Anti ice build-up method on small railway culverts

One of the most important problems with the small railway culverts operation is the ice build-up on the inlets of these structures. This problem is universal in occurrence, but the northern regions are the main danger zone. The objective of this paper is to determine the phenomenon causes and factors that directly affect it, as well as to find a way to solve the problem. A small culvert is considered as a subsystem of the «Road/Railroad» system, which allows us to execute complete analysis and description of the technical and special production processes accounting related to design, construction, maintenance, scheduled, overhaul, as well as reconstruction, and solution of some problems, during the culverts operation. Consistently considered reliability issues during structural engineering: functional, structural, and informational. described Regulations that allow determining the nature of the ice build-up problem on pipes. In the analysis process of the existing methods for solving the problem, it was found that each method has its particularities, but in the end, is ineffective. According to the methodology presented by the authors, under Professor’s Yu.L. Scheviev supervision, has been developed a completely new approach, that provides effective financial resources use, in relation to the work result during the entire object’s life cycle, in form of a long structure operation period with the elimination of the ice build-up problem possibility. Technique application leads to a sharp decrease in the technical work frequency at small culverts. The paper analyzes a detailed algorithm for using the technique based on the calculation of a small culvert with a circular cross-section.

Updated Fuel Tank Puncture Survey: 1995-2020

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Research, Development and Technology has been conducting research into passenger fuel tank crashworthiness. The occurrence of a fuel tank puncture during passenger rail collisions and derailments increases the potential of serious injury and fatality for crew and passengers due to the possibility of fire. The purpose of the FRA research is to help support regulatory and standard development with technical data. In the last decade, the research has focused on understanding how fuel tanks are punctured during an impact and how various tank designs respond to common types of loading in collisions, derailments and general operation. Throughout the research, surveys have been conducted to determine the most likely scenarios that are causing fuel tank punctures. A previous FRA survey found that fuel tank punctures occur under two types of loading conditions: a blunt impact or a raking impact. A limited number of accident/incidents were evaluated in this survey. These incidents showed that fuel tanks are punctured on any side that is not protected or shielded. The purpose of this paper is to report on a recently conducted fuel tank puncture survey updated to include the last decade. This paper identifies and describes accidents and incidents that led to breached fuel tanks in freight and passenger trains traveling on the general railroad system in the U.S. between 2008 and 2020. The results include data from the FRA’s Railroad Accident/Incident Reporting System (RAIRS), queried from 1995 to 2020. This data include the number of recorded accidents/incidents and other trends like fuel spillage, operating authority and cause of accident/incident. RAIRS data showed accidents/incidents with fuel tank puncture ranging from 10 to 55 accidents/incidents per year. Additionally, more detailed results are shared from field investigations recently conducted by the FRA or Volpe Center. These more detailed investigations provide additional insight into the types of loading that may lead to a fuel tank puncture. This survey supplements the RAIRS data with more detailed information from field investigations. The paper finally discusses the conditions that lead to fire and the associated hazards.

Cost of Human Life

How do you value human life? Is there a price too high to save the life of another? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Donald is testing new AI software that will run the entire railroad system of the future. It has one final test to pass, the classic ethics dilemma, The Trolley Problem; does it pull the lever and kill one, or do nothing and allow five to die? This should be an easy solution for an unemotional machine. However, the AI decides to do nothing, and allows the five in the simulation to die. When Donald checks its programming, he finds the program has determined, after taking into account lawsuits, delayed passenger complaints, and lost revenue, that doing nothing is the more economically valuable choice. Donald is left with the problem of if, and how, to program the AI on decisions related to value human life.

The Road to Kushka

После успешного похода М.Д. Скобелева в 1880-1881 гг. и присоединения Мерва Россия в 1885 г. заняла Пендинский оазис, который стал самой южной точкой государственной границы Российской империи. Для закрепления за собой этой территории Военное министерство и администрация Туркестанского края стали добиваться строительства железнодорожного пути вглубь Средней Азии. Закаспийская железная дорога в 1886 г. дошла до Мерва и прокладывалась далее на Самарканд. Однако долина р. Мургаб и Гератская провинция Афганистана рассматривались как наиболее сложный театр военных действий. В статье рассказывается о создании самой южной российской железной дороги от Мерва к крепости Кушка на афганской границе. Несмотря на тяжёлые природные и климатические условия, этот путь – Мургабская ветка – была спроектирована и построена усилиями российских военных инженеров в 1897–1898 гг; финансировалось строительство по смете Главного штаба Военного министерства; общая стоимость всех строительных работ составила 8 718 931 руб. After the 1880–1881 Campaign, carried out by General M.D. Skobelev, and the annexation of Merv, Russia occupied the Pendinsky oasis in 1885, which became the southernmost point on the borders of the Russian Empire. To secure this territory, the Military Ministry and the Administration of Turkestan called for a railroad system to be built, penetrating Central Asia. In 1886, the Transcaspian Railroad reached Merv and moved on to Samarkand. Yet the Murgab River valley and the Great Province of Afghanistan were seen as the most complicated potential theatre of war. The article examines the construction of the southernmost Russian railroad system – from Merv to the Kushka Fortress on the Afghan border. Despite the difficult natural obstacles and climate, the Murgab Railroad was successfully built by the Russian military engineers in 1897–1898, being financed by the General Staff of the Ministry of War. The construction cost 8 718 931 rubles.

Autonomous end-to-end wireless monitoring system for railroad bridges

One of the most critical components of the US transportation system is railroads, accommodating transportation for 48% of the nation’s total modal tonnage. Despite such vital importance, more than half of the railroad bridges, an essential component of railroad infrastructure in maintaining the flow of the network, were built before 1920; as a result, bridges comprise one of the most fragile components of the railroad system. Current structural inspection practice does not ensure sufficient information for both short- and long-term condition assessment while keeping the operation cost low enough for mandatory annual inspection. In this paper, we document the development process of an autonomous, affordable system for monitoring railroad bridges using the wireless smart sensor (WSS) so that a complete end-to-end monitoring solution can provide relevant information directly from the bridges to the end-users. The system’s main contribution is to capture the train-crossing event efficiently and eliminate the need for a human-in-the-loop for remote data retrieval and post-processing. In the proposed system, an adaptive strategy combining an event-based and schedule-based framework is implemented. The wireless system addresses the challenges of remote data retrieval by integrating 4G-LTE functionality into the sensor network and completes the data pipeline with a cloud-based data management and visualization solution. This system is realized on hardware, software, and framework levels. To demonstrate the efficacy of this system, a full-scale monitoring campaign is reported. By overcoming the challenges of monitoring railroad bridges wirelessly and autonomously, this system is expected to be an essential tool for bridge engineers and decision-makers.

A study on the optimal design and the performance evaluation of electromagnetic energy harvesting device for the rolling stock application

An electromagnetic energy harvesting device was studied based on the design parameters of an energy harvesting device for the power source of wireless sensors node on the rolling stock. The characteristics of the generated power by the energy harvesting device were tested using the laboratory equipment and a rolling stock (a high-speed train). First, a cantilever beam energy harvesting device, which allows for easy adjustment of the length according to the frequency and the power according to the cantilever beam materials, was researched. In addition, the new design for a practical resonant energy harvesting device for the railroad system was performed. To realize the performance of the practical resonant energy harvesting device, the generated power characteristics of the energy harvesting device were tested according to the moving displacement, the number of coil turns, and the initial coil displacement between the coil and magnet. The evaluation of the performance of the manufactured resonant energy harvesting device for the railroad system, which the parameters were determined based on the test results, was conducted under real driving conditions in the high-speed train, which was traveling at 300 km/h. Finally, this study analyzed whether the power generated could be applied to the wireless sensor nodes for the railroad system.

Public Policy on Safety and Security Railroad System in Indonesia

Implementation of the new law on railways are yet to be seen due to government regulation as executors being discussed. Government regulations mandated by Law No. 23, 2007 set as fast as 1 (one) year from the entry into force of the Act. Nevertheless in his closing conditions stated that at the time the Act came into force. All the implementing regulations of Law No. 13 1992 declared still valid this does not contradict or replaced under the Act contained in Law No. 23 of 2007 in line with the implementation of regional autonomy and decentralization intended by the Act No. 32 of 2004 on Regional Government and Government Regulation No. 38 2007 on delegation of authority from central to local governments. The quality of rail services, especially in economy class lately felt worse. Headway uncertain security condition, and the level of safety continues to decline. Train accident rate continues to rise, where in 2007 there were 116 accidents, an increase from the 2006 total of 107 times. More than 90% of accidents that occurred in 2007 caused by a Train derailment or overturned (Directorate of Railways, 2008). Key words: Policy, Safety, Railway, Passengers.