indicator of total pollution (Zc); 
 –- the presence/absence of excess over the established maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) and approximately permissible concentrations (APC). The pollution category is determined by the worst indicator. When establishing pollution categories worse than “permissible”, recommendations have been developed for the further use of contaminated soils (Appendix No. 9 to SanPiN 2.1.3684). Results: As a result of the tests conducted, it was determined that the soil samples collected from the survey area for the construction of a non-public railway section comply with the soil pollution category of “Permissible” and, according to the rules of further usage, fall under the classification of “Unrestricted Use”. Practical Significance: The investigated soils meet all the requirements of the regulatory documentation and can be used without restrictions for the construction of the non-public railway section.

Test and application of 60 kg·m−1 bainite rails for heavy-haul railway

PurposeIn order to develop high-strength, high-toughness and high-wear-resistance rails suitable for the development and application of heavy-haul railways.Design/methodology/approachBased on the trial production of 60 kg·m−1 bainite rails, the Zeiss inverted optical microscope, transmission electron microscope and static hydraulic universal tester were used to test the microstructure and property of rail base metal and welded joints. Meanwhile, a trial laying of rails, wing rails of frogs and switch rails for turnouts was performed to systematically analyze their strength, toughness and wear resistance.FindingsThe results show that the base metal of 60 kg·m−1 bainite rail is of a uniform microstructure, with a carbide-free bainite matrix, a few of stable residual austenite and M/A islands, and it features high hardness, good wear resistance and good strength-toughness balance. The welded joint is of a uniform microstructure and has good properties.Originality/valueA bainite rail, laid in a curve section of heavy-haul railway is able to serve for 48 months with a gross traffic tonnage of nearly 600 million tons, whose service life is more than one time longer than that of pearlite rail; the service life of the wing rail of frog and the switch rail for turnout with 60 kg·m−1 bainite rails is 3–4 times longer than that with U75V rails, and no serious damage occurs. The bainite rails also have strong peeling and spalling resistance.

Land Subsidence Monitoring and Building Risk Assessment Using InSAR and Machine Learning in a Loess Plateau City—A Case Study of Lanzhou, China

As a representative city located in the Loess Plateau region of China, Lanzhou is affected by various environmental and engineering factors, such as precipitation, earthquake subsidence, and building construction, which all lead to frequent geological disasters. Obtaining information on land subsidence over a long time series helps us grasp the patterns of change in various types of ground hazard. In this paper, we present the results of using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to monitor land subsidence in the main urban area of Lanzhou from 26 October 2014 to 12 December 2021. The main influential factors leading to subsidence were analyzed and combined via machine learning simulation to assess the land subsidence risk grade distribution of a building unit. The results show that the annual average deformation rate in Lanzhou ranged from −18.74 to 12.78 mm/yr. Linear subsidence dominated most subsidence areas in Lanzhou during the monitoring period. The subsidence areas were mainly distributed along the Yellow River, the railway, and villages and towns on the edges of urban areas. The main areas where subsidence occurred were the eastern part of Chengguan District, the railway line in Anning District, and the southern parts of Xigu District and Qilihe urban area, accounting for 38.8, 43.5, 32.5, and 51.8% of the area of their respective administrative districts, respectively. The random forest model analysis results show that the factors influencing surface subsidence in Lanzhou were, in order of importance, precipitation, the distribution of faults, the lithology of strata, high-rise buildings, and the distance to the river and railway. Lanzhou experienced excessive groundwater drainage in some areas from 2015 to 2017, with a 1 m drop in groundwater and 14.61 mm surface subsidence in the most critical areas. At the same time, extensive subsidence occurred in areas with highly compressible loess ground and most railway sections, reaching a maximum of −11.68 mm/yr. More than half of the super-tall building areas also showed settlement funnels. The area at a very high risk of future subsidence in Lanzhou covers 22.02 km2, while the high-subsidence-risk area covers 54.47 km2. The areas at greatest risk of future subsidence are Chengguan District and Qilihe District. The city contains a total of 51,163 buildings in the very high-risk area, including about 44.57% of brick-and-timber houses, 51.36% of old housing, and 52.78% of super-tall buildings, which are at especially high risk of subsidence, threatening the lives and properties of the population. The deformation results reveal poor building safety in Lanzhou, providing an essential basis for future urban development and construction.

DETECTION PROCESS OF ENERGY LOSS IN ELECTRIC RAILWAY VEHICLES

The paper deals with the detection process of energy loss in electric railway hauling vehicles. The importance of efficient energy use in railways and cost-effective rail transport tendency toward regenerative braking energy are considered. In addition, the current situation and improvement opportunities to achieve efficient energy use are examined. Seven measurement series were performed with scheduled Railjet trains between Hegyeshalom and Győr railway stations in Hungary. This railway section is related to the Hungarian State Railways' No. 1 main railway line (between Budapest-Kelenföld and Hegyeshalom state board), which is a part of the international railway line between Budapest and Vienna (capitals of Hungary and Austria, respectively). This double-track, electrified railway line with traditional ballasted superstructures and continuously welded rail tracks is important due to the international passenger and freight transport between Germany, Austria, and Hungary. The value of the regenerative braking energy can be even 20-30% of the total consumed energy. This quite enormous untapped energy can be used for several aims, e.g., for comfort energy demand (air conditioning, heating-cooling, lighting, etc.) or energy-intensive starts. The article also investigates the optimization of regenerative braking energy by seeking the energy-waste locations and the reasons for the significant consumption. The train operator's driving style and habit have been identified as one of the main reasons. Furthermore, train driver assistance systems are recommended to save energy, which is planned for future research.

Operating efficiency of 3ES6 electric locomotives at the Ural-Siberian polygon

Background: developed economy requires an appropriate level of development of the transport system, it forms an important basis for the concentration and specialization of production. Consequently, the overall development of the regions and the country as a whole requires the development and modernization of the transport system, which has a direct impact on socio-economic development. In this regard, in order to solve the problems associated with increasing the efficiency of the transportation process in railway transport, it is necessary to introduce improved traction resources. Currently, Russian Railways is actively working to upgrade the corporate locomotive fleet and is addressing the issue of introducing high-capacity electric traction rolling stock, through the use of booster sections of electric locomotives, to drive trains of increased mass and length on strategically important railway sections of Russia integrated into international transport corridors.
 Aim: to develop a simulation model for the operation of 3ES6 electric locomotives with a booster section in the areas of the Ural-Siberian test site, to assess the readiness of the transport infrastructure when using the studied locomotives in train operation, to determine the most suitable traction arms for the operational operation of such electric locomotives.
 Materials and Methods: to obtain the results, the traction characteristics of the locomotives under consideration, data from the analysis of the traction arms of operation and transport infrastructure using the Yandex Maps navigation system, as well as Russian E2 software for creating graphic-physical 3D models with subsequent simulation, implemented in the Substance Painter and 3Ds software systems, are used max.
 Results: an analysis of the areas of operation of the studied locomotives is presented, indicating the advantages and disadvantages of using 3ES6 electric locomotives in the transportation process, a simulation model of the interaction of infrastructure facilities and the locomotive fleet is developed, the prospect of further research is determined in terms of carrying out calculations of a feasibility study for replacing the fleet of obsolete series locomotives.
 Conclusion: the obtained results of the study can be used in the organization of operational work and maintenance of 3ES6 locomotives with booster sections to improve the technology of operating a corporate locomotive fleet with a polygon structure for managing the transportation process.

Влияние алгоритма управления на технические характеристики движения поездов

In order to choose locomotive control algorithm when prognosing train motion rational mode in an exploitation by the methods of mathematical modeling, the calculation was performed of main technical and economic characteristics of the operation of diesel locomotive 2TE116U with a stock at the use of full power and at control, basing on the parameters of a mode map. The method basis represents train motion dynamic model on a railway section with a given profile. To verify the de-veloped method, numerical studies were carried out in the wide range of changes of stock weights which not exceed the calculated weight. The obtained results have been compared with statistical data on the values of operational characteristics of train motion on Russia railways. It has been shown that train motion mode modelling at the use of locomotive full power gives a significant error at calculating technical speed, at the norm of train weight rate and fuel consumption and does not allow calculating locomotive control rational algorithm on optimization used criteria inclusive of op-eration conditions. At the choice of locomotive control rational algorithm, the necessity is substanti-ated for taking into account real conditions of train motion operation by batch or partially batch schedule which are reflected in mode map parameters.

Опыт и перспективы автоматизации управления перевозочным процессом скоростного транспорта городских агломераций

The article analyses the technological process of transportation process organization and its control in different systems of urban agglomeration rapid-transit transport. It is presented the generalization of organization technological schemes of transportation process at the compilation of normative documents-schedules of: train traffic, rolling stock turnover, work of locomotive teams. Common features, allowing to share automation and digitization positive experience from one transport systems to another, are revealed. As a typical example for urban agglomeration rapid-transit transport, the work of Moscow Central Ring in data flow diagram notation is considered. It has been shown that the conditions of traffic planning on Moscow Central Ring are analogous to active ones on the subway ring lines. As generalizing notions, there are: mixing, non-parallelism, zoning, non-autonomy. Corresponding illustrative examples are given. Congested experience in the sphere of control automation for transportation process of rapid-transit transport of urban agglomeration is considered on the examples of railway section Nizhniy Novgorod – Uren’ as well as Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya line of Moscow subway (electrodepots “Kaluzhskoye” and “Sviblovo”). The article describes initial data sets for to perform train traffic schedule, the purpose of its performance has been formulated, limitations, reflecting the links between objects, inside the set of given resources, and limitations, being defined by rules of passenger service, have been revealed. Analysis, pursued in the article, has shown the perspective directions of automated transport systems development on knowledge accumulated bases. As a result of the application of complex approach to the solution of automated control tasks at the use of artificial intelligence technologies and big databases usage, it’s planned to increase the efficiency usage for given resources set, train traffic schedule implementation percentage and others; to reduce information transfer error number as well as those, appeared as a result of negative human factor influence and so on.

Seismic Behavior of Qinghai-Tibetan Railway Embankment in Permafrost Regions: A Case Study

The temperature is a critical factor that determines the unfrozen water content and ice content in the frozen soil. In view of mechanical properties of the frozen soil depend on the volume of components of the four-phase systems, thus the temperature has a significant impact on the mechanical behaviors and deformation properties. The thermal state of the embankment in permafrost regions has a significant seasonal difference, then the seismic performance of the embankment alters with the season. In addition, the seismic performance is highly influenced by the properties of the earthquake motion, especially the seismic intensity. Combining these factors, a numerical simulation was conducted in this study. In this study, taking a typical section of Qinghai-Tibet Railway as an example, a numerical case study on the seismic behavior of embankment was carried out using the dynamic explicit FEM code ABAQUS/Explicit. The El Centro excitation with different intensities was performed in numerical analysis and two distinct thermal states of the embankment in extreme cold and warm days were considered as well. The seismic behaviors of the embankment, including the acceleration responses, the strain response, and the displacement response, were studied effectively. This paper proposes approaches and methods to study the seismic failure mechanism of the infrastructures, and the results can serve as a scientific basis for resisting earthquakes and preventing disasters in cold regions.

Operational Forecasting of Wind Speed for an Self-Contained Power Assembly of a Traction Substation

Currently, the prospects of creating hybrid power assemblies using renewable energy sources, including wind energy, and energy storage systems based on hydrogen energy technologies are being considered. To control such an energy storage system, it is necessary to perform operational renewable sources generation forecasting, particularly forecasting of wind power assemblies. Their production depends on the speed and direction of the wind. The article presents the results of solving the problem of operational forecasting of wind speed for a hybrid power assembly project aimed at increasing the capacity of the railway section between Yaya and Izhmorskaya stations (Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation). Hourly data of wind speeds and directions for 15 years have been analyzed, a neural network model has been built, and a compact architecture of a multilayer perceptron has been proposed for short-term forecasting of wind speed and direction for 1 and 6 hours ahead. The model that has been developed allows minimizing the risks of overfitting and loss of forecasting accuracy due to changes in the operating conditions of the model over time. A specific feature of this work is the stability investigation of the model trained on the data of long-term observations to long-term changes, as well as the analysis of the possibilities of improving the accuracy of forecasting due to regular further training of the model on newly available data. The nature of the influence of the size of the training sample and the self-adaptation of the model on the accuracy of forecasting and the stability of its work on the horizon of several years has been established. It is shown that in order to ensure high accuracy and stability of the neural network model of wind speed forecasting, long-term meteorological observations data are required.

Study on the construction deformation of a slotted shield in loess tunnels with different buried depths and large sections

Since there is no precedent for the use of slotted shield tunneling in the large section of high-speed railways in China, the relevant technological accumulation and systematic research achievements are few. Therefore, this paper provides theoretical support for loess tunnel construction decision-making through the study of slotted shields and is expected to promote the mechanization and even intelligent construction of a high-speed iron-loess tunnel. Taking the Luochuan tunnel of the Xiyan high-speed railway as the engineering background, this paper uses the numerical simulation software packages of ANSYS and FLAC3D to study the tunnel deformation (surface settlement, vault settlement, tunnel bottom uplift, and horizontal convergence) caused by the slotted shield construction in three different buried depths of 30, 40, and 50 m surrounding rock. The deformation law and mechanical characteristics of a cutter shield construction of large cross-section loess tunnels under the influence of different buried depths are put forward. Results showed that 1) the mutual interference between the working procedures can be significantly reduced by inserting the cutting tool into the soil instead of the advanced tubule before excavation; 2) the settlement in the upper part of the longitudinal axis of the tunnel is the largest; the greater the depth of the tunnel is, the smaller the surface settlement is; and 3) the horizontal deformation of the arch waist and foot of the tunnel under different buried depths is symmetrically distributed into the tunnel during the whole process of slotted shield tunneling.

System of automated warning messages to creatures moving on railway tracks about the approach of rolling stock

Incidents of train collisions with creatures on railway tracks are one of the major problems for railway transport today. The scientific article presents the results of the analysis of cases of trains hitting people and creatures on railway sections. Taking this into account, the aim of the scientific work is to develop a system of automated warning messages to creatures on railway tracks of approaching trains. In the creation of the system, the notification of the approaching trains to the creatures was selected based on the frequency of hearing of the creatures that gather a lot on the railway sections. In the article, the working algorithm of the system for notifying creatures of the noise generator of the approach of trains, as well as the types of auto-blocking systems on railway sections, to start the noise generator that transmits the message of the approach of trains, if the railway tracks are equipped with the auto-blocking system, the rail chains or the railway tracks are equipped with a semi auto-blocking system connecting the road sensors that notify when the train is approaching to the contacts of the road relays, and recommendations on the selection of frequencies for the noise generator of the train approach warning system based on the hearing frequency of the creatures that gather in large numbers around the railway sections.

Vascular plants in the Trans-Siberian Railway within the Amur Region

A comprehensive analysis of data on local floras of 16 railroad stations in the Amur section of the Trans-Siberian Railway (within the Amur Region) is presented: taxonomic and biomorphological structure, dynamics of numbers of native and alien species of vascular plants since 1911, and effects of natural biomes and socioeconomic parameters on "railway flora". A comparative analysis of the native fraction and alien fraction of flora was carried out in the Amur section and Ussuriysk section. Additionally, a comparative analysis of the invasive fraction in the Amur section and in the Eastern European section of the Trans-Siberian Railway was performed.

Operation of locomotives of diesel traction on hilly section of railway

The results of substantiation of the kinematic parameters of the logistics of freight trains and locomotives of diesel traction are presented, taking into account the stopping process at the intermediate and terminal stations of a virtual hilly section of the railway. Tabular and graphic data of the logistic kinematic parameters of the movement of the studied freight trains and locomotives of diesel traction are obtained, taking into account the organization of stops on a virtual hilly section of a high-speed railway, as well as regression equations for determining their of numerical values, which are recommended for implementation in the practice of the locomotive complex of the Uzbek railways.

Logistic indicators of locomotives of diesel traction on high-speed section of the railway

The results of a theoretical study evaluating the effectiveness of using Uzbek diesel locomotives of the UzTE16M3 series during the non-stop movement of freight trains on the hilly-mountainous high-speed section Marokand - Kattakurgan of the Uzbek railway are presented. The reference point for the implementation of this assessment was the mathematical model of the movement of a freight train developed by the authors and the algorithm for performing traction calculations, which are prerequisites for substantiating the numerical values of the parameters of the logistic indicators for the process of railway transportations of goods in real conditions of the organization of operation. The authors obtained the parameters of logistics indicators in the form of numerical tabular values and graphical dependencies, and the corresponding regression equations were proposed to calculate the indicators of transport logistics. The data obtained by the authors can be used by specialists of the locomotive depots “O’zbekiston temir yo’llari” JSC, whose production activities are related to the issues of forecasting and normalizing the consumption of full-scale diesel fuel by diesel locomotives on the hilly-mountainous, of hi high-speed sections of the Uzbek railways.

КОНТРОЛЬ ЦЕЛОСТНОСТИ РЕЛЬСОВЫХ НИТЕЙ ПРОТЕКАЮЩИМ ТОКОМ

Violations of the integrity of rails on railway sections pose a serious threat to traffic safety, cause accidents and wrecks, lead to significant economic damage and human casualties. The integrity of rails is controlled by flaw detection methods, as well as by a special mode of operation of rail circuits due to the signal current flow around track circuits. The widespread use of AC rail circuits which reliably perform the control mode made it possible to organize a simple method of integrity control over a significant length of railway lines. The complexity of maintenance and low reliability of track circuits, in turn, led to emergence of alternative technical solutions for monitoring the vacancy of railway sections. However, these solutions are not able to control the integrity of rails and prevent elimination of track circuits. On the other hand, the joint use of continuous monitoring of rails and low-maintenance solutions for monitoring the vacancy of track sections will ensure reduction in operating costs with a constant level of traffic safety. The article analyzes technical solutions for monitoring the integrity of rails due to continuous current flow. The maximum length of the contour formed by two rails is set to control the integrity of the rails. The prospects of solutions for monitoring the integrity of rails based on the electrical circuit formed by rails and a cable running along them are shown.

Инженерная защита земляного полотна Байкальского участка Восточно-Сибирской железной дороги

The Baikal section of the East Siberian Railway is considered from the point of view of the roadbed protection by engineering protection structures from wave impact. The results of observations of the experimental section are presented, illustrating that the railway section from the station Severobaikalsk to Nizhneangarsk station is 26 km long, of which 17 km lie adjacent pressed against Lake Baikal, is securely protected by berms of rock mass and is not exposed to wave impact. Based on the results of periodic observations at the experimental facility, it was concluded that wave-absorbing berms from unsorted rock mass showed their high wave-damping efficiency eliminating the need to use any other coastal protection structures, especially made of concrete. The evaluation of the danger of wave impact on the unprotected roadbed in the area from the station Nizhneangarsk to the Kichera station was carried out. The Kichera is 37 km long, of which 22 km lie adjacent pressed against the Bay of Angarsky Sor and through wetlands. It is shown that the ongoing erosion of the Yarki island may bring to the situation that the waves formed in the Baikal water area, penetrating into the Angarsky Sor, will destroy the roadbed unprotected from the wave impact to be found on pressed sections. Several basic options for engineering protection of the Yarki Islands are proposed for consideration.

Operating parameters of electric rolling stock on railway sections

The introduction of energy storage systems on motor rolling stock in order to improve the energy efficiency of the transportation process is not possible without performing preliminary calculations and experimental studies to determine the operating modes of the electric rolling stock. As a result of the work performed to process data on ED4M series electric trains on various sections of operation at different ambient temperatures, the dependences of electric power consumption for heating and auxiliary needs of the electric train were obtained. The average electricity consumption for traction and the return of electricity in case of regenerative braking is estimated. The main parameters of the energy storage device have been determined in the first approximation.

Quantitative characteristics of construction and reconstruction of railway sections in Uzbekistan

In this article the results of construction and reconstruction of railway sections to ensure the spatial connectivity of the regions of the country and integration into the global transport space are considered. The use of a systematic approach for selecting the most rational methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis of construction and reconstruction of railway sections is proposed. The basic characteristics and stages of construction and reconstruction of railways in Uzbekistan are given. The indicators of new railway sections construction, construction and reconstruction of railway sections for speed and high-speed trains movement during the period of Uzbekistan’s independence have been analysed. When analysing the indicators the quantitative estimation by length, total cost and cost per kilometre of large investment projects, realized during Uzbekistan's independence years have been used.

Determination of the optimal parameters of the control sensor at the crossing in the control mode

On railway sections where there are intersections with road transport, control systems for crossing signaling with auto barriers are arranged. To control the entrance of the train to this section, track circuits with insulating joints are used. Such circuits have a number of significant drawbacks, one of which is the coming off of insulating joints, as well as breakage of the track circuit, which give 45% of the failures of automation systems on the haul. In this article, a study was made of a crossing track circuit with a tone frequency for the control mode. For the study, mathematical expressions for determining the most unfavorable moment were derived, an algorithmic expression for the control mode coefficient was presented, which gives more accurate information about the presence of damage. As a result, a block diagram was developed and graphs were displayed on the simulation model showing the influence and determination of the control mode of operation of the jointless tone track circuit. In conclusion, the results of the study are summarized.

Establishing the impact of empty freight trains on the capacity railway lines

Currently, according to the standard schedule of Uzbekistan Railways JSC, the timing of departure, acceleration, and braking of freight trains is determined uniformly for different weight compositions on each section of the railway track. This, in turn, does not allow for an accurate assessment of the level of utilization of the existing permeability capacity of the railway section. In this study, the impact of accounting for the period of the schedule based on the proportion of freight trains of different weights in the movement schedule is examined with respect to the permeability capacity of railway sections. Uzbekistan Railways JSC has demonstrated that the existing permeability capacity of single-track and double-track railway sections can be increased by 7% and 5%, respectively, under existing operating conditions.