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This work presents a simplified method to evaluate building shaking due to arbitrary base excitations, and an example application to railway problems. The model requires minimal computational effort and can be applied to a wide range of footing shapes, thus making it attractive for scoping-type analysis. It uses the soil excitation spectrum at the building footing location as it’s input, and computes the building response at any arbitrary location within it’s 3D structure. To show an application of the model versatility, it is used to compute building response due to a variety of singular railway defects (e.g. switches/crossings). It is however suitable for more general applications including railway problems without defects. The approach is novel because current railway scoping models do not use soil-structure transfer functions combined with free-field response to estimate building vibration by railway defects. First the soil-structure interaction approach is outlined for both rigid and flexible footings. Then it is validated by comparing results against a comprehensive fully-coupled 3D FEM-BEM model. Finally, it is used to analyse the effect of a variety of variables related to railway defects on building response. Local track defects are shown to have a strong influence on building vibrations. Further, vibration levels close to the threshold of human comfort are found in buildings close to the railway line. Overall the new approach allows for the computation of building vibrations accounting for soil-structure interaction, floor amplification and the measured/computed free-field response due to railway traffic using minimal computational effort. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, España) BIA2016-75042-C2-1-R Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Spain (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, España) PRX18/00115

Because of decreasing product lifecycles, cost of obsolescence and stock-outs for the final consumers, the value of time in maritime transport is under permanent scrutiny. Time is a determinant factor in the logistics of the globalized production. Any delay in one of the supply chain intermediate steps can lead to bottlenecks affecting the production and/or distribution of goods and consequently, the time needed to reach markets. Therefore, the consideration of the time perspective is essential to any attempt of maritime logistics modelling. In this paper, a liner ship fleet deployment (LSFD) model is applied to a set of transoceanic routes connecting the port of Shanghai, as the only departure point in China, with several ports of the East and West coasts of North America, simulating the weekly containerized traffic between China and USA. The US West Coast ports act as transshipment hubs via the intermodal US rail system and/or the maritime routes to the East coast traversing the Panama Canal. Several shipping lines operate both the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Canal routes with different ships. The rail system is included with specific adaptations to the railways cost structure. We calculate the trade-off between shipping costs and transit time. Using the opportunity cost of time estimated in other studies, we identify the optimal combination of cost and transit time in terms of generalized costs for the importer. Our model assesses the impact of delays from various problems in the ports of the US coast in the China-US trade using a bicriterion formulation.

Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 95, ISSN:0968-090X

The problem of optimal distribution of train and cargo traffic along parallel lines in the Trans-Siberian transport corridor of the Russian Federation is considered. This problem is closely interconnected with a problem of definition and optimisation of transportation expenses on the Trans-Siberian highway. The economic and mathematical model for determining costs for particular works in each type of line plants (a structural unit) in a railway rather permanent natural labour, material, energy and other norms for transport polygonon are used is offered. This model may serve as the basic part of an automated information system of cost planning on different levels of managing the transportation process.

The article presents the research results of economic feasibility of trains’ breaking-up order control at marshalling yards. The article objective was to determine the area of rational use of trains’ breaking-up order model, formalized in the form of stochastic programming problem. As a effectiveness criterion of trains’ breaking-up order operating costs of marshalling yard were used, including the costs associated with cars’ and locomotives’ dwell time on the station and its approaches, as well as costs associated with additional shunting work. With the help of simulation modeling the dependence was obtained, describing the impact of trains’ arrival forecasting error and processed car volumes on reducing operating costs of the marshalling yards through the trains’ breaking-up order control. The studies enable us to establish the requirements for the accuracy of information support of operational planning tasks, which is necessary to achieve the desired economic effect of the trains’ breaking-up order control.

Vibrations due to railway traffic propagate from the tracks to inside neighbour houses. Residents who are exposed to vibrations are also exposed to railway noise. This combined exposure to noise and vibration leads to annoyance, as well as to some health issues. Few studies have been conducted to investigate this combined exposure in terms of annoyance. The goal of the thesis is to improve the knowledge concerning the perceptual phenomena involved when both railway noise and railway vibration occur at the same time. Experiments are carried out in controlled conditions for that purpose, using acoustic and vibratory recordings obtained in the vicinity of a railway track, inside a dwelling. A first study was conducted in order to test the validity of an experimental procedure allowing to collect annoyance responses in laboratory conditions. For several combinations of noise and vibration at different noise and vibration levels, annoyance responses were collected: 1) partial annoyance due to noise, 2) partial annoyance due to vibration and 3) total annoyance due to combined noise and vibration. Results of this first study led to a common procedure used for the rest of the experiments carried out during this thesis work. Studies about annoyance due to combined railway noise and vibration often use indices which only describe an amount of energy for each single exposure. Results can be contradictory. A second study was conducted in the laboratory in order to evaluate the influence of (noise and vibration) intensity on annoyance and to determine the reason of the contradictory results observed in the literature. The initial hypotheses made in the current work were that those could be due to the different ranges of variation of noise and vibratory levels, or to the different spectral contents of the stimuli used in the studies of interest. In the literature, there is a reported need of further investigations about the influence of parameters not related to vibration level (\textit{e.g.} frequency content, modulation) on railway vibration annoyance. During this thesis, work was done in the aim of a better understanding of the role of vibratory spectral content in specific annoyance due to vibration in the absence of noise. An experiment was conducted using artificial vibration stimuli based on the railway vibration recording spectra. The importance of parameters other than overall noise or vibration levels on variations of the annoyance due to combined railway noise and vibration was investigated during a last study. The stimuli were based on 19 noise and vibration recordings obtained inside a dwelling, after having reduced their duration to 10s and with controlled variations of noise and vibration levels. The results showed that the relative importance of temporal and spectral parameters of the combined exposure to noise and vibration was low as compared to that of energetic parameters.; La co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations est source de gêne pour les riverains et peut engendrer des troubles de la santé. L’objectif de la thèse est d’apporter des éléments de compréhension au regard des phénomènes perceptifs mis en jeux lors de l’exposition combinée au bruit et aux vibrations ferroviaires. Des expériences sont menées dans ce but, en conditions contrôlées et à l'aide d'enregistrements acoustiques et vibratoires réalisés à proximité d'une voie ferrée, à l'intérieur d'un logement. Une première étude a été réalisée afin de valider un protocole expérimental permettant de recueillir en laboratoire des réponses de gêne. Pour plusieurs combinaisons d'enregistrements de bruit et de vibrations ferroviaires présentés à différents niveaux, la gêne 1) partielle due au bruit, 2) partielle due aux vibrations et 3) totale due à la co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations étaient recueillies. Les résultats de cette première étude ont été utilisés afin d'adopter un même protocole expérimental tout au long de ces travaux de thèse. Les études traitant de la gêne due aux bruit et vibrations ferroviaires sont majoritairement basées sur des indices ne reflétant que la quantité d’énergie liée à chaque exposition et leurs résultats peuvent être contradictoires. Une seconde étude a été menée en laboratoire dans le but d'évaluer l’influence de l’intensité (sonore, vibratoire) sur la gêne et afin de déterminer l'origine des différences de résultats dans la littérature. Les hypothèses testées étaient que ces différences pourraient être dues aux différentes plages de niveaux sonores et vibratoires étudiées, ou à des différences de contenus fréquentiels au sein des stimuli utilisés dans les différentes expériences. Dans la littérature, un besoin d’autres études en laboratoire est souligné afin de mieux comprendre l’influence des paramètres autres que le niveau global vibratoire (p. ex. contenu spectral, modulation) sur la gêne due aux vibrations ferroviaires. Un travail a été réalisé afin de mieux comprendre le rôle du contenu spectral vibratoire dans la gêne spécifique due aux vibrations, en l'absence de bruit. Une expérience a été conduite en utilisant des stimuli vibratoires artificiels, créés à partir des spectres d'enregistrements de vibrations ferroviaires. L'importance des paramètres autres que les niveaux de bruit et de vibrations globaux sur les variations de la gêne due à la co-exposition aux bruit et vibrations ferroviaires a fait l'objet d'une dernière étude. Les stimuli utilisés étaient obtenus à partir de 19 enregistrements sonores et vibratoires réalisés chez un riverain d'une voie ferrée, en les ramenant à une durée de 10s et en contrôlant les variations de niveau de bruit et de vibrations. Cette étude a montré que l'importance relative des paramètres temporels et fréquentiels de la co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations était faible au regard de celle des paramètres énergétiques.

Vibrations due to railway traffic propagate from the tracks to inside neighbour houses. Residents who are exposed to vibrations are also exposed to railway noise. This combined exposure to noise and vibration leads to annoyance, as well as to some health issues. Few studies have been conducted to investigate this combined exposure in terms of annoyance. The goal of the thesis is to improve the knowledge concerning the perceptual phenomena involved when both railway noise and railway vibration occur at the same time. Experiments are carried out in controlled conditions for that purpose, using acoustic and vibratory recordings obtained in the vicinity of a railway track, inside a dwelling. A first study was conducted in order to test the validity of an experimental procedure allowing to collect annoyance responses in laboratory conditions. For several combinations of noise and vibration at different noise and vibration levels, annoyance responses were collected: 1) partial annoyance due to noise, 2) partial annoyance due to vibration and 3) total annoyance due to combined noise and vibration. Results of this first study led to a common procedure used for the rest of the experiments carried out during this thesis work. Studies about annoyance due to combined railway noise and vibration often use indices which only describe an amount of energy for each single exposure. Results can be contradictory. A second study was conducted in the laboratory in order to evaluate the influence of (noise and vibration) intensity on annoyance and to determine the reason of the contradictory results observed in the literature. The initial hypotheses made in the current work were that those could be due to the different ranges of variation of noise and vibratory levels, or to the different spectral contents of the stimuli used in the studies of interest. In the literature, there is a reported need of further investigations about the influence of parameters not related to vibration level (\textit{e.g.} frequency content, modulation) on railway vibration annoyance. During this thesis, work was done in the aim of a better understanding of the role of vibratory spectral content in specific annoyance due to vibration in the absence of noise. An experiment was conducted using artificial vibration stimuli based on the railway vibration recording spectra. The importance of parameters other than overall noise or vibration levels on variations of the annoyance due to combined railway noise and vibration was investigated during a last study. The stimuli were based on 19 noise and vibration recordings obtained inside a dwelling, after having reduced their duration to 10s and with controlled variations of noise and vibration levels. The results showed that the relative importance of temporal and spectral parameters of the combined exposure to noise and vibration was low as compared to that of energetic parameters., La co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations est source de gêne pour les riverains et peut engendrer des troubles de la santé. L’objectif de la thèse est d’apporter des éléments de compréhension au regard des phénomènes perceptifs mis en jeux lors de l’exposition combinée au bruit et aux vibrations ferroviaires. Des expériences sont menées dans ce but, en conditions contrôlées et à l'aide d'enregistrements acoustiques et vibratoires réalisés à proximité d'une voie ferrée, à l'intérieur d'un logement. Une première étude a été réalisée afin de valider un protocole expérimental permettant de recueillir en laboratoire des réponses de gêne. Pour plusieurs combinaisons d'enregistrements de bruit et de vibrations ferroviaires présentés à différents niveaux, la gêne 1) partielle due au bruit, 2) partielle due aux vibrations et 3) totale due à la co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations étaient recueillies. Les résultats de cette première étude ont été utilisés afin d'adopter un même protocole expérimental tout au long de ces travaux de thèse. Les études traitant de la gêne due aux bruit et vibrations ferroviaires sont majoritairement basées sur des indices ne reflétant que la quantité d’énergie liée à chaque exposition et leurs résultats peuvent être contradictoires. Une seconde étude a été menée en laboratoire dans le but d'évaluer l’influence de l’intensité (sonore, vibratoire) sur la gêne et afin de déterminer l'origine des différences de résultats dans la littérature. Les hypothèses testées étaient que ces différences pourraient être dues aux différentes plages de niveaux sonores et vibratoires étudiées, ou à des différences de contenus fréquentiels au sein des stimuli utilisés dans les différentes expériences. Dans la littérature, un besoin d’autres études en laboratoire est souligné afin de mieux comprendre l’influence des paramètres autres que le niveau global vibratoire (p. ex. contenu spectral, modulation) sur la gêne due aux vibrations ferroviaires. Un travail a été réalisé afin de mieux comprendre le rôle du contenu spectral vibratoire dans la gêne spécifique due aux vibrations, en l'absence de bruit. Une expérience a été conduite en utilisant des stimuli vibratoires artificiels, créés à partir des spectres d'enregistrements de vibrations ferroviaires. L'importance des paramètres autres que les niveaux de bruit et de vibrations globaux sur les variations de la gêne due à la co-exposition aux bruit et vibrations ferroviaires a fait l'objet d'une dernière étude. Les stimuli utilisés étaient obtenus à partir de 19 enregistrements sonores et vibratoires réalisés chez un riverain d'une voie ferrée, en les ramenant à une durée de 10s et en contrôlant les variations de niveau de bruit et de vibrations. Cette étude a montré que l'importance relative des paramètres temporels et fréquentiels de la co-exposition au bruit et aux vibrations était faible au regard de celle des paramètres énergétiques.

Diesel engine railway traffic causes atmosphere pollution due to the exhaust emission which may be harmful to the passengers as well as workers. In this study, the air quality and PM 10 concentrations were evaluated around a railway station in Northeast India where trains are operated with diesel engines. The gaseous pollutant (e.g. SO 2 , NO 2 , and NH 3 ) was collected and measured by using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The advanced level characterizations of the PM10 samples were carried out by using ion chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy techniques to know their possible environmental contaminants. High-performance liquid chromatography technique was used to determine the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to estimate the possible atmospheric pollution level caused by the rail traffic in the enclosure. The average PM 10 concentration was found to be 262.11 µg m −3 (maximum 24 hour) which indicates poor air quality (AQI category) around the rail traffic. The statistical and air mass trajectory analysis was also done to know their mutual correlation and source apportionment. This study will modify traditional studies where only models are used to simulate the origins. El tráfico ferroviario de motores diesel causa contaminación atmosférica debido a las emisiones de escape que pueden ser perjudiciales para los pasajeros y los trabajadores. En este estudio, la calidad del aire y las concentraciones de PM 10 se evaluaron alrededor de una estación de ferrocarril en el noreste de la India, donde los trenes funcionan con motores diesel. El contaminante gaseoso (por ejemplo, SO 2, NO 2 y NH 3) se recogió y se midió utilizando espectroscopia ultravioleta-visible. Las caracterizaciones de nivel avanzadas de las muestras de PM10 se llevaron a cabo mediante cromatografía iónica, infrarrojo de transformada de Fourier, difracción de rayos X, espectrometría de emisión óptica de plasma acoplado inductivamente, espectroscopía fotoelectrónica de rayos X, microscopía electrónica de barrido de emisión de campo con espectroscopia de dispersión de energía , y microscopía electrónica de transmisión de alta resolución con técnicas de espectroscopia de dispersión de energía para conocer sus posibles contaminantes ambientales. Se utilizó una técnica de cromatografía líquida de alto rendimiento para determinar la concentración de hidrocarburos aromáticos policíclicos para estimar el posible nivel de contaminación atmosférica causada por el tráfico ferroviario en el recinto. Se encontró que la concentración promedio de PM 10 era 262.11 µg m −3 (máximo 24 horas) lo que indica una mala calidad del aire (categoría AQI) alrededor del tráfico ferroviario. El análisis estadístico y de la trayectoria de la masa de aire también se realizó para conocer su correlación mutua y la distribución de la fuente. Este estudio modificará los estudios tradicionales donde solo se utilizan modelos para simular los orígenes.

Do ulaska Republike Hrvatske u EU zaštita od buke provodila se isključivo uz autoceste, dok je zaštita uz željezničku prugu bila zapostavljena. Povećana razina buke predstavlja ozbiljan problem u urbanim sredinama. U radu su prikazani osnovne teorije buke i njene fizičke karakteristike, a kroz rezultate mjerenja dobivene su osnove za ocjenu utjecaja buke željezničkog prometa i predložene su mjere za zaštitu od istih. Za zaštitu od zračne buke najučinkovitijim se pokazuju bukobrani dok se za zaštitu od vibracija najučinkovitijim rješenjem pokazuju prigušivači vibracija na tračnicama. Kotrljanjem kotača po tračnicama, uslijed vlastite težine vagona i lokomotive te dinamičkih sila koje su posljedica neravnosti na voznim površinama tračnica i kotača, dolazi do pojave vertikalnih oscilacija, odnosno vibracija tračnica. Energija vibracija uzrokovanih kontaktom kotača i tračnica se širi zrakom u obliku zvučnih valova (buke) pri visokim frekvencijama, dok se ista pri niskim frekvencijama prenosi preko tračnica na donje dijelove konstrukcije i tlo. Frekvencije zvučnih valova (buke) se šire zrakom u rasponu od 30 do 2000 Hz, dok se vibracije i buka koja nastaje uslijed vibracija krutih struktura (niskofrekventna buka koja se pojavljuje unutar građevina) javljaju pri frekvencijama 1-100 Hz. Prilikom širenja, vibracije putuju kroz različite vrste tla, stijena, temelja građevinskih objekata i drugih građevinskih konstrukcija. Mehanizam prijenosa vibracija s podložnog tla ispod kolosijeka na okolne građevine je kompleksan i ovisi o mnogim parametrima kao što su vrsta tla, razina podzemne vode, udaljenost građevine od pruge i način pričvršćenja tračnica. Jedan od mogućih učinaka vibracija je uočljivo gibanje podova u građevinama, podrhtavanje prozora, trešnja raznih predmeta na policama i zidovima. Premda nisu opasnost za zgrade, već i male razine vibracija uzrokuju nelagodu kod ljudi. Buka i vibracije od željezničkog prometa traju kratko, mjere se u sekundama i djeluju povremeno u određenim vremenskim razmacima kada prolaze vlakovi. Izraženije su pri prometovanju teretnih vlakova jer su u tada osovinska opterećenja puno veća. Takve vibracije umanjuju udobnost življenja. Until Croatia joined EU, noice protection was carried out exclusively by the highway, while railway line noice protection was neglected. Today, increased noise level is a serious problem in urban areas. The thesis presents basic noice theories and its physical characteristics. Measurement results are basis for the assessment of rail transport noise impact and protection measures. Rolling wheels on track, due to its own weight of the wagon and locomotive and dynamicforces which are the consequence of roughness on operational areas of track and wheels,vertical oscillations occur, i.e. track vibrations. Vibration energy caused by wheel and trackcontact spreads through air in form of sound waves (noise) under high frequencies, while thesame under low frequencies transports through track to lower structure parts and ground.Sound waves frequency (noise) spreads through air in range from 30 to 2000 Hz, while thevibration and noise generated during rigid structure vibrations (low frequent noise thatappear inside of the structures) occurs at frequencies 1-100 Hz. During the spread, vibrations travel through different types of soil, rocks, building facilitiesfoundations and other building structures. Vibration transport mechanism from the prone soilunder tracks on surrounding structures is complex and depends on any parameters as forexample soil type, ground water level, distance from structure and line, way of fastening thetracks. One of the possible vibration effects is noticeable floor movement in structures,shaking of the windows, shaking of different objects on shelf and walls. In extreme casesvibration can cause damages on buildings, but that is not likely to happen with railway transport vibrations. Although they are not dangerous for buildings, high and low vibrations cause discomfort in people. Noise and vibrations from railway transport last short, it can be measured in seconds and actperiodically in certain time spans when trains passes. They are more pronounced while trainsare operating due to higher axle loads. Those kinds of vibrations increase the life comfort.

U članku se, znatnim dijelom na temelju novih arhivskih izvora, prikazuje stanje željezničkih prometnica u obalnom pojasu Nezavisne Države Hrvatske. Talijanska vojska preuzela je početkom rujna 1941. upravu u tom pojasu. Članak prati stanje na tim prometnicima do talijanske kapitulacije u rujnu 1943. godine. Kroz ovo istraživanje može se doći do određenih novih spoznaja o odnosima Nezavisne Države Hrvatske i Kraljevine Italije, ali i do novih spoznaja kada je riječ o prometnim vezama, u konkretnom slučaju željezničkim, koje su u ratnim okolnostima povezivale krajeve uz jadransku obalu sa zaleđem, odnosno Zagrebom i drugim krajevima sjeverno od rijeke Save., The paper presents the state of railway traffic in the coastal belt of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) and the railway lines that connected that area with Zagreb and the rest of the NDH. These lines were the Zagreb–Rijeka (Fiume) line, the Lika line from Zagreb to Split, and the Bosnian narrow gauge line from Brod na Savi via Sarajevo to Mostar and Dubrovnik. In early September 1941, the Italian army took over command of the civilian and military NDH authorities in the coastal zone, and accordingly over the rail lines in that area. Relations between the NDH and Kingdom of Italy were formally those of close alliance and cooperation. In reality, however, the fact that the Italians annexed certain parts of Croatian coastal territory in May 1941 as well as the Italian occupation of the coastal zone caused mutual distrust and disagreements between the Italians and the NDH regime. Such relations were also visible in the railway traffic, where Italians often assumed command and control without consulting the Croatian State Railways. Already during late 1941, the Partisan movement directed its attacks on railway communications. Partisans committed hundreds of attacks on railway and trains, and soon traffic was heavily disrupted and limited on all railway lines connecting the coastal belt with Zagreb and the hinterland. In early 1943, Italian troops withdrew from Lika, and Partisans quickly took control over that region. After that, the Lika railway from Zagreb to Dalmatia was cut, and it did not become operational until after the war. After the Italian armistice with the Allies and the disintegration of Italian troops in the NDH and areas annexed in 1941, the Zagreb–Rijeka line was also cut. Only the Bosnian narrow gauge line remained operational as a link between the coastal parts of the NDH and its hinterland. In fact, because of the attacks on other railway lines, already from late 1941 the NDH authorities were redirecting the traffic to the Zagreb–Rijeka line (or Zagreb–Ljubljana–Rijeka line), and transports that arrived to Rijeka were then shipped by sea to ports in the Croatian Littoral and Dalmatia.

The paper reports a methodologic approach to define the capacity of railway junctions. The railway traffic increase, together with the improvement of passenger comfort, has produced a greater need for electricity. Consequently, solutions to augment the railway system capacity, including railway junctions, have to be achieved. In order to design new plants and to improve or certificate the existing ones, simulation of the overall railway system is necessary. In this paper the Authors propose a guideline with a theoretical approach to study the capacity of railway junctions.

Ovim radom se ukazuje na postojeće stanje i na razvojne mogućnosti željezničkog sustava u RH gledano s aspekta razvijenosti tehnoloških i proizvodnih osnova. Svijest o potrebama razvoja željezničkog prometa tek dolazi do izražaja u Europi pa se može uočiti kako se Komisije Europske unije trude sastaviti što kvalitetnije programe i strategije za stvaranje jedinstvene prometne mreže u cijeloj Europi. Dosadašnja ulaganja ukazuju na nekonzistentnost i zanemarivanje ovog sektora. Ekološka prihvatljivost, brzina, umreženost, prijevoz velikog broja putnika i robe ciljevi su koje se planira postići ulaganjima u željezničke infrastrukture. U radu se sagledava stanje Europske Unije, čiji je član Republika Hrvatska, kako bi se moglo doći do zaključaka o količinama potrebnih ulaganja za ostvarivanje konkurentijeg tržušta u Republici Hrvatskoj po primjeru drugih zemalja. Cilj rada je utvrditi postoje li tehnološke i proizvodne osnove koje će generirati profitabilnost željezničkog sustava u Republici Hrvatskoj, a prije svega utvrditi je li njihov razvoj ključ za ostvarenje profitabilnosti. Dokazivanjem hipoteza utvrđuje se pozitivna veza između razvijenosti infrastrukture željezničkog prometa te kvalitete usluga koje željznice nude i profitabilnosti kako u Republici Hrvatskoj, tako i općenito u svijetu. This paper points to the existing situation and to the development possibilities of the railway system in Croatia in terms of the development of technological and production bases. Awareness of the needs of rail transport development is only emerging in Europe, so it can be seen that the European Commission is trying to put together quality programs and strategies to create a single transport network across Europe. Recent investments indicate the inconsistency and neglect of this sector. Ecological acceptance, speed, networking, transport of large numbers of passengers and goods are planned to be achieved by investing in railway infrastructure. This paper looks at the state of the European Union, which is a member of the Republic of Croatia, in order to arrive at conclusions on the amount of investment needed to achieve a competitive market by the example of other countries. The aim of the paper is to determine whether there are technological and production bases that will generate the profitability of the railway system in the Republic of Croatia and first determine whether their development is a key to achieving profitability. By proving the hypothesis, a positive relationship is established between the development of the railway transport infrastructure, the quality of the services offered and profitability both in the Republic of Croatia and in the world in general.

Željeznički promet je jedna grana kopnenog prometa, a glavni elementi za funkcioniranje takvog prometa su željeznička vozila i željezničke pruge. Ta vrsta prometa ubraja se među najstarije vrste prometa čija je glavna uloga prijevoz robe i putnika. U prošlosti ova vrsta prometa imala je izuzetno veliku ulogu, no s vremenom njezin značaj opada. Glavni razlog tome su posljedice ratnih događanja u Hrvatskoj, zastarijela tehnika, prevlast cestovnog prometa te slaba povezanost s glavnim središtima. Raznim programima i projektima utvrđuju se prioriteti izgradnje, modernizacije pruga i željezničkih vozila te visina i izvori potrebnih financijskih sredstava. U budućnosti nastoji se povećati prometovanje željeznicom te bolje povezati Hrvatske željeznice s ostalim europskim zemljama što će uvelike doprinijeti razvoju ekonomije i gospodarstva zemlje. Railway traffic is a type of transport that takes place in the land area. Main elements of this type of traffic are trains and railroad tracks. Railways are one of the oldest types of traffic transportation whose main role is transport of goods and passengers. In the past this kind of traffic had an extremely big role but with time it decreases. The main reason for this are consequences of war events, obsolete technique, the prevalence of road traffic and low connection with the main centers. With many programs and projects they set priorities for construction, modernization and source of financial resources. In the future it’s trying to increase rail traffic and better connect with other European countries which will contribute to the development of the economy.

In this paper we present a mathematical model of the train dynamics in a linear metro line system with demand-dependent run and dwell times. On every segment of the line, we consider two main constraints. The first constraint is on the travel time, which is the sum of run and dwell time. The second one is on the safe separation time, modeling the signaling system, so that only one train can occupy a segment at a time. The dwell and the run times are modeled dynamically, with two control laws. The one on the dwell time makes sure that all the passengers can debark from and embark into the train. The one on the run time ensures train time-headway regularity in the case where perturbations do not exceed a run time margin. We use a Max-plus algebra approach which allows to derive analytic formulas for the train time-headway and frequency depending on the number of trains and on the passenger demand. The analytic formulas, illustrated by 3D figures, permit to understand the phases of the train dynamics of a linear metro line being operated as a transport on demand system., Comment: arXiv preprint, accepted for publication at IEEE American Control Conference, Milwaukee, June 2018

Railway transportation provides sustainable, fast and safe transport. Its attractiveness is linked to a broad concept of service reliability: the capability to adhere to a timetable in the presence of delays perturbing traffic. To counter these phenomena, real-time rescheduling can be used, changing train orders and times, according to rules of thumb, or mathematical optimization models, minimizing delays or maximizing punctuality. In the literature, different indices of robustness, reliability and resilience are defined for railway traffic. We review and evaluate these indices applied to railway traffic control, comparing optimal rescheduling approaches such as Open Loop and Closed Loop control, to a typical First-Come-First-Served dispatching rule, and following the timetable (no-action). This experimental analysis clarifies the benefits of automated traffic control for infrastructure managers, railway operators and passengers. The timetable order, normally used in assessing a-priori reliability, systematically overestimates unreliability of operations that can be reduced by real-time control.

International audience; This paper introduces the rail shuttle routing problem with synchronization constraints in which rail shuttles carry out the transfer of containers between maritime terminals and the multimodal terminal of the Le Havre Port. A rail shuttle is composed of two types of vehicles: a locomotive which is an autonomous vehicle able to move between container terminals, and a block of flatcars which is considered as a non-autonomous vehicle that requires to be hitched to a locomotive to move in space. The objective is to minimize empty travel times of autonomous vehicles between container terminals with respecting the synchronization needs between the routing of both types of vehicles to perform the transfer of containers within time windows constraints imposed on task availability. A mathematical formulation of the problem is established and an ant colony algorithm is proposed to solve the problem.

We present here a real-time control model for the train dynamics in a linear metro line system. The model describes the train dynamics taking into account average passenger arrival rates on platforms, including control laws for train dwell and run times, based on the feedback of the train dynamics. The model extends a recently developed Max-plus linear traffic model with demand-dependent dwell times and a run time control. The extension permits the elimination of eventual irregularities on the train time-headway. The resulting train dynamics are interpreted as a dynamic programming system of a stochastic optimal control problem of a Markov chain. The train dynamics still admit a stable stationary regime with a unique average growth rate interpreted as the asymptotic average train time-headway. Moreover, beyond the transient regime of the train dynamics, our extension guarantees uniformity in time of the train time-headways at every platform., Version updated on 29/10/2018, index error corrected. arXiv preprint, to appear in Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, Maui/Hawaii

One of the crucial factors in achieving a high punctuality in railway traffic systems, is the ability to effectively reschedule the trains when disturbances occur. The railway traffic rescheduling problem is a complex task to solve both from a practical and a computational perspective. Problems of practically relevant sizes have typically a very large search space, making them time-consuming to solve even for state-of-the-art optimization solvers. Though competitive algorithmic approaches are a widespread topic of research, not much research has been done to explore the opportunities and challenges in parallelizing them. This paper presents a parallel algorithm to efficiently solve the real-time railway rescheduling problem on a multi-core parallel architecture. We devised (1) an effective way to represent the solution space as a binary tree and (2) a novel sequential heuristic algorithm based on a depth-first search (DFS) strategy that quickly traverses the tree. Based on that, we designed a parallel algorithm for a multi-core architecture, which proved to be 10.5 times faster than the sequential algorithm even when run on a single processing core. When executed on a parallel machine with 8 cores, the speed further increased by a factor of 4.68 and every disturbance scenario in the considered case study was solved within 6 s. We conclude that for the problem under consideration, though a sequential DFS approach is fast in several disturbance scenarios, it is notably slower in many other disturbance scenarios. The parallel DFS approach that combines a DFS with simultaneous breadth-wise tree exploration, while being much faster on an average, is also consistently fast across all scenarios. open access

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The number of railway lines both operational and under construction is growing rapidly, leading to an increase in the number of buildings adversely affected by ground-borne vibration (e.g. shaking and indoor noise). Post-construction mitigation measures are expensive, thus driving the need for early stage prediction, during project planning/development phases. To achieve this, scoping models (i.e. desktop studies) are used to assess long stretches of track quickly, in absence of detailed design information. This paper presents a new, highly customisable scoping model, which can analyse the effect of detailed changes to train, track and soil on ground vibration levels. The methodology considers soil stiffness and the combination of both the dynamic and static forces generated due to train passage. It has low computational cost and can predict free-field vibration levels in accordance with the most common international standards. The model uses the direct stiffness method to compute the soil Green's function, and a novel two-and-a-half dimensional (2.5D) finite element strategy for train-track interaction. The soil Green's function is modulated using a neural network (NN) procedure to remove the need for the time consuming computation of track-soil coupling. This modulation factor combined with the new train-track approach results in a large reduction in computational time. The proposed model is validated by comparing track receptance, free-field mobility and soil vibration with both field experiments and a more comprehensive 2.5D combined finite element-boundary element (FEM-BEM) model. A sensitivity analysis is undertaken and it is shown that track type, soil properties and train speed have a dominant effect on ground vibration levels. Finally, the possibility of using average shear wave velocity introduced for seismic site response analysis to predict vibration levels is investigated and shown to be reasonable for certain smooth stratigraphy's. ispartof: Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering vol:114 pages:598-614 status: published

Effective commuting is an important part of regional development and attractiveness, where railway traffic is a favourable mode of transportation owing to it being energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Attaining more people to choose the train to commute is therefore desirable. A concept aiming to increase the use of railway traffic is cyclic timetable. At present the concept is most frequently used on a national level but there are possibilities to implement the ideas on a more regional level. The purpose of this thesis is to study if and how a cyclic timetable for railway traffic can be constructed and optimised for a region, more specifically the region “Fyra Mälarstäder”. Challenges and opportunities to implement this type of timetable on a regional level are also discussed. In order to construct a timetable for railway traffic several infrastructural limitations must be taken into account. An example that extensively limits railway capacity is single tracks. Hence, to be able to construct and optimise the timetable these limitations were formulated, together with a number of other criteria, mathematically as constraints for an optimisation problem. For the optimisation setup the objective function consisted of a sum of weighted trip times within the system, which in turn was minimised. Results conclude that a cyclic timetable could successfully be used for “Fyra Mälarstäder”. However, some aspects remain to be investigated, including train line continuation beyond the system boundaries of the study. As for the optimisation, it appears that the weighting of the objective function plays a considerable role to obtain a satisfying timetable. Varying and adjusting certain parameters may also be favourable to achieve a timetable as beneficial as possible. Allt fler arbetspendlar i Sverige och Trafikverkets prognoser visar att ökningen kommer att fortsätta. För att pendlingen ska vara hållbar behöver allt fler resor göras kollektivt, och tåget som transportmedel är på många sätt ett bra alternativ. Tåget är snabbt och effektivt, samtidigt som det är ett mer miljövänligt trafikslag. Att få ännu fler att välja tåget, framför exempelvis bil, är därför önskvärt. Pendling sker idag både över kommun- och länsgränser, vilket innebär att regionala samarbeten kan underlätta för att åstadkomma så goda pendlingsmöjligheter som möjligt. Ett exempel på en sådant samarbete är Fyra Mälarstäder i samverkan (Eskilstuna, Västerås, Enköping, Strängnäs), vars förhoppning är att kunna utveckla regionen bland annat genom att förbättra kollektivtrafiken mellan städerna. Ett sätt att förbättra pendlingsmöjligheterna är att försöka åstadkomma en så gynnsam tidtabell som möjligt. Takttidtabell är ett intressant koncept, utvecklat för tågtrafiken i Schweiz, vilket kortfattat innebär att tåg avgår samma minut varje timme, och med jämna intervall. Konceptet innebär ofta också att låta tåg mötas vid knutpunkter i järnvägsnätet för att underlätta för byten till andra tåglinjer för fortsatt resa, vilket därmed knyter ihop tågtrafiken i ett större system. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om och hur en takttidtabell kan konstrueras och optimeras för en region som Fyra Mälarstäder. Optimeringen spelar en central roll för att få till en tidtabell som är så bra som möjligt. Därtill diskuteras även vilka utmaningar, men också vilka möjligheter det finns med att applicera takttidskonceptet på en regional nivå, eftersom det idag allt som oftast tillämpas nationellt. För att konstruera en tidtabell för järnvägstrafik måste flera begränsningar på järnvägen tas i hänsyn. Ett exempel som i hög grad begränsar kapaciteten är enkelspår, vilket följaktligen gör att tåg inte kan mötas på vissa sträckor. För att kunna konstruera takttidtabellen genom optimering formulerades dessa begränsningar, tillsammans med en rad andra kriterier, matematiskt som bivillkor till ett optimeringsproblem. För optimeringsuppställningen bestod målfunktionen av summan av viktade restider inom systemet, vilken i sin tur minimerades. Optimeringsproblemet implementerades i MATLAB som användes för att lösa problemet. Resultaten visar att takttidtabell med de kriterier som ställts upp i studien kan konstrueras, och möjligheter finns för att implementera denna för järnvägstrafiken mellan fyra Mälarstäder. Vissa aspekter återstår dock att utreda, däribland tåglinjers fortsatta sträckning utanför studiens systemgränser. Vad gäller optimeringsuppställningen framgår det att en viktning av målfunktionen spelar en ansenlig roll. Att variera och justera parametrar kan också vara en god idé för att få till en så tillfredsställande tidtabell som möjligt.