Braking distance prediction for vehicle consist in low-speed on-sight operation: a Monte Carlo approach

Abstract

The first and last mile of a railway journey, in both freight and transit applications, constitutes a high effort and is either non-productive (e.g. in the case of depot operations) or highly inefficient (e.g. in industrial railways). These parts are typically managed on-sight, i.e. with no signalling and train protection systems ensuring the freedom of movement. This is possible due to the rather short braking distances of individual vehicles and shunting consists. The present article analyses the braking behaviour of such shunting units. For this purpose, a dedicated model is developed. It is calibrated on published results of brake tests and validated against a high-definition model for low-speed applications. Based on this model, multiple simulations are executed to obtain a Monte Carlo simulation of the resulting braking distances. Based on the distribution properties and established safety levels, the risk of exceeding certain braking distances is evaluated and maximum braking distances are derived. Together with certain parameters of the system, these can serve in the design and safety assessment of driver assistance systems and automation of these processes.

Keywords

Freight rail / Shunting / Braking curves / Brake set-up / Driver assistance system / Automatic train operation

References

[1.] Islam DMZ Ricci S Nelldal B. How to make modal shift from road to rail possible in the european transport market, as aspired to in the eu transport white paper 2011. Eur Transp Res Rev, 2016 8 3 1-14

[2.] Boehm M Arnz M Winter J. The potential of high-speed rail freight in Europe: how is a modal shift from road to rail possible for low-density high value cargo?. Eur Transp Res Rev, 2021 13 1 1-11

[3.] Hecht M, Leiste M, Discher S (2020) Erstellung eines Konzeptes für die EU-weite Migration eines Digitalen Automatischen Kupplungssystems (DAK) für den Schienengüterverkehr. Report to Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, Berlin, Germany.

[4.] Luther D (2014). Automatisierte Bremsprobe im Schienengüterverkehr: ein Beitrag zur Optimierung von Effizienz, Wirtschaftlichkeit und Sicherheit. Dissertation, TU Berlin

[5.] Kaack LH Vaishnav P Morgan MG Azevedo IL Rai S. Decarbonizing intraregional freight systems with a focus on modal shift. Environ Res Lett, 2018 13 8 083001

[6.] Pfaff R Enning M Sutter S. A risk-based approach to automatic brake tests for rail freight service: incident analysis and realisation concept. SN Appl Sci, 2022 4 4 1-14

[7.] Ballis A Golias J. Comparative evaluation of existing and innovative rail–road freight transport terminals. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract, 2002 36 7 593-611

[8.] Blumenschein M, Wilbring D, Babilon K, Schmidt BD (2021) Concept for autonomous shunting with an intelligent and self-actuating freight wagon. In: Proceedings of 3rd International Railway Symposium Aachen, Aachen, Germany, 21–23 November 2021

[9.] Guglielminetti P Piccioni C Fusco G Licciardello R Musso A. Rail freight network in Europe: opportunities provided by re-launching the single wagonload system. Transp Res Procedia, 2017 25 5185-5204

[10.] Verband deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV). 2019. “VDV Schrift 757: Bremsen im Betrieb bedienen und prüfen - Bremsvorschrift.”

[11.] Bundesamt für Verkehr (BAV). 2020. “R300.4 - Rangierbewegungen.” Bundesamt für Verkehr (BAV).

[12.] Railway applications-Braking-Requirements for the brake system of trains hauled by locomotives (2016) EN 14198:2016

[13.] Wu Q Cole C Spiryagin M . Freight train air brake models. Int J Rail Transp, 2021

[14.] UIC Leaflet (2014) Brakes–braking power 544–1

[15.] UIC Leaflet (2022) Brakes–disc brakes and their applications-general conditions for the certification of brake parts 541–3

[16.] Wende D. Fahrdynamik des schienenverkehrs, 2003 Wiesbaden Vieweg und Teubner

[17.] Vernersson T. Temperatures at railway tread braking. Part 1: modelling. Proc Instit Mech Eng Part J Rail Rapid Transit, 2007 221 2 167-182

[18.] Vernersson T. Temperatures at railway tread braking. Part 2: calibration and numerical examples. Proc Instit Mech Eng Part F J Rail Rapid Transit, 2007 221 4 429-441

[19.] Vernersson T Lundén R. Temperatures at railway tread braking part 3: wheel and block temperatures and the influence of rail chill. Proc Instit Mech Eng Part F J Rail Rapid Transit, 2007 221 4 443-454

[20.] Walia MS Vernersson T Lundén R Blennow F Meinel M. Temperatures and wear at railway tread braking: field experiments and simulations. Wear, 2019 440 203086

[21.] Monreal-Pérez P González J Iraizoz A Bilbao U Clavería I. Effect of the steel fiber length on the friction performance and wear mechanism of railway brake shoes. Tribol Int, 2022 172 107589

[22.] Monreal P Harrison N Perez-Costarrosa E Zugasti M Madariaga A Clavería I. Full-scale dynamometer tests of composite railway brake shoes: effect of the resin-rubber ratio on friction performance and wear. J Tribol, 2022 144 6 862-877

[23.] Kim MS, Kim JG, Goo BC, Kim NP (2010) Comparative studies of the tread brake dynamometer between dry and wet conditions. In: proceedings of the 9th WSEAS international conference on system science and simulation in engineering. Iwate, Japan, October 2010. pp 479–483

[24.] Carter FW. Predetermination in railway work. Trans Am Inst Electr Eng, 1903 22 133-164

[25.] Koper E, Kochan A, Gruba (2019) Simulation of the effect of selected national values on the braking curves of an etcs vehicle. In: proceedings of international conference on transport systems telematics. Jaworze, Poland, November. pp 17–31

[26.] Malvezzi M Presciani P Allotta B Toni P. Probabilistic analysis of braking performance in railways. Proc Instit Mech Eng Part F J Rail Rapid Transit, 2003 217 3 149-165

[27.] Pachl J. Railway operation and control, 2018 Mountlake Terrace, WA, USA VTD Rail Publishing

[28.] DIN VDE V 0831–103 (VDE V 0831–103):2020–09 (2020) Elektrische Bahn-Signalanlagen-Teil 103: Ermittlung von Sicherheitsanforderungen an technische Funktionen in der Eisenbahnsignaltechnik

[29.] Cantone L Ottati A. Modelling of friction coefficient for shoes type LL by means of polynomial fitting. Open Transp J, 2018 12 1 114-127

[30.] Kluyver T . Loizides F Schmidt B . (2016) Jupyter Notebooks–a publishing format for reproducible computational workflows. Positioning and power in academic publishing: players, agents and agendas, 20th international conference on electronic publishing, 2016 Germany ELPUB. Göttingen 87-90

[31.] UIC Leaflet (2015) Brakes-specifications for the construction of various brake parts-driver’s brake valve/driver's brake controller 541–03

[32.] UIC Leaflet 540 (2019) Brakes–air brakes for freight trains and passenger trains

[33.] Spiryagin M Cole C Sun YQ McClanachan M Spiryagin V McSweeney T. Design and simulation of rail vehicles, 2014 Boca Raton, FL, USA CRC Press

[34.] Blumenschein M, Pfaff R, Babilon K (2021) Braking curves in railway shunting and implications for the development of sensor systems for autonomous shunting. In: Proceedings of Eurobrake 2021, online, May

[35.] DB Cargo AG (2022) Eanos-x 052. https://gueterwagenkatalog.dbcargo.com/katalog/nach-gattung/e-offene-wagen/Eanos-x-052-5830640. Accessed 4 Aug 2022

Funding

European Regional development fund(0801689)