Total Number Of Trains Research Articles

Evaluation of changes in corridor railway traffic in the Czech Republic during the pandemic year 2020

Railway traffic was significantly affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The article's main objective is to evaluate the changes in rail transport on rail corridors in the Czech Republic in 2020. The traffic from that year was compared with the values from previous years. The Czech Statistical Office provided the data base for general infor-mation about railway transport. This contains details of freight and passenger transport and the performance of that transport for the whole country, as reported by the Ministry of Transport. The presented evaluation of changes in rail traffic is based on traffic param-eters obtained from the railway infrastructure administrator of the Railway Infrastructure Administration. The changes were evaluated from three hundred points located on the cor-ridor railways. The first part of the article describes the evaluation of changes in each traffic parameter. In 2020 passenger traffic was characterised by a significant decrease in the total number of trains on most corridors. Cargo trains took up the railway traffic capacity released by the drop in demand for passenger trains, and the number of cargo trains increased as a result. Passenger trains were shortened due to the low demand for transport during the pandemic. This fact was reported in the parameter of average train length. The second part contains a comprehensive assessment based on clustering methods. The clustering enabled the detection of those sections of the rail corridors that had similar changes in rail traffic in all the monitored parameters in 2020. URL: https://www.gcass.science.upjs.sk/

Methodological provisions for determining the main parameters of the organisation of the transportation process during the introduction of cars with increased axial and linear load

Introduction. One of the ways to increase the traffic-carrying capacity of railway lines is increasing the amount of cargo carried in cars, while taking into account the inevitable increase in the axial and linear load of the car. The decision to use cars with increased axial load should be based on an assessment of their technical and economic efficiency in comparison with the innovative and widely used open-box wagons with a load of 25 tonnes per axle. When assessing the economic efficiency of such cars, it is required to consider their impact on changes in the parameters of the organisation of the transportation process.Materials and methods. Based on the presented initial data on the estimated predicted freight flow, the numerical values of the parameters of the transportation process were determined when introducing 8- and 4-axle (27 t/axle) open-box wagons. When determining the increase in the traffic-carrying capacity, its change due to an increase in the net mass of the train and a change in the total number of trains is taken into account. The calculation was made accounting for the increase in traction in proportion to the increase in the gross mass of the 8- and 4-axle (27 t/axle) open-box wagon trains on the existing infrastructure.Results. The authors have developed methodological provisions to determine the numerical values: an increase in the traffic- carrying capacity, the required inventory fleet of cars and the available locomotive fleet in the context of the introduction of new 8- and 4-axle (27 t/axle) open-box wagons.Discussion and conclusion. The article is theoretical and is devoted to calculation mechanisms and methodological issues. The results of the study may be applied to the ranges of the Russian Railways network, in particular, to solve complex issues of increasing the traffic-carrying capacity of the Eastern range.

Optimization of train timetables in high-speed railway corridors considering passenger departure time and seat-class preferences

ABSTRACT There are a number of trains running in high-speed railway (HSR) corridors throughout the day, which results in diverse passenger travel choices. Passengers can select their preferred train according to their favorite departure time and seat class based on a fixed train timetable, that is, the selection differences from departure time to seat classes are dramatic. The train timetable determines the distribution of passenger flow on trains, and the requirement distribution in turn affects the train timetable. To address this game relationship, this paper develops a method to optimize uneven running train timetables with a given total number of trains considering passenger departure time and seat-class preferences. We analyze the impact of departure time and seat class on passenger choice behaviors and build a time-space-seat 3-dimensional network to account for these choices. Then, the impedance function of each type of arc in the network is designed. In addition, a bi-level programming model is constructed to optimize the train timetable in the HSR corridor; the upper-level model calculates train departure time, arrival time and dwelling time at each station and determines the assignment of car lists with different seat classes for each train. The lower-level model is used to distribute the passenger flow to each train. Combined with the user equilibrium principle, a complex genetic algorithm embedded with the Frank–Wolfe method is designed to reasonably distribute passenger flows to each train. Finally, we take the Lanzhou-Xi’an HSR as an example to test both the model and the algorithm. The results show that the optimal train timetable can meet the requirements of both seat class and departure time with appropriate solution time limitations.

Annoyance and self-reported sleep disturbance due to night-time railway noise examined in the field

Railway noise interferes with daytime activities and disturbs sleep leading to annoyance of exposed residents. The main objective of this paper was to establish exposure-response relationships between nocturnal railway noise exposure and annoyance and to examine self-reported sleep disturbances as short-term reactions to noise. In a field study 33 residents living close to railway tracks in the Cologne/Bonn area (Germany) were investigated. Railway noise was measured indoors during nine consecutive nights at each site. Questionnaires referring to annoyance and non-acoustical factors were performed. Annoyance ratings increased significantly with the total number of trains and freight trains per night, and non-significantly with rising number of passenger trains and energy equivalent sound pressure level (L(Aeq)), when adjusting the model for non-acoustical variables. The total number of trains and the number of freight trains also significantly affected self-reported awakening frequency, but no other aspects of subjective sleep disturbances. The responses of this subject sample referring to railway noise in the previous night point to rather low impairments of exposed residents.

On Large Scale Max-Plus Algebra Models in Railway Systems

A large scale model of time table of all train connections of the whole Dutch railway system will be given in terms of the max-plus algebra. We will design a timetable from the premises that the “lines” (i.e. route structure) are fixed and the numbers of trains along each line are given. Besides, the travelling times between stations are assumed to be fixed. Such a model is written as a set of first order difference equations in the so-called max-plus algebra. This model turns out to be high dimensional, and sparse matrices techniques are used for the calculation of the critical circuit of the system. This critical circuit is a measure for the performance of the total system. We also study the optimal allocation of trains (when the total number of trains along all lines is given, but not the a priori distribution over these lines).

Time dependency of ventricular fibrillation thresholds determined using trains of stimuli.

When determining ventricular fibrillation threshold (VFT), considerable time elapses from beginning a VFT measurement until the actual occurrence of ventricular fibrillaion (VF). We have defined this elapsed time as the "time to VF" and examined the effect of varying time to VF on the measured value of VFT. We induced VF in anesthetized dogs with a 100-Hz train of 16 4-ms stimuli applied to the right ventricular epicardium. The time to VF was varied by changing either the increment of fibrillation current increase (0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 mA) from one train to the next and/or the number of atrial paced beats between trains (6-192 beats). For 0.5-mA current increments, as time to VF increased from 66 to 454 s, VFT fell progressively from 15.3 +/- 4.8 to 6.7 +/- 1.1 mA. When time to VF exceeded 454 s, VFT increased again. Current increments of 1.0 and 2.0 mA had a similar time dependency of VFT. For any time to VF the VFT was lower when small current increments (i.e., more trains) were used to induce VF. Pretreatment with reserpine in six dogs abolished the time dependency. We conclude that time elapsed from the beginning of a VFT determination until VF actually occurs and the total number of trains used are important determinants of the VFT, probably because of local catecholamine release by the stimuli.