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Track circuits (TC) are special electrical circuits composed in part of the rails of the tracks, Electrical signals are circulated in them by which it is possible to determine the status of free (no rolling stock) or occupied (rolling stock presence) within a controlled portion of track can be determined. They therefore represent a fundamental element of the Control command and Signalling Sub-System (CCS) whose operation has a significant impact on the safety and regularity of railway operations. In this paper, the problem of proper TC modeling and simulation setup for the purposes of the issues of interest to be analyzed will be addressed. The discussion will analyze several case studies of interest for Class B systems referring further ones to subsequent publications. The method presented here, excluding the electrical modeling part of the track, consists of a generic method developed by the author during his experience on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a continuous and rapid increase in the number of urban mass railway transportation systems put in revenue service worldwide. As new metro, tramway, and monorail systems are being put into circulation, they are supplemented by innovations in rolling stock, infrastructure, and operational equipment / procedures. As a result, they provide more efficient public transport to more people. Consequently, the need arises for frequent updates of relevant data. This paper initially attempts to systematically record the tramways, the metros, and the monorails currently in revenue service and under construction worldwide. It continues with a statistical analysis of their basic characteristics in an effort to showcase and compare trends. For meaningful information to be acquired, data acquisition is based on clear definitions of such systems. In this aspect, the paper provides clear criteria for the distinction of urban mass railway systems. The findings were recorded at the end of 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how the Consortium Bonifica - Hitachi Rail STS has developed an expertise in Building Information Modelling (BIM)(1) implementation on a pilot project for a Railway High Speed System "linear" infrastructure - in accordance with current norms and regulations and its own complex organization. Our scope is not the description of the BIM state of the art: it is only a "real-not-theoretical" experience finalized to contribute the business-related digital transformation underway in our Companies. Our paper will be mainly focused on the BIM Process Model and its implementation, tuned on the specific Contractors and Client needs. We developed an effective "requirements-related" digital model for the Rail Civil Works and Systems, using different software for each topictechnology (e.g. alignment, structures, systems, etc.) managed in the interactive platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to UNI 11337, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of creating and managing information about a building throughout its life cycle. One of the fundamental results of this process is a multidimensional model, i.e. one that goes beyond the three-dimensional description and offers a complete perspective of the built work. This model is developed based on information that is collaboratively entered and updated during the main phases of the project. In this paper, we present the BIM model of the Gradec-Sveti Ivan Žabno railway line developed within the international cooperation activities between the Universities of Naples Federico II and Zagreb to highlight the advantages and limitations of the methodology applied to a real railway project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergrounds and urban railways have become significant places from a cultural point of view, real distinctive signs of cities and their development. In this context, the Neapolitan capital (Italy) was among the first cities in Europe to understand the importance of building stations with high artistic and architectural standards. The desire to create an impressive infrastructural and architectural project, the strong innovative drive and the vision at the basis of the metro city project have been adopted, over the years, also in the planning of new underground lines such as Line 6. The purpose of this paper was to continue the narration of this visionary design idea by describing one of the most representative new station "Chiaia" of the Line 6, designed by the British artist Peter GREENAWAY. Furthermore, in order to quantify the impact of the Art Metro on the city and its citizens, a mobility survey was also carried out aimed at quantifying the number and type of visitors and tourists of the works of art widely exhibited in the overall Neapolitan metropolitan system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on electric cars, whose first exemplars were built at the end of the 19th century, has never completely ceased during the last century, and it received a significant boost since the early '80s, when electric car was seen as a means to mitigate the problem of air pollution in urban areas. However the growth rate over time of the proportion of sales of electric cars to the total volume of car sales in Europe still remains very low. Thus the question arises whether the electric car will continue to play a marginal role in the car market, or whether the data collected so far belong to the first stretch of the S shaped curve of the diffusion of innovations, and they will then be followed by a leap in the proportion of sales. In order to answer this question, this paper presents a dynamic model of competition between two types of cars, one traditional and the other innovative, which has been applied to the study of the evolution over time of the proportion of sales of electric cars in Europe, using the data collected between 2011 and 2019. The study has shown that these data belong to an evolution process that has the S shape of the diffusion of innovations. Thus, if the characteristics of the process will remain unchanged in the next future, it is to be expected that the data collected so far will be followed by a leap in the proportion of sales, and electric car will tend to take a remarkable position in the car market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building Information Modelling is now recognized the suitable methodology to undertake building and infrastructure projects. Far more developed for "traditional" construction, BIM is gaining momentum in the infrastructure field. The most significant differences when confronted with traditional building projects are the data structure, the project size (usually far more expansive than traditional building projects), the necessity for a more mature asset management and maintenance processes and the focus on non-graphical data and respective connection into the model. The present paper offers an oveiview of BIM applied to Railway projects, highlighting some relevant projects in the field, accenting the inherent advantages of its application, clarifying the representation levels that such models achieve and focusing on the interoperability, which as Infonnation (core of BIM) is one of the key concepts that still requires research and attention from all specialists involved. The paper finishes with a brief overview of software tools specific to this area, being that technology and its natural development has a major role in allowing the greatest quality on the way infonnation is input (in quantity and quality), retrieved and used by all stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acquisition of the main Greek railway undertaking by the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FSI Group) opened a set of development perspectives for Greek railway transport of passengers and goods, due the role of FSI as a relevant player in the European railway transport. Chances and development modes of this market innovation, potential arising problems, infrastructure and operational conditions require a preliminary historical analysis on the situation of the network and the ongoing improvements. Therefore, the paper starts from a synthesis of Greek railway history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast diffusion of mobile location and communication devices continuously produce a huge amount of data (‘Big Data') that can be exploited to improve the knowledge about the state of the transport system and perform appropriate regulatory actions and execute suitable policy actions. However, current information systems still have noteworthy drawbacks and are in the meantime open to significant improvements. The paper discusses the main problems related to the use of the Big Data and examines the opportunities offered by Big Data to introduce new transport models based on continuous updating of microscopic models. The first part of the paper, of conversational nature, is complemented by a concise overview of the research conducted by the authors with multiple objectives: derive a quantitative characterization of the mobility phenomena, understand users' behaviour and preferences, develop enhanced prediction models, and study new mobility services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a specific procedure is adopted for making a distinction between conventional-speed rail, high-speed rail, and very high-speed rail. The criteria adopted correspond to the needs of the actors that manage the 3 constituents of a railway system and namely the infrastructure managers (track) and the operators (rolling stock, railway services). Based on this distinction, research was focused on: a) identifying all countries, which possess at least one track of very high-speed b) making a record, for all the identified countries, of the total length of tracks that are characterized as very highspeed tracks c) analyzing the evolution of the construction of very highspeed tracks over the years d) making a record of very high-speed trains that were set in circulation over the last 5 years Making a record per country, of the longest direct route, which, based on the adopted definition, provides services of very high-speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the state of advancement achieved in the OptiYard research project in the use of optimisation algorithms in interaction with microsimulation of the rail-yard and surrounding network towards realtime yard management and communication with the network. Two case studies, a hump marshalling yard (mainly Single Wagon Load traffic) and a flat shunting yard (mainly intermodal traffic), were represented with state-of-the art microsimulation models, combined with innovative optimisation algorithms. Some specialistic information on the nature of the models is provided. However, the focus is oriented to railway engineers, with a description of the interactions between the models in producing outputs that are useful both to the yard dispatcher (decisions on staff, track, locomotive assignment, order of operations) and the infrastructure manager of the surrounding network (expected times of departure, availability of tracks in the yard). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a simplified analytical method for the evaluation of the rails conductance to earth; the proposed method takes into account of the presence of sleepers and ballast; moreover the description of the soil is based on a two layer model which represents an improvement with respect to, the often used, homogeneous earth model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to clarify the effects of bainitic spots in the homogeneous lamellar pearlite structure of wheels located near the tread. Bainite is an intermediate structure, always in overlapping with pearlite, which is formed during the heat treatment of quenched and tempered steels, even though its quantity can be controlled depending also on the chemical analysis and CCT diagrams of the steel. The process management guarantees a proper level of hardness and mechanical properties in the wheel. The formation of bainite is inevitable during the continuous cooling of hypo-eutectoid C steel grades (ER7, ER8, ER8S, ER9) where the Carbon Equivalent is exceeding 0.6%. In order to mitigate the presence of bainitic islands on the tread, Lucchini RS is working since a long period toward the calibration of a special aim analysis and an adapted design. According to the hardenability of the new aim analysis, the cooling rate of the devices for rim chilling was defined, with the objective to both reduce bainitic structures and obtain hardness and toughness properties in the rim. A method of bainite content measurement was proposed and used on ER7, ER8 and ER8S wheels after the activation of all the improvement actions. Furthermore, in order to qualitatively investigate the effect of the presence of bainite structures in the wheels, 2D plain strain finite element (FE) simulations were carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the practical usability of Input/Output models for analysis and forecast assessments of the freight traffic demand aimed at transport planning in a regional/interregional context. After a brief reference to the evolution over time of the approaches to the forecast criteria for freight traffic, the models that resort to the so-called spatial (or regional) accounting are presented. They allow taking into account the existence of a spatial distribution of supply and demand for the transport of goods and the relations between the latter and the economic and territorial system. In this way the intersectorial models or Input/Output (IO) models, object of constant scientific attention in recent years are investigated. Within the perspective of IO models, after dealing with the concepts and basic relationships for single-region versions (Single Region IO - SRIO), multiregional models with fixed (Inter-Regional IO - IRIO and Multi -Regional IO - MRIO) and elastic coefficients are referred to (Random Utility-Based MRIO - RUBMRIO). The main features and extensions of these models are highlighted, with the aim of analysing and evaluating the possibility of a concrete and effective use thereof at regional/interregional level, in the planning of transport systems and infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the actual capacity of the corridor lines in Slovakia in terms of the freight transport needs and EU transport policy objectives, based on the analysis of track capacity. The railway track sections of the north-south corridor on the ŽSR network are problematic from the point of view of limited capacity, especially at Štúrovo border station. Part of the research includes measures leading to an increase in the capacity of lines and stations for the needs of transit freight. These measures have to be assessed from an operational and economic point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing concern over global warming and climate change, this paper aims to investigate five rail passenger systems in Europe with respect to their greenhouse gas emissions. The countries are compared to each other to determine which are performing the best and the reasons behind this. The countries are analysed over a ten years period to investigate if there are trends forming as time progresses. The information collected is then used to produce two different forecasts for greenhouse gas emissions on the railways to look at the potential each country has for meeting European Union emissions targets. It is found that Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom are showing very positive signs of being able to achieve the greenhouse gas emission targets in 2030 and 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research makes a comparison between Granada's and Tenerife's line 1 LRTs in relation to the urban insertion, the technical characteristics of the lines and vehicles, the operational features, the ridership evolution and the user satisfaction and behavior. Granada's LRT is the latest that has started its service in Spain, while Tenerife's line 1 is the most similar existing one, putting into context the first results of Granada's operation. The effect of Granada's LRT opening into the whole transit network is described in the paper (a 6.5% increase in the average daily ridership for the 2018 January-September period in relation to 2017). The evolution of ridership for Tenerife's whole period of operation (2007-2017) is analyzed, explaining the effect of the economic crisis, and coming to some conclusions about what can be expected in Granada's case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to disclose the cause of amplification of surface vibration induced by train operation in rapid transit system. The surface vibration was measured on site, and a 2D finite-element model was established to see if the surface building affects the vibration propagation. Based on this model, discussed the impacts of the location and number of buildings on the propagation process. And concluded that the building foundation has an amplification effect on the suiface vibration, the effect is more obvious horizontally than vertically; the vibration amplification mainly happens in the low-frequency band; the building foundation has a limited scope of impact on surface vibration, and the vertical scope is greater than the horizontal scope; on an open field, the surface vibration is smaller than the foundation vibration; at the position of the building it is opposite. The research findings lay a solid basis for the prediction of subway-induced vibration, and provide insights into the design of vibration control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While travelling at-grade in an urban environment, a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system needs to traverse road intersections o f various complexities. These intersections, including roundabouts, are major hotspots (risky points) in LRT networks. There are several documents related to the treatment o f conventional LRT intersections for guaranteeing safety, but almost no reference to LRT roundabouts design, except for the French guidelines. This paper addresses safety issues related to LRT roundabout design. The paper contains, firstly, the explanation o f the differences between the roundabout management without and with an LRT running through it, and the consequences for road vehicle drivers' behavior. Secondly, the appropriateness o f using a roundabout in the insertion o f an LRT in a specific intersection is discussed. Finally, the main considerations for designing a safe LRT roundabout are presented, taking into account general aspects such as visibility, perception and protection, and more specific ones such as the adequate insertion o f the LRT in the roundabout, its size and number o f lanes, as well as some traffic light improvements that may enhance safety. Additionally, some real case examples are presented at the end o f the paper to illustrate how the safety o f a given LRT roundabout can be improved once it has been built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the political-administrative genesis of one of the major Italian public infrastructures of the twentieth century: Naples metro Line 1. It is highlighted in the period of time, the project has suffered, and at the same time, the choices of the different "political seasons" that the third city of Italy has undergone. From the beginning of the national railway system, which has become the best practice in terms of public transport, Line 1 has become, year after year, the heart of the Neapolitan and regional transport system, gaining international notoriety thanks to the so-called "Art Stations" and arriving today to transport over 45 million passengers / year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper tackles the problem of ascertaining the 3kVDC voltage disconnection of traction lines by means of a device capable of detecting the electrostatic field of an overhead cable, as a part of a safety campaign promoted by the Italian railway network RFI SpA within the entire network. The main methods of field detection are reviewed, some of which are commonly used, others are still under study. For each considered device we highlight advantages and limits, obtaining criteria in view of the design and implementation of a new aid for RFI personnel, responsible of the traction line maintenances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freight exchange between North-Western Italy and the Western part of Central-Northern Europe uses three transport modes: the road transport formed by the routes that cross the Alps through the tunnels of Frejus, of Mont Blanc, of Gran San Bernard, of Gotthard and of San Bernardino; the rail line of Frejus; the rail transport through the Swiss Alps, formed by the lines of Simplon and of Gotthard. The latter transport mode has undergone in the last decades a far reaching innovation process, which has succeeded in the objective to reverse the decreasing trend of the proportion of freight carried by rail. By studying the evolution dynamics of the freight traffic split between the three transport modes, this paper identifies the reasons for this success, which furnishes some useful suggestions about the criteria that should be followed in the process of innovation of freight rail transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective transport transit user judge and perceive the quality of the service using few parameters. First, "frequency", on which depends waiting time and consequently time for transport (travel time). In the making of the service, is evaluated the number of vehicles to satisfy the demand of transport and a timeline is scheduled for departures from the terminal in order to have the same distances between them. It's unfortunately well known that during the service distances quite never remains stable. In this paper we study the reasons why this happen, but at the same time we suggest an effective strategy to solve this situation and fix back a regular service. A fundamental conclusion of this study is the understanding of the importance to have vehicles' and employees' reserves, an aspect that is often underestimated in a Local Public Transport project and simply solved with the creation of a surplus of service respect the real demand of transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims about the historical and technical evolution of scientific thought in railway vehicle behaviour, while running on straight track and cornering. The point of view of many railway scientists and mechanical approaches are presented and joined to the operational reality, referring from the beginning of railway use, through the idealization in modelling, to be able study the problem of wheel-rail interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, different analytical methods for the determination of the hourly practical capacity of a high speed railway line are addressed and compared. Furthermore, for the assessment of capacity consumption based on the UIC 406 method and on the simulation of rail traffic, the features offered by the OpenTrack© railway simulation software are exploited. The case study concerns the Rome-Florence "Direttissima" high speed railway line, the first example of high speed railway infrastructure in Europe and a rare example of mixed use with the circulation of different categories of trains. Such characteristics distinguish this line compared to the more modern Italian high speed lines interconnected with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of a galvanizing coating on the fatigue strength of S355 structural steel. While in literature some results from fatigue tests made on unnotched specimens can be found, very few results are available dealing with notched components. The aim of the present paper is to partially fill this lack of knowledge. A comparison is carried out between hot dip galvanized specimens weakened by a central hole and not treated specimens characterized by the same geometry. Two different values o f the nominal load ratio are considered with R=0 and -1, respectively. Overall, 60 new experimental data are summarized in the present paper. A second comparison has also been carried out, focusing on fillet welded cruciform joints, subdivided into two series, uncoated and galvanized, sharing the same geometry and subjected to the same load cycle R=0, corresponding to 34 experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the advantages of the use o f optical sensors, and in particular sensors based on FBG (Fibre Bragg Grating), for the analysis of dynamical interaction between pantograph and catenary are discussed. The experience of a real application where FBG sensors were used on a pantograph o f underground vehicle is presented and the related experimental results are discussed. Optical sensors are very suitable for the analysis of pantograph-catenary interaction because they are intrinsically electrically insulated and insensitive to the electromagnetic disturbances and they do not need electrical power supply: these features make the optical measurement setup very simple with respect to the electrical measurement setup for the particular application. This paper aims at presenting the main features of FBG sensors and at comparing performances of optical sensor and traditional electrical sensors by means of results of experimental tests peiformed to analyse the interaction between pantograph and catenary for an underground line. The experience discussed in this paper shows that the use of an optical measurement setup for the analysis o f pantograph-catenary interaction takes to an important simplification with respect to the traditional measurement setup with electrical sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the new high-speed railway station in Bologna: a great and innovative work integrated into a large infrastructure project of reconfiguration and upgrading of the rail junction city, one of the most important in Italy. After recalling functional requirements both in terms of urban planning and of transportations, the paper describes the project illustrating the architectural and structural concepts, both classified in the specific geotechnical and hydro-geological context. Then paper describes all the major components of the work: the underground building with the peculiarities of composition and distribution.; the particular and in many aspects innovative works of containment of the ground: the buttresses (T-section diaphragm walls), the Vaults and the longitudinal head beam; transversal frames and the deck floors. The paper ends with a description of the main characteristics of the plants and architectural finishes. At the conclusion of the illustration of the project we focus on the strong interrelationship between all the specialized components involved in the development of this type of project and their need to be conceived and developed in an integrated way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes an analysis methodology of energy consumptions in the railway field, presenting a comparison between an analytical calculation model and some measurements. It is hereafter assessed the influence of some parameters which characterise the travel diagrams of trains. The first part illustrates the analysis of the measured speed profile of a regional passenger train and of a TGV train covering a conventional line, with a high grade (the Torino-Modane), then introducing the comparison with the hypothetical profile obtained through simulation. Such comparison therefore allows deducing and quantifying the differences between the real and the simulated travel diagram. The latter employs completely the traction performances of the convoy and, therefore, features the smallest travel time on the considered line. The second part of this paper focuses the attention on the run of a freight train covering only one of the first sections of the same line, through the integration of the motion equation implemented on a spread sheet. In this part the analysis is carried on introducing important simplifications, as neglecting the effects of the line profile (rather flat in the considered stretch), in order to facilitate the analytical model. With such assumptions the influence on energy consumptions due to the scheduled travel diagram and to the driving style is evaluated. Special emphasis is given on the consumption connected to the braking stages and the relevant influence on the maintenance of brakes and wheel-sets, which has a direct economic impact for the transport operators. The role of innovative technological solutions is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the era of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) there is a cross fertilization between railway engineering and Information Technology, which requires the utilization of vertically integrated knowledge overtaking the paradigms of the classical engineering. The availability of innovative technologies and huge amount of data are the key factors able to revolutionize maintenance in the 21st century. Thanks to the vertically integrated development of IP smart sensors, computational performances, Big Data and analytics frameworks, the rail transport is made more punctual, cost-efficient and safer. This paper provides a brief introduction to the predictive maintenance within the rail sector, emphasizing railway engineering elements, Information Technology and data mining aspects, and business implications obtainable through this innovative framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an original approach to perform capacity assessments o f railway systems, based on the automatic generation and evaluation o f feasible timetables. This method relies on a microscopic model o f railway systems, used to simulate the train runs and the operation o f the signalling system. The resulting simulated train paths are utilised to arrange the input dataset for a scheduling algorithm which generates conflict-free timetables, which are then analysed in order to point out how and how much capacity is consumed. The described method and model are applied to a real case study, provided by a singletrack railway in Piedmont, Italy. Given a baseline scenario, a set o f infrastructural and operative improvements are taken into account. The relevant capacity increases are evaluated in terms o f reduction o f the global travel times of trains with respect to the baseline scenario. Results are analysed and discussed, highlighting the potentialities o f the presented method to performing effective capacity evaluations useful for a better exploitation o f railway systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an analysis o f combined rail freight transport in Italy is carried out. Firstly, after an introduction on combined rail transport in Italy and Europe, the main characteristics o f this transport mode are provided. In particular, an overview on the typologies o f rail connections operated in combined freight transport is provided, and, in particular, a distinction is made between scheduled and non scheduled ones. Secondly, the research focuses on the main Italian rail terminals for combined transport: the scheduled connections among these terminals are determined, and the reasons why some o f these rail terminals have become the most important are analyzed. Three main categories o f rail terminals in Italy have been identified: rail terminals located in complex logistic structures, such as freight villages; rail terminals completely devoted to rail-road intermodal activities, and which are not located in freight villages; rail terminals located in ports (or close to them). Thirdly, this research aims at understanding the strengths and weaknesses o f combined rail freight transport in Italy, in order to know which aspects must be improved and where it is necessary to invest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the research results of the optimisation of “bridge-track-car” interaction for highspeed railway traffic (up to 400 km/h) in bridge zones. The developed criteria allow estimating various dynamic interaction parameters to reach the optimal dynamic parameters dealing with wheel-rail contact safety, material efficiency, comfort of passengers and ballast deterioration. The described approach can be implemented as an addition to the existing rules and these aims do not conflict with existing rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the intermodal alternative, based on Motorways of the Sea (MoS), against “all-road" mode, in the Ligurian sea-northern Tyrrhenian coastal area, is described. After an introduction to the main characteristics of MoS and to the competitiveness of intermodal transport based on MoS, against “all-road” mode, the specific case has been studied. The research has underlined that, currently, the intermodal alternative is not competitive: regarding both monetary costs and travel times. Therefore three improvement scenarios have been studied. All scenarios consider the introduction of an ecobonus contribution, equal to 25% of the ticket price. In addition, the first scenario concerns a fares integration between the tickets of the two MoS routes composing the intermodal path. The second scenario concerns joining the two routes, composing the intermodal path, into one. The third scenario concerns the settlement of point-to-point, and completely new, MoS routes. The research carried out has shown that it is relatively easy to act on monetary costs of intermodal transport, to make it more competitive, while it is more difficult to act on travel times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a study relevant to the rail conductances, self and mutual, for both single and double railway lines track is presented; such a study is performed by means o f Boundary Element Method. In particular, a sensitivity analysis o f the above mentioned quantities is presented by varying the main parameters involved he.: sleepers, ballast and soil conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a preliminary feasibility analysis o f a hydrogen powered light-rail train able to operate without emissions along non-electrified "complementary" rail lines. The majority o f the "complementary” lines are mostly single track and were originally constructed to connect both small-medium regional centers and sub urban areas. Nowadays, the business case for electrification is almost always unfavorable and diesel traction is usually provided. New technological opportunities concerning advanced hybrid propulsion systems offer to realize a city railway transportation systems environmental friendly able to operate at high energy efficiency also along non-electrified lines. In this study we propose a preliminary novel design of an emission-free light-train (tram-train type) powered by a hybrid power unit consisting o f a hydrogen fuel cells and high-speed kinetic energy storage systems. A numerical dynamic simulator o f the proposed lightrail train has been developed in order to compute performance by varying system parameters with the aim to numerically verify the technical feasibility. The simulation o f the proposed light-train run along a re-designed non-electrified single track line in the sub-urban territory o f L'Aquila city (Italy) is reported. Finally, the hydrogen power-train and a traditional diesel train have been compared in terms o f energy consumption and emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a quantitative method for evaluating the accessibility o f railway routes in the open air under emergency conditions using the bimodal roadJrail vehicle supplied to the Fire Brigade. The model is set up as a Decision Support Tool - DST useful for assessing current accessibility o f each link that makes up a railway line and identifying any road/rail access points that could be improved and/or implemented. The model was applied to a section o f the old MilanTurin line in order to verify the validity and reliability o f the proposed tool. The results o f the tool can be used in a pre-event and a post-event phase: in the first case, the objective is to plan, programme and eventually achieve the accessibility im provements; in the second, the joint management o f emergencies can be supported which requires the arrival o f rescue teams in the shortest possible time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of cable driven APMs (Automated People Movers) has become much higher in the recent years, for hourly capacities up to nearly 8-9 thousand passengers per direction. This is due also to their undeniably competitive energy consumption per passenger and per km since they do not need to be provided with a motor on board and - consequently - neither the mechanical transmission to the wheels nor a structure suitable for such weights; this leaves power transmission to a mechanical component with small inertia, such as a steel wire rope. However, in any rope transport system based on a carrying-hauling rope, a relevant part of energy losses comes from rollers and related roller assemblies, in particular from the interaction between the metal rope and the rubber on rollers. So, having the possibility to quantify and, possibly, reduce their contribution to energy losses may result in positive effect on the overall energy performance of APMs. The temperature of rubber increases under cyclic loads; this is due to hysteresis losses and low rubber thermal conductivity. This paper presents a new procedure to assess the generation of heat in the ropeway roller with rubber band. The procedure consists in assessing hysteresis loss, i.e. the dissipated energy within the rubber band, by an analytical procedure. The model works with a limited number of data and without direct experimental measures on the rubber compound, which would be hardly feasible in practice. The dissipated energy obtained was used as an input for steady state thermal analysis. Verification of the proposed procedure was performed by comparing the simulation results to the data obtained experimentally during the periodical tests that have been developed in various plants. This model allows obtaining a preliminary value about the actual roller energy consumption, in order to provide a better comparison between different urban transport systems in terms of energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure enhancements and related investments have a crucial role in the process o f regional integration, as clearly highlighted by the TEN-T (Trans-European Network in Transport) policy. Through the funding of several projects, in fact, the European Commission promotes the interoperability and efficiency o f the European transport system by removing bottlenecks, by improving cross-border and inter-modal connections and by overcoming technical barriers. In such a context, this article tries to explore the importance o f well-structured and interconnected European transport networks by investigating the rail freight capacity o f the routes from the Italian north-eastern ports o f Venice, Trieste and Koper to three destinations in Central Europe, namely Wien, Budapest and Munich. The paper examines the technical characteristics o f the routes (through the TEN-T rail corridors) from the three ports to the selected rail terminals, providing first an overview o f the current bottlenecks o f the system and then offering an analysis of planned investments (TEN-T projects) and related enhancements in terms o f capacity. The research and its outcomes remind the importance of analysing the transport funds and interventions from an inter- modal point of view, in order to achieve a more efficient and sustainable transport system. To guarantee full support to the Motorways o f the Sea and to ports competitiveness, for example, funding and interventions should be aimed at eliminating or relieving the current bottlenecks and the related limitations in terms o f capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the application o f satellite technologies to the railway sector, where such technologies are playing an increasingly important role for signaling, communications, diagnostics and security. The aim o f this work has been to examine and evaluate GPS satellite observations in combination with data from a RTK receiver obtained from the projects 3InSata> and ERSATI2>, a trial and validation test site has been placed in Sardinia, it is based on the combination o f the ERTMS / ETCS and the satellite tracking technology, integrated with TLC (i.e. GSM-3G, Tetra, Satellite) systems using the IP protocol. These projects have been recently set up by Ansaldo STS and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and the University o f Catania in order to create a trial and validation site in Sardinia - that is located along the railway track ‘Cagliari-San Gavino’ - for assessing the consequences o f satellite-based technologies on the railway infrastructures and systems. The acceptability o f the work has been supported by the fact that the average precision position per train trip was always lower than 3 meters in line with railway standards(3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at contributing to the analysis of the interaction between the status of hydrogeological instability and rail transport. To this end a descriptive statistical summary approach is proposed that highlights the correlations between macroscopic indicators of the landslide phenomenon and landuse indicators by the transportation system. The synthetic model is developed based on public inventory maps available at territorial institutions, which report the critical aspects of the Italian territory with regard to landslides. The consequences for rail traffic were analysed through examination of traffic interruptions communicated to users. The model proposed may provide a preliminary indication on the areas of the railway network potentially exposed to greater risk. Timely or extensive monitoring, of which some examples are analysed and proposed, could supplement the available data and improve the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a quantitative study is performed on the competitiveness of MoS against road transport, in the modal split between Italian mainland and Sicily. The alternatives considered are: the "nearly all-road" transport, where the only maritime part is the crossing of the strait of Messina; and the intermodal transport: road + MoS, accompained and unaccompained. The results of the analysis point out that the intermodal unaccompanied transport is almost always the most convenient mode if generalized costs are considered. Moreover, the results of the analysis clearly show that the chosen paths (of minimum cost), in the case of intermodal transport, are highly influenced by the availability of MoS services. The results o f this work could help decision makers and maritime operators, to better invest on MoS routes in order to improve the competitiveness of intermodal transport against all road transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper [1 ] examines the vulnerability arid accessibility of railway networks in emergency conditions using the road system with particular reference to open air routes. The goal is to implement a Decision Support Tool - DST useful to evaluate the accessibility of the railway links that make up a rail network. The tool is used in a pre-event and a post-event phase: in the first, interventions improving accessibility can be planned and scheduled, while the second concerns joint management of emergency which requires the arrival of rescue teams as soon as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method for the calculation and evaluation of C02 emissions resulting from the implementation of a large-scale infrastructure. The method is based on a Hybrid Life-Cycle Assessment, which considers the teiri- torial and geographical characteristics in the calculation of energy consumption and associated emissions. It identifies four macro phases of the construction process (excavation, production and application of building materials, operability of tunnels and construction sites), each of which is broken down into specific sub-activities. The method is tested on the Brenner base tunnel, for which emissions equal to 2.28 m of C02 are estimated. The majority of them (85%) derives from the production of concrete and steel, while the other phases contribute to a more limited extent. The results are useful in the process of optimisation of the implementation processes, providing guidance on factors to consider in order to reduce C02 emissions. In addition, the method can serve to decision makers for an assessment of transport policies that is more attentive to environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a tool for the assessment of the capacity of railway networks. This tool includes a first definition level that can be considered as microscopic, which permits train-runs to be simulated in a numerical way, through the identification of the occupation of block sections; a second mesoscopic level then uses aggregated data (e.g., the run times between stations or the minimum admitted headways), which can be calculated automatically by the micro-simulator or entered directly by the user, as input. A scheduling algorithm, using the aggregated data, producesfeasible timetables, optimised according to given quality parameters. Since the procedure is automated and the computation phase is rather quick, it can be used to generate sets of feasible timetables and to perform timetable-based capacity assessments. Its implementation, within a perturbation analysis, is based on a discrete-event simulation core.This core applies any perturbation (delay, accident, anomaly) to a given timetable, which is re-arranged in order to solve any traffic conflict and to assess the robustness of the timetable design. The effectiveness of the rescheduling algorithms, which can be used to simulate different strategies that could be adopted by dispatchers, is also evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the world, the overwhelming majority of railway corridors concern mixed train operation. Express and local passenger trains along with freight trains are routed on the same track. On the one hand, this practice seems to achieve scale economies, as most trains use the same railway infrastructure; on the other hand, it creates problems in exploitation and maintenance of the network, as trains o f different functionality circulate on the same track. This problem that is currently of concern to numerous railway undertakings it can be expressed by the following question: ‘‘What is more economically efficient for a railway company? Simultaneously routing passenger and freight trains (mixed exploitation) on a single railway corridor, or differentiating passenger from freight traffic (dedicated exploitation)?" This question could be addressed for a new railway corridor or for an existing corridor. Within the framework o f this paper, the economic profitability, expressed by the Net Present Value of the investment, of an existent and of a new railway connection is investigated by the use of a mathematical model and considering various values of transport volume demand. For both cases, a single, standard gauge track is considered. In regard to traffic composition, three cases are examined: a)“mixed train traffic"; b)“dedicated traffic of passenger trains", i.e. routing o f exclusively passenger trains on the track; c) “dedicated traffic of freight trains", i.e. routing o f exclusively freight trains on the track. Furthermore the results of the application of the model in an existing railway link o f the Greek railway network and specifically in the “Thessaloniki - Alexandroupolis" railway line are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strong dependence on fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have led all industry sectors to adopt a new policy, aimed at the achievement o f objectives for environmental, economic, social and institutional improvement, thus helping to give birth to the concept of “sustainable development". The construction sector is also committed to giving its contribution, even more so when we consider that it is among the processes that contribute more than others to the transformation o f the environment by consuming land, energy and other natural resources. In the context o f voluntary initiatives designed to contribute to reducing emissions o f greenhouse gases, the aim was to develop a methodology for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions produced in the design and construction o f new railway infrastructures. Compared to the previous article published on IF n. 3/201 [1] this paper illustrates in detail the results o f the application o f the methodology to a particularly important and complex project as is that related to the construction of the “Fortezza - Ponte Gardena" railway line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a dynamic model of demandmodal split in a multimodal freight transport system.It has been devised in order to study the evolution of freighttransport through the Swiss Alps, which in the last decadeshas undergone profound technological transformations, aswell as marked modifications in the demand split amongwagonload rail, road haulage and intermodal transport.The model determines the dynamic characteristics of thetransport system by analyzing a sequence of times, for eachof which the demand using the various transport modes isknown. Then a map is defined and its parameters estimated,which gives the evolution over time of the demand foreach transport mode. By using the sequence of the yearlytransport demand values of the three modes through theSwiss Alps from 1984 to 2011, the model enables determiningthe evolution of transport costs of each mode duringthis time period and forecasting the future evolution of themodal split, under the hypothesis that the dynamic characteristicsof the system remain substantially unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers guide for authors on how to present a paper for publication in the journal.