Modern railways are required to operate with a high level of safety and reliability. The weakest components are those which have the highest safety requirements and the lowest inherent reliability. Single-throw mechanical actuators, such as powered train doors, trainstops, level crossing barriers and switch actuators (point machines) are a group of components which have these properties. Preventative maintenance is carried out periodically in order to mitigate the risks of these actuators failing. This is inefficient: a condition-based maintenance approach would reduce costs and the risks to staff. However, this kind of maintenance requires very accurate automatic condition monitoring. Currently, the threshold-based condition monitoring systems installed in pilot schemes around the country do not have enough insight into actuator performance to detect incipient faults. These are hard to spot because their symptoms develop over a long period of time. It is uneconomical to carry out detailed analysis or modelling, or collect a large amount of training data, for each instance of a large group of assets. Therefore, the solution needed to establish diagnosis rules based on offline analysis, or training data from only one actuator. This thesis draws on previous work in qualitative trend analysis to build a diagnosis system which uses a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis to transfer the knowledge gathered from one actuator to its fellows in service. The method used has been designed to use straightforward components, so that it can be more easily explained to users. Two case studies were carried out in order to verify the system's functions. Data were collected from real-life actuators, under simulation of incipient faults. The diagnosis system then operated on the data. The system's performance was almost as good with real-world data as it was with synthetic data. The system has been a success when operating on the data gathered under laboratory conditions. In the real world, a system such as this could be used to post-process data gathered around the railway network from actuators with local data acquisition equipment. Incipient faults could be detected in the early stages of their development and accurately diagnosed, allowing maintenance effort to be targeted very specifically, saving money, time and exposing staff to fewer hazards.

Effective maintenance of railway track is critical for the safe operation of any railway network. Efficient maintenance may also result in economic benefits for rail operators. The work in this thesis looks into how an inexpensive measurement system could be fitted to in-service railway vehicles such as commuter trains, to provide a relatively high frequency of measurement on their routes of operation, when compared to dedicated measurement vehicles. This thesis describes how a prototype inertial measurement system was designed and built, and fitted to a commuter train operating in the region south of London, UK. Inertial data is processed to provide a vertical profile of the track. A novel use of a modified Bryson-Frazier filter is used to produce vertical profile datasets which are repeatable to within 0.2 mm. Profiles calculated from multiple passes of the same areas of track are compared to show track degradation. Methods of estimating track stiffness are developed using vertical geometry data from repeated passes of the same track sections at differing speeds. Some correlation to stiffness is shown through the results, but exact measurements were not possible. Finally, two case studies are presented which show findings at a bridge approach, and through two level crossings.

A mathematical model is developed which predicts if a person or a pushchair is destabilised by a train's slipstream. The model simulates the mean slipstream velocity time history using the theories of potential flow, boundary layer growth and wake decay. The turbulence-induced fluctuations are reproduced with an autoregressive model. A randomised person is generated and subjected to the simulated slipstream, and their response is modelled by a simple solid object and a mass-spring-damper system. If the slipstream forces cause the person to be displaced by a critical distance the person is destabilised. A randomised pushchair is also generated and positioned so as to be capable of being destabilised by either toppling over or moving along the ground on its wheels. A toppling pushchair is modelled as a simple solid object in a similar manner to that of a person, and a pushchair will move along the ground on its wheels if the slipstream force is greater than the frictional force. Greater numbers of destabilised people and pushchairs are associated with the slipstream of a freightliner than that of a passenger train, increasing train speed and decreasing distance from the train side.

This thesis describes the development of a multi-train simulator in which different train control systems are simulated on a common section of high-speed line operating with four trains. The simulator is used to estimate and compare train knock-on delay performance with different signalling systems. This thesis further demonstrates a train trajectory optimisation work. Four searching approach have been implemented to find, for a specific train, the most appropriate target speed in different areas in order to minimise energy usage and delays. A West Coast Main Line case study is presented in order to assess the operational impact of using optimised train trajectory and different practical train control system configurations combined with three different operating priorities. The result shows that, by using more advanced signalling systems or optimal train trajectories, interactions between trains can be reduced, thereby improving performance. This also has the effect of reducing the energy required to make a particular journey. Simple control systems when coupled with the optimisation process have been shown to have similar performance to the more advanced signalling systems. The use of a dynamic programming allows an objective function to be minimised with the best results and an acceptable computation time.

This study aims to investigate the aerodynamic phenomena of passenger trains by undertaking a series of experimental investigations into the aerodynamics of a Class 43 high speed train (HST). A contextual research background is presented with regards to two significant aerodynamic phenomena - slipstreams and crosswinds. Model-scale experiments were undetaken on a l/25th scale HST model at the TRAIN rig moving model rig facility in order to measure slipstreams at a range of trackside positions and with different ballast heights. Crosswind effects were investigated through two model-scale tests and an extensive campaign of innovative train-based surface pressure measurements onboard an operational HST. A wind tunnel test investigated the flow field and pressure distribution around an HST power car and calculation of aerodynamic loads. A symmetrical pair of pressure taps at the train nose enabled yaw angle to be calculated at full scale. A scale-model test using a crosswind generator was undertaken and the magnitudes of aerodynamic loads compared very favorably with the wind tunnel data. The novel full scale it has been possible it isolate open-air data and gusts, and estimate the overturning forces due to crosswinds by a considered approach to surface pressure measurements.

The effectiveness and efficiency of railway vehicle condition monitoring is increasingly critical to railway operations as it directly affects safety, reliability, maintenance efficiency, and overall system performance. Although there are a vast number of railway vehicle condition monitoring technologies, wayside systems are becoming increasingly popular because of the reduced cost of a single monitoring point, and because they do not interfere with the existing railway line. Acoustic sensing and visual imaging are two wayside monitoring technologies that can be applied to monitor the condition of vehicle components such as roller bearing, gearboxes, couplers, and pantographs, etc. The central hypothesis of this thesis is that it is possible to integrate acoustic sensing and visual imaging technologies to achieve enhancement in condition monitoring of railway vehicles. So this thesis presents improvements in railway vehicle condition monitoring through the integration of acoustic sensing and visual imaging technologies.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Includes bibliographical references. / Recent technological changes in railroads, mergers, major shifts in urban land use patterns, and declining rail passenger travel has resulted in a surplus of urban rail lands. These lands represent a significant resource for land poor cities. An unparalleled opportunity exists for major new intervention without the usual adverse effects of land assemblage and so called "urban renewal". This work is an urban design study for a 22 acre rail site and 15 acres of adjacent waterfront land in Tacoma, Washington. The site, including Union Station and its yards, is on the edge of Tacoma's central business district. Union Station represents the largest assembled parcel of developable land in the downtown area. An attempt is made to illustrate a possible site use scenario which reflects the divergent and often conflicting goals of various differing interests. / by Jeffrey David Rhoads. / M.Arch.

This dissertation relies on anthropological, historical, and archaeological research in order to describe the historical archaeologies associated with Chinese immigrants to the United States who worked on the first transcontinental railroad in the mid-nineteenth century. The region of focus in the High Sierras region to the west of Truckee, California, in and around the Tahoe National Forest

Orientador: Armen Mamigonian / Resumo: A geografia tem, nas últmimas décadas, agrupado ao seu conhecimento uma série de novos temas e abandonado outros. Os estudos referentes aos transportes, muito valorizados no passado, são um exemplo dos que vêm perdendo importância. / Abstract: In the last decades, geography a great deal of knowledge in some areas and, at the ame time, discarded others. Studies about transportation used to be highly appraised in the past, but now, they seem to be disregarded. / Doutor

Este trabalho propõe um método de análise de risco aplicada ao descarrilamento (incidente no qual a roda perde a sustentação provida pelo trilho, podendo ser causado por diversos aspectos como imperfeições na via, falhas no material rodante, obstáculos na via, entre outras que pode acarretar possíveis acidentes e perdas materiais e humanas) de forma a tornar mais seguro o transporte ferroviário, que atualmente não apresenta diminuição da taxa de ocorrência dos descarrilamentos, complementando assim as simulações computacionais e simulações dinâmicas que podem ser aplicadas ao estudo deste evento. Risco pode ser definido como o potencial de perda resultante da exposição a um perigo, sendo relacionado à probabilidade de ocorrência de um evento ou combinação de eventos acarretando em um perigo e a conseqüência deste perigo. Este conceito pode ser utilizado para investigar e avaliar as incertezas associadas com um evento. Já Confiabilidade pode ser definida como a probabilidade de um item executar a sua função sob condições pré-definidas de uso e manutenção por um período de tempo específico. Assim, considerando estes dois conceitos, será apresentada uma metodologia de análise de risco e confiabilidade para análise e discussão do descarrilamento, discorrendo sobre os possíveis parâmetros que podem causar este evento bem como propondo uma alternativa para avaliação da probabilidade de ocorrência do descarrilamento; desta forma permite guiar o gerenciamento da segurança quanto a este evento já que no Brasil não existe a figura da autoridade ferroviária, órgão máximo e responsável final pela regulamentação para a operação de um sistema ferroviário, que poderia determinar o processo que deve ser seguido para a garantia de segurança. Os objetos de estudo serão veículos ferroviários e conseqüentemente os elementos de interface com este tipo de veículo, como por exemplo, os elementos de via. / This research proposes a risk analysis method applied to derailment event (characterized by the wheel overlap on the rail, which can be caused by many aspects: rail imperfections, rolling stock failures, obstacles etc and which can cause accidents, material and life loss) to increase the safety level on railway transport that actually does not present decrease of derailment rate. This method also complements computational and dynamic simulations, which can be applied to this event. Risk can be defined as the potential loss due to a hazard exposure, also related with the probability of occurrence of an event or combinations of events leading to a hazard and the consequence of this hazard. This concept can be applied to investigate and to evaluate the uncertainties related with this event. Reliability can be defined as the probability of an item to perform its function under predefined use and maintenance conditions during a specific period of time. Thus, considering these two concepts, it will be presented a risk and reliability analysis to study the derailment event, discoursing about the possible parameters that can cause this event and proposing alternatives to evaluate the derailment occurrence probability in order to guide safety management since a railway authority does not exist in Brazil (body with the overall accountability to a regulator for operation a railway system, that could determines the process to be followed to assure safety levels). This research will cover railway vehicles and consequently the interface, for example, the railroad elements.