Visakh V. Krishna from KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) proposed the research “Track Friendliness 4.0”.

Rail transportation is being acknowledged as the eco-friendliest mode of transportation, but on the other hand, frequent breakdowns because of aging infrastructure and unsynchronized maintenance planning have led to the questioning of rail-service efficiency.

However, in the age of the industrial revolution 4.0 there is an opportunity to move to predictive maintenance strategies considering both the vehicle and the track as a single integrated system. In particular, it is possible, in principle, to model the integrated vehicle-track interaction over large tonnage and predict maintenance intervals and grade vehicle classes according to the damage they cause to tracks. This can further encourage innovation in the way we design running gear and maintain our tracks.

Moving beyond physical modelling, the research also aims to demonstrate the economic robustness by including an econometric approach guided by engineering principles.

Moving beyond physical modelling, the research also aims to demonstrate the economic robustness by including an econometric approach guided by engineering principles.

Saad Ahmed Khan from Luleå University of Technology (Sweden) presented the research “Effects of Friction Modifiers on the Friction, Wear and Cracks of Rails”.

Rolling contact fatigue and wear are two processes that decrease the life of the rails. To increase the lifetime of the rails without decreasing the axle load and speed, a third body with anti-wear and anti-crack properties can be introduced that reduces the wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) without reducing the traction coefficient below the safety limit.

This research investigated the effects of top-of-rail friction modifiers (TOR-FMs) using computer-based simulations, laboratory tests and field tests, and subsequently life-cycle costs were calculated.

The simulation results showed that by reducing the friction, the RCF is also reduced.

The field results showed that by using a TOR-FM, both the wear and the friction coefficients can be reduced. Excessive use of TOR-FM may cause unacceptably low friction and a high operational cost and result in an insignificant increase in the carry distance. The life-cycle cost calculation showed that the on-board system is an economic alternative to the wayside system, as it has lower operation and maintenance costs.

Matthias Volk, Norman Weik from RWTH Aachen University (Germany), presented a research on “Reliability Analysis of Railway Station Infrastructure based on Dynamic Fault Trees”.

Infrastructure availability is an essential prerequisite for providing passenger-friendly rail services with minimal delay. At the same time, investments are costly and have long-lasting effects on the operability of railway networks. Hence, detailing a priori performance analysis is vital to ensure targeted and efficient use of resources.

This project developed a dynamic fault trees (DFT) based reliability analysis tool that makes it possible to investigate both the performance of the railway infrastructure as a whole and the criticality of individual components for system operability.

As a result, comparative analysis of infrastructure layouts is enabled and focal infrastructure elements can be pinpointed. In a fully automated approach, the infrastructure is read from common exchange formats such as railML and train routes and their required elements are obtained by graph exploration.