Even before the IEEE’s Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards Committee (RTVISC) approved IEEE 1473, railcar manufacturers from Breda in Italy to Kinki-Sharyo in Japan to Bombardier in Canada had been designing the underlying LonWorks® protocol into their rail vehicles. But after its formal adoption in 1999, IEEE 1473-L based networks have begun to proliferate at transit properties in North A...

considering the large amount of investment in railway transportation systems, effective use of resources is highly important. typically, in order to utilize the line capacity, train scheduling plays a substantial role and thus attracts lots of attention all over the world. various train-scheduling models are introduced, according to different conditions of different countries. however, for iran...

One of the key hazardous events in railways is signals passed at danger (SPAD). SPAD events are relatively common, most with minor consequence. However, SPAD events with catastrophic consequences happen sufficiently often to be a concern within the rail industry. A SPAD event is a precursor to a train collision or derailment; hence there is a strong focus on measuring and reducing their frequen...

Fatigue is a serious issue for the rail industry, increasing inefficiency and accident risk. The performance of 20 train drivers in a rail simulator was investigated at low, moderate and high fatigue levels. Psychomotor vigilance (PVT), self-rated performance and subjective alertness were also assessed. Alertness, PVT reaction times, extreme speed violations (>25% above the limit) and penalty b...

A number of economic, technical and political factors have limited the development of new, dedicated, very-high-speed rail systems in North America. Consequently, most, near-term development of improved or expanded passenger rail service in the U.S. will involve use of existing railroad infrastructure or rights of way. Comprehensive understanding of train accidents on shared-use corridors is cr...

During the last decades, the railway traffic in densely populated areas has increased. At the same time, passenger trains have become faster and freight trains have become heavier. Consequently, trains are an increasing source of ground vibration, which may be a nuisance to people, buildings and sensitive equipment. In this research, a two-dimensional dynamic system, including underground train...

Human-wildlife conflict is a leading cause of adult mortality for large carnivores worldwide. Train collision is the primary cause of mortality for threatened grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Banff National Park. We investigated the use of stable isotope analysis as a tool for identifying bears that use the railway in Banff. Rail-associated bears had higher δ(15)N and δ(34)S values than bears sa...

Implementation of highway-rail level crossing warning systems, educational programs and research on crossings have all contributed to a steady reduction in the risk of level crossings to North American highway users over the past several decades. Much less attention has been given to understanding the effect of level crossings on train safety and risk. Incidents at highway-rail level crossings ...

In urban rail transit network, the passenger transfer time depends on the train connection states in transfer stations, so the optimization of the connection relations of arrival and departure time among trains is significant to improve the level of transfer service. Here, with the psychology of waiting passengers taken into consideration, the cost function of transfer waiting times has been es...

Train pneumatic brakes are part of a train safety system, and are thus critical components. This paper illustrates how modeling can be applied to efficiently design such system, from requirement definition to HIL testing. The valves modeling is discussed along with the system level model. Moreover, in order to study the wheel-slide protection device, a model of the wheel-rail interface has been...