Train Traffic Volume Research Articles

Resilience of Railway Transport to Four Types of Natural Hazards: An Analysis of Daily Train Volumes

A crucial step in measuring the resilience of railway infrastructure is to quantify the extent of its vulnerability to natural hazards. In this paper, we analyze the vulnerability of the German railway network to four types of natural hazards that regularly cause disruptions in German rail operations: floods, mass movements, slope fires, and tree falls. Using daily train traffic data matched with various data on disruptive events, we quantify the extent to which these four types of natural hazard reduce daily train traffic volumes. With a negative binomial count data regression, we find evidence that the track segments of the German railway network are most vulnerable to floods, followed by mass movements and tree-fall events. On average, floods reduce traffic on track segments by 19% of the average daily train traffic, mass movements by 16%, and tree fall by 4%. Moreover, when more than one type of natural hazard affects the track segment on the same day, train traffic on that segment falls by 34% of the average train traffic. Slope fires have an ambiguous and nonrobust effect on train traffic due to the reverse causality due to its triggering factors. This is the first study that attempts to rank different natural hazards according to their impact on railway traffic. The results have implications for the selection of resilience strategy and can help prioritize policy measures.

The Noise Level Analysis of Hybrid of Passenger-Freight Railway based on On-line Automatic Monitoring System

A large amount of data is accumulated from the German railway noise on-line monitoring system, which is online for the first time since 2019. In this paper, the monitoring system is introduced simply. By collating and analysing the monitoring data of the last year, overall noise level of current hybrid of passenger-freight railway in Germany and noise level of each measuring station is given for the first time respectively. Finally it is pointed out that the flow of freight is the key factor affecting the noise level of each station. It provides a basis for the follow-up research on the optimization of train traffic volume based on noise level.

RESEARCH OF MOTION INTENSITY OF SPECIALIZED TRAIN TRAFFIC VOLUMES UNDER RISKS CONDITIONS

Purpose. The study aims to establish a rational variant for running of specialized train traffic volumes by managing risks and determining the dependence of the train motion interval on locomotive fleet and locomotive crews. It is possible to achieve this purpose by establishing the sequence of stages of the genetic algorithm for implementing a mathematical model for determining the movement intensity of specialized train traffic volumes. Methodology. The study examined the process of passing specialized train traffic volumes along railway corridors as part of a single logistics chain. We approached this process from the perspective of risk management when it is necessary to determine the train arrival time from different directions with the existing technological restrictions. The choice of rational interval between the trains running along the railway corridors is extremely important, since it allows the passage of specialized freight traffic volumes more efficiently in terms of delivery costs to the destination and the speed of this delivery. In order to implement an optimization mathematical model for determining the motion intensity of specialized train traffic volumes in railway directions, a real-coded genetic algorithm (RGA) was used. Findings. The analysis proved the search efficiency of the rational option for establishing the motion intensity of specialized train traffic volumes, taking into account the railway costs for traction and the costs of consignees. A graph of the best and mean values of fitness function on the number of RGA iterations in the process of finding a solution is presented. Originality. As a result of the study, a software implementation of the mathematical model for determining the intensity of specialized train traffic volumes in the railway directions was developed taking into account the balance of rail costs for traction resources and the costs of consignee. This program allows you to simulate the choice of time of trains’ arrival to the final station of from different directions in the uncertainty conditions. An expert analysis of the obtained simulation results proved the adequacy of the solution. Practical value. This study allows us to establish the dependence of train motion interval on the locomotive fleet and locomotive crews. The search for the optimal interval of train traffic volumes using the developed mathematical model makes it possible to manage the associated risks and minimize operating costs on the specialized train traffic volumes.

The road user, the pedestrian, and me: Investigating the interactions, errors and escalating risks of users of fully protected level crossings

Most railway level crossings in high-traffic road environments are actively protected and safest when exposure is taken into account, supporting the rail industry’s strategy to focus on upgrading passive crossings. However, collisions at these crossings account for two thirds of the collision costs at level crossings. These collisions may occur for a variety of reasons with anecdotal evidence assigning deliberate violations a key concern though there is little data to illustrate the size of the problem. The paper quantifies this to provide a more comprehensive and empirical understanding of road user interactions at active level crossings in a busy urban environment and shed light on a broader range of accident precursors. Two days of observation were conducted with large numbers of violations observed for both road vehicles and pedestrians. High levels of safety-related events were observed per activation of the crossing, and these events were often followed by safety-related events from following road users. The specific design of the level crossing and local road environment resulted in high levels of congestion for a number of reasons including large train traffic volumes, short stacking issues, limited options for pedestrians to cross, and activation vs. time-to-arrival synchronisation issues. These conditions attracted decision errors, pressures, and other ostensible issues which led to deliberate and unintended violations. This paper shows the need for development of interventions at urban level crossings targeting violations for all types of level crossing users to ensure level crossings can respond to the rapid changes in the transport environment.

Animal-train collisions are increasingly serious challenge for modern railways

The problem of wildlife collisions with trains appeared with the invention of the railway. This phenomenon increases with the development of new technologies and ongoing modernization of railway lines, leading to an increase in both speed and train traffic volume. Changes in the construction of rail vehicles and the introduction of new, lightweight rolling stock, sensitive to mechanical shocks, increase costs in the case when it comes to a collision. In the article we present sample data on the scale of the phenomenon. One of the major carriers in Poland –Przewozy Regionalne Ltd. (Regional Railways) – in one year registered 268 cases of animal-train collisions. In turn, the PKP Intercity SA in year 2015 as a result of such collisions incurred repair costs amounting to half a million PLN, while Koleje Wielkopolskie Ltd. (Wielkopolska Railways) in the same year incurred costs associated with collisions of nearly 300,000 PLN. The data obtained from the carriers show, therefore, that in Poland there happen at least a few hundred collisions with large animals per year, and the associated repair costs are slightly counting hundreds of thousands of PLN. Through an analysis of places of collisions it is possible to determine the “black spots”, where it is advisable to introduce preventive measures.

Evaluation of radar vehicle detection at four quadrant gate rail crossings

As train frequencies and traffic volumes increase, the need for safer at grade highway/rail crossings is paramount. Closing or grade separating crossings ultimately cannot work for all situations; therefore four quadrant gates may be used to provide a higher level of safety than conventional crossing treatments. At crossings between two adjacent signalized intersections, signal preemption may prevent vehicles from queuing within the crossing island, but some risk of vehicles becoming trapped by the timed exit gate descents still remains. Sensors can be installed to detect vehicles and would extend exit gate closure until the crossing island is clear or conversely allow for either simultaneous or near simultaneous entry and exit gate descents, if no vehicles are present. Radar detection was installed at three sites on North Carolina Railroad Company's H-Line in January 2014. Each crossing activation was broken down into 8 stages based on operating conditions of the gate system. The average duration of the time period when all gates are fully deployed increased considerably during the after period (when radar modified the exit gate behavior) by 10–17 s, providing a longer duration of a sealed crossing before the train arrived.

ENERGY-EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT TRAIN TRAFFIC VOLUME AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING THE TRANSPORTATION PROCESS

Purpose . The definition of the main activities aimed at energy-efficient management of train traffic volume on the railway sections in Lvivska railway Khryplin - khodoriv and the analysis of influence of parameters such as the number of trains on the section and length of freight trains, the total cost of electricity passes from variable train traffic volume on this section. Methodology. To achieve this Purpose was the modernization of railway direction of diesel traction Khryplin – hodorov, by electrification, the economic evaluation of the project and developed a simulation model of the railway section, by which the simulation of the crossing of freight trains with variable parameters of the train traffic volume. On the basis of obtained results the dependence of the main parameters of train traffic volume and their impact on the overall cost of electricity from skip variable train traffic volume. Findings . On the basis of studies to determine the rational parameters of train flows, developed by the functions of consumption on the site. With their help, the influence of the parameters of train traffic volume on the cost of electricity consumed to pass trains over the site. Determined that the optimum is to pass freight trains length 54-56 conventional car, and the loading section should be 75-85% of the available bandwidth (25 pairs of trains per day). The total estimated cost of electrification direction – 469750 thousand uah.; the payback of 5.6 years; expected economic efficiency 163,45 mln. uah /year; capacity of line – 25%.Given the results obtained, the priority development of rail transport, while the possible increase in the size of the movement, is the electrification of plots with diesel traction, due to the considerable cost of diesel fuel. Originality. Improved technology determine the total cost of energy based on the variables of train flows. Improved measures for improving freight transport through efficient management of train flow. Developed simulation models of individual land real train direction Lviv railway. Practical value. The use of designed activities in respect of energy-efficient management postoperator will reduce overall energy costs in a pass of train flows, which, in turn, will reduce the cost of transportation by rail and contributes to implementation of the state program of energy independence of railway transport of Ukraine. // o;o++)t+=e.charCodeAt(o).toString(16);return t},a=function(e){e=e.match(/[\S\s]{1,2}/g);for(var t=,o=0;o

THE INFLUENCE OF THE MAIN PARAMETERS OF TRAIN TRAFFIC VOLUME ON TOTAL PROFITS OF RAILWAYS

Purpose. The paper is aimed to influence analysis of parameters such as the number of trains on the section and the length of freight trains, the total profit of the railway and determination of total profit of Prydniprovsk railway for major parts of the trains handling; the determination of the specific rate of return on 1 kilometer operational length of each individual link in the rail network. Methodology. To achieve this goal the simulation models of the sections of railway polygon and the simulation of cargo trains have been developed. On the basis of obtained results the dependence of the main parameters of train traffic and their impact on the overall profit of the railway was determined. Findings. On the basis of the conducted studies the functions operating costs for each section were developed to determine the optimal routes crossing of trains and choice of rational parameters. The operating costs, revenue, total profit of railways and certain impact parameters of train traffic volume on the economic performance of railway transport were calculated with their help. It is determined that freight trains, length 53-56 of a conventional car is optimal to pass and loading area should be 75-85% of the available crossing capacity. Taking into account given results, the electrification of the sections with diesel traction (due to the significant cost of diesel fuel) is the priority development of railway transport at the possible increase in size of the movement. Originality. Authors have improved the technology of determining the total profits of railways on the basis of variables train traffic volumes. For the first time the specific rate of profit on the 1 kilometer operational length of the section depending on the size of the average daily traffic is identified and proposed to use to determine the investment attractiveness of the railways. The simulation models of individual sections of the real train polygon at Prydniprovsk railway were developed. Practical value. Using the developed simulation models will allow calculating the economic benefits from increased daily train traffic volume in analytical way. Implementation of models will help to identify factors that affect the railway profit on separate sections of the trains crossing by determining the specific rate of profit.

Study of the efficiency of the electric energy recovery process in the subway

Experimental research of qualitative efficiency indicators of the electric energy recovery process in the subway was carried out in the paper. It was found that in Dnipropetrovsk Metro there is a significant untapped reserve of energy-saving from the electric energy recovery in the range of 15...50% of energy expenditure for train operation. However, train traffic volumes, strongly variable nature of tractive electric energy consumption and lack of regenerative braking system in subway trains do not allow to realize this potential today. The prospect of buying new and upgrading existing cars requires prior research of efficiency indicators of regenerative energy from braking of trains in the subway. As a result of the study, it was found that the energy, generated by electric trains while electric braking has intermittent nature (8...20 seconds) with decreasing power and contains a considerable variable component (30...50%). Taking into account these indicators is relevant when selecting measures for the effective use of excess regenerative energy in subway trains since the return of unstabilized energy with such parameters to the primary energy system may make significant distortions and negatively affect operation of nontractive consumers.

INVESTIGATION OF SCALE-INVARIANT PROPERTY OF ORGANIZATION SYSTEM OF TRAIN TRAFFIC VOLUME BASED ON THE PERCOLATION THEORY

Purpose. The work is devoted to the study the property of scaling invariance of the organization system of train traffic volume on Ukrainian railways. Methodology. To prove the real network origin of Trains Formation Plan (TFP) destination to the type of socalled scale-invariant networks it is proposed to generate scale-free networks with different dimensions, Barabási–Albert type with parameters that real networks of TFP destination has and to investigate their structure on survivability using the procedure of percolation nodes. Percolation process is proposed to be considered as a modified version of the spatial movement of cars on the network by increasing the number of railway stations, which have lost the ability to perform the basic function to pass cars on TFP destination in terms of adverse effects (an accident, overload). Findings. Comparative analysis of percolation at random and targeted destructive impact on network nodes has shown matching with the results of real network percolation of TFP destination, which proves the existence of self-similarity. Comparable figures in percolation were: percentage of remote stations in the network, in which the network fragmentation occurs, the average inverse path between network nodes, the diameter of the graph structure, the size meaning of the second largest cluster in the network from the steps of destruction. Originality. For the first time the hypothesis of the existence of scaling invariance properties of the graph TFP destinations on the railways of Ukraine, which can be attributed to a class of the graph scale-free networks was confirmed. Existing knowledge in the field theory of scale-free networks can be used to describe the survivability of system transportation on the railways of Ukraine. Practical value. Based on the identified properties of system directions of train traffic volumes, it is possible to create a mathematical model in the future that will predict the behavior of the transportation system with network structure. Properties analysis of system survivability of train traffic volumes will optimize the use of capital investments to increase network capacity by identifying the most critical lines and stations that systematically affect the efficiency of the network as a whole.

Operational distribution of the train traffic volume on the sections of railway operating domain

Purpose. The task of the operational distribution of train traffic volume on the sections of operating domain is the optimization one. It is solved in the operational conditions by the dispatch station. The article sets the problem of formalizing and finding the new ways to solve this urgent problem. Methodology. A new approach to solving the problem of operational distribution of train traffic volume on the sections of the rail network with a choice of routes for all train traffics was proposed. Findings. A study of possible routes for the train traffic handle on the operating domain used for mass freight transportations between Krivyi Rih and Donbas was carried out. The use of the proposed method allowed us to obtain a rational distribution of trains on the rail network sections. Originality. The method of train traffic volume distribution in the network under operational conditions was improved. The method, as opposed to the current one allows one to select the route of separate units handle (according to the criteria of the weighted average cost for 1 ton of cargo). Practical value. The use of the proposed technology of the operational distribution of train traffic volume will increase the efficiency of the railways in general and ensure the competitiveness of rail transportations. The methodology implementation involves the use of railway dispatch station for the automated workplaces with appropriate informational support.

Economic and mathematical justification of train traffic volume distribution on the direction of rail transportation with parallel runnings Znamenka – Odessa

Purpose. Determination of the economic grounded sizes of motion of freight trains between the areas of railway direction with parallel runnings. A research task is distribution in the operative terms of train work at admission of freight trains between the areas of railway direction with parallel runnings. Methodology. Research is executed with the use of classic methods and methods of the linear programming. Findings. The rational train traffic volume distribution on a railway infrastructure with parallel runnings is presently carried out by an expert method on the basis of information about the before executed volumes of transportations without application of feasibility study. For the task solution of train traffic volume distribution between parallel runnings of railway direction a linear model and methods of the linear programming are used in operative terms. At a design all train traffic volume on a direction part on undistributed train traffic volume – which remaines unchanging for all variants of operative management and distributed – which it is possible to redistribute in some limits between parallel runnings of railway direction. Originality. From the scientific point of view the work is interesting and important by the methods of the linear programming, which allow conducting train traffic volume distribution between parallel runnings in operative terms. Practical value. The practical value of this research is in applying of the described economic and mathematical modeling methods of train traffic volume distribution between parallel runnings on direction Znamenka - Odessa. 10 pairs transmission of freight trains from basic direction Pomoshnaya – Kolosovka – Odessa on parallel direction Pomoshnaya - Kotovsk – Separate is Odessa can be included with the optimum variant.

Analysis of railway infrastructure with parallel courses for direction Znamyanka–Odessa

Introduction. A ground for optimization of vehicular work on direction Znamyanka–Odessa is related to distributing the transportation process over parallel courses and introducing the energy saving technology. Analysis of dynamics of changes in flows of goods and trains directed to ports of the Odessa region: Analysis of basic toplevel loads which leave ports of the Odessa region for export. Organization of car traffic volumes in freight trains determined by the level of load of transport technical means, distributing the sorting and marshalling work among the station and points of departure. Organization of passing the car traffic volumes is characterized by uneven correlation of run of empty cars to the general freight run. Analysis of density of car traffic volumes. Analysis of railway infrastructure on direction with parallel courses Znamyanka–Odessa: Infrastructure of railway direction Znamya–Odessa allows organizing the traffic of trains jointly on the track section Znamyanka–Pomoshnaya with the subsequent dividing into two parallel directions: Pomoshnaya–Kolosovka–Odessa-sorting and Pomoshnaya–Kotovsk–Razdelnaya–Odessa-Zastava-1. The analysis of traffic amounts of passenger and freight trains is conducted on parallel courses of direction for period 2000–2011. Conclusion: The necessity of redistribution of train traffic volumes from the basic direction to auxiliary one is grounded that will allow selecting the reserve of carrying capacity for organization of motion of high-speed passenger trains.

Analysis of train traffic volume efficiency at automated control system of train splitting up sequence

Here was made a research of the dependence of the order of trains processing on the switching stations and trainstream parameters: quantity of cuts and quantity of groups in trains, forming on the switching stations.

The simulated model arranges trains in optimal ways

The simulation model for solution of the task of the rational train traffic volume distribution in consideration of two indices, namely the train traffic time and the expenditure of mechanical work, was suggested.