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Despite the recent surge in the construction of ballastless railway tracks, there exists a notable research gap concerning the rail seat load (RSL) associated with these track types. The RSL is the load transferred from the rail to the fastening system, the plate beneath the rail and the rail pad. The prediction of RSL in ballasted track systems is widely investigated, however, there has been a relative lack of research into the ballastless railway track systems. In this paper, a 2D finite element model (2D FEM) was adopted to evaluate the RSL concerning the effective parameters, including sleeper spacing, fastening system stiffness and the flexural modulus of the rail. The numerical model was validated through a field test performed in the study. Moreover, a mathematical expression was proposed to determine the RSL ratio for concrete slab tracks. The RSL directly correlates with the sleeper spacing and the fastening stiffness, while this relation with the flexural rigidity is inverse. Based on the results, it was found that the RSL ratio obtained from the conventional methods differed considerably from the proposed mathematical expression. More specifically, this difference was observed in almost all of the values in the sleeper spacing and flexural rigidity of rail for the Kerr model except 0.68 m and 5 MN.m2, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abrasive Waterjet (AWJ) milling effectively processes high-strength materials like WNiFe tungsten alloy without altering their properties. This study investigates the effects of jet pressure, traverse speed, and abrasive mass flow rate on the machining performance. The results indicate that increasing jet pressure significantly enhances groove depth, with higher pressures leading to more aggressive material removal. Conversely, higher traverse speeds reduce groove depth, emphasizing the need for slower speeds for deeper penetration. Increased abrasive mass flow rates also significantly improve groove depth but pose challenges related to material wear and cost. Surface analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that higher jet pressures and lower traverse speeds produce smoother surfaces and more distinct grooves. The findings highlight the importance of optimizing AWJ parameters to achieve efficient material removal and desired groove geometries. This research provides valuable insights for improving AWJ machining of tungsten alloys in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic literature survey on diagnostic methods used for railway materials and systems. The authors analyze various railway accident reports, focusing on the types of failures described and their causes. Previous review papers have addressed various aspects of railway systems diagnostics; however, most of the existing research focuses on specific parts of the rail vehicle or subsystems. In contrast, this survey focuses on railway diagnostic systems rather than general diagnostic methods used in mechanical and electrical engineering. The authors classify the types of failures and diagnostic methods that are used in rail transport into two categories: infrastructure and rolling stock. The purpose of this paper is to systematize the types of failure that occur in railway transport systems; identify the state-of-the-art means and methods of diagnostics in railway materials and systems, with particular focus on new research findings; and identify trends and possible research gaps in need of further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail operators worldwide are seeing an increase in demand for services, driven by expanding global trade and the use of export commodities. Punctual service in a train stopped on the railroad is extremely important since the delay in service significantly impacts performance, asset utilization, and railroad productivity. The present work addresses the development and the solution of an optimization model for locating railway service teams that serve locomotives that need emergency maintenance on a Brazilian railway. Additionally, a hypercube model was solved to estimate several performance measures that assist in decision‐making. From the result analysis of different scenarios, it was found that the optimized maintenance teams' location provides superior results to the current ones considering the same resources. Also, it was possible to increase the coverage with double attendance in the studied system, monitoring different indicators such as attendance teams' average system travel time and workload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automation of rail track inspection addresses key issues in railway transportation, notably reducing maintenance costs and improving safety. However, it presents numerous technical challenges, including sensor selection, calibration, data acquisition, defect detection, and storage. This paper introduces a compression method tailored for laser triangulation scanners, which are crucial for scanning the entire rail track, including the rails, rail fasteners, sleepers, and ballast, and capturing rail profiles for geometry measurement. The compression technique capitalizes on the regularity of rail track data and the sensors' limited measurement range and resolution. By transforming scans, they can be stored using widely available image compression formats, such as PNG. This method achieved a compression ratio of 7.5 for rail scans used in the rail geometry computation and maintained rail gauge reproducibility. For the scans employed in defect detection, a compression ratio of 5.6 was attained without visibly compromising the scan quality. Lossless compression resulted in compression ratios of 5.1 for the rail geometry computation scans and 3.8 for the rail track inspection scans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though being attractive on railway decarbonisation for regional lines, excessive cost caused by immature hydrogen supply chain is one of the significant hurdles for promoting hydrogen traction to rolling stocks. Therefore, we conduct bespoke research on the UK's hydrogen supply chain for railway, concentrating on hydrogen transportation. Firstly, a map for the planned hydrogen production plants and potential hydrogen lines is developed with the location, capacity, and usage. A spatially explicit model for the hydrogen supply chain is then introduced, which optimises the existing grid-based methodology on accuracy and applicability. Compressed hydrogen at three pressures, and liquid hydrogen are considered as the mediums, incorporating by road and rail transport. Furthermore, three scenarios for hydrogen rail penetration are simulated respectively to discuss the levelised cost and the most suitable national transport network. The results show that the developed model with mix-integer linear programming (MILP) can well design the UK's hydrogen distribution for railway traction. Moreover, the hydrogen transport medium and vehicle should adjust to suit for different era where the penetration of hydrogen traction varies. The levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH) decreases from 6.13 £/kg to 5.13 £/kg on average from the conservative scenario to the radical scenario. Applying different transport combinations according to the specific situation can satisfy the demand while reducing cost for multi-supplier and multi-targeting hydrogen transport. • A spatially explicit model with MILP for the UK's railway-bespoke hydrogen supply chain. • Scenarios on different penetration for UK's hydrogen railway to 2050. • Comprehensive and reliable data support for the entire supply chain. • Multi-supplier and multi-targeting hydrogen transport with various transportation technologies. • Satisfying demand while reducing LCOH with the developed hydrogen distribution model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropa an "art and peace project" by artist and musician Stefan Frankenberger envisions a future European railroad network through the visual metaphor of an urban subway map offering both an infrastructural and a political proposal for the future of the European continent. This essay explores Frankenberger's vision from a historical perspective tracing the origins of the its visual language its relationship with past trans-European railway projects and its political implications. The article concludes that although metropa 's technical and political ambitions are deeply connected to the present its visual appeal and references to historical precedents enhance its affective and political impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a distributed rail pad (RP) model of rail supported by double elastomer layers for rigid superstructures like light metro is presented, and a semi-analytical solution is derived via the Galerkin's method. Apart from existing distributed RP models that contain multiple individual spring-dampers, the proposed method offers locally continuous rail bedding. The new model assumes that the rail bedding is not pointwise and connects the continuous bedding and lumped baseplate mass with a derived function, which is the first novelty of the paper. Results of the single-spring model (SSM) and extended locally continuous support models (ELCSM) are obtained and compared to indoor and outdoor measurements in the time and frequency domains. The proposed model shows similar results to the conventional model for dynamic response; however, the clear difference between the models is seen at high resonant frequencies because of the stiffer bedding of the rail. Another point is that rail stresses and displacements can be calculated more accurately compared to SSM, due to including the length of RP. The findings of the study highlight the importance of considering RP length and stiffness when designing and maintaining railway tracks and provide insights into how to optimize these parameters for better performance and durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trustworthy positioning is critical in the operational control and management of trains. For a train positioning system (TPS) based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), a spoofing attack significantly threatens the trustworthiness of positioning. However, the influence and recognition of GNSS spoofing attacks are not considered in the existing research on GNSS-enabled TPS. Spoofing attacks affect the performance of GNSS observations and the positioning results, allowing the development of data-driven spoofing recognition solutions. This study aims to achieve effective spoofing recognition for active security protection in TPS. Different features were designed to reflect the effects of a spoofing attack, including GNSS observation-related indicators and odometer-enabled parameters, and a novel Bayesian optimization-light gradient boosting machine (BO-LightGBM) solution was proposed. In particular, a Bayesian optimization technique was introduced into the LightGBM framework to improve the hyperparameter determination capability for recognition model training. Using a GNSS spoofing test platform with a specific GNSS signal generator and the SimSAFE spoofing test tool, different spoofing attack modes were tested to collect sample datasets for model training and evaluation. The results of model establishment and comparison of the model performance indicators illustrated the advantages of the proposed solution, its adaptability to different spoofing attack situations, and its superiority over state-of-the-art modeling strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a method for analyzing the layered structure of soil using the phase-metric method of geoelectric monitoring to ensure the reliability of a railway track. The importance of monitoring soil layers for timely detection of changes that may affect the stability and safety of railway tracks is emphasized. The use of geophysical monitoring methods, such as phase monitoring of the geoelectric signals, allows us to optimize measures to strengthen the roadway and increase its durability. The present article describes laboratory experiments in which a specialized setup was created to simulate the process of drilling through various soil layers. Geoelectric methods involving the registration of phase characteristics of the electromagnetic field were used in an experimental setup. The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the phase-metric method for determining the characteristics of the layered structure of the soil. The results showed that the change in the phase of the signal recorded at the receiving electrodes can be used to identify different soil layers with different electrical characteristics, such as moisture and density. The method of modeling the physical and geological environment using equivalent circuits of elements in the form of a dielectric made it possible to more accurately analyze the electrical properties of the soil. Based on the obtained data, an automatic monitoring system was developed using recurrent neural networks (RNNs), in particular long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, for automatic detection of bends and transitions in signal time series. Evaluation of the model's effectiveness showed high accuracy in identifying layers, which contributes to increasing the reliability and efficiency of monitoring the condition of the railway track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate defect detection is crucial for ensuring the trustworthiness of intelligent railway systems. Current approaches either rely on static ensembling of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) or on single deep-learning CNN models. Traditional methods use a large volume of data to identify underlying patterns. However, training a new defect classifier with limited samples often results in overfitting and poor performance on unseen images. To overcome these challenges, we introduce a dynamic weight adaptation mechanism within an ensemble learning framework, enhanced by state-of-the-art transfer learning models (VGG-19, MobileNetV3, and ResNet50). We obtained a good test and validation accuracy of 99%, accompanied by a precision of 0.99, and recall and F1-score of 0.98. Unlike previous methods, our approach demonstrates consistency. Particularly, techniques that involve selecting predictions based on minimum loss previously required a significant number of epochs to stabilize. Data fusion techniques are even more demanding, requiring a substantially higher number of epochs for stabilization. Conversely, our proposed method achieves stable performance and rapid convergence within just 10 epochs, and it shows minimal fluctuation in the training curve (0–5 epochs). This visibly contrasts with earlier methods, which, despite reaching similar levels of accuracy, required significantly more epochs and exhibited greater fluctuations in their training curves. Through these findings, we anticipate that the proposed dynamic weight adaptation-based ensemble approach will further research and development of reusable AI-enabled solutions for rail defect classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual harassment and other forms of transit crime are everyday occurrences for women and girls around the world. The absence of safety hampers the ability of numerous women to engage freely in school, employment, and public activities without being alert. This research explores women's safety experiences, particularly focusing on young women in diverse rural and urban environments. We utilized chi-square analysis and regression models to analyze data obtained from a survey distributed to railway passengers in 2022 across neighboring municipalities in southern central Sweden. Findings show that being young makes women more likely to be victimized. Although rural women feel safer than their urban counterparts, they are more often willing to take precautionary measures before taking a trip (e.g., more often traveling with someone in the evening or avoiding certain stations). These findings call for gender-age-sensitive mobility policies, taking into account the intersectionality of transit safety, and reflecting women's and girls' safety needs in particular rural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of railway represents an essential dimension of spatial planning and a priority of the European Union as it constitutes a safe and environmentally friendly transportation mode. This paper focuses on the application of an integrated approach supporting the development of railway in Greece. A Decision Support System (LIPSOR) was used in order key components, key actors and possible future states to be explored; alternative scenarios were designed and assessed in combination with policy goals and measures. The main outcomes indicated the need to upgrade rail infrastructure and services, increase railway extroversion and reinforce investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: This paper presents a fully working, easily usable algorithm for planning the placement of the trackside balise groups for ETCS level 1 applications to transmit infill information to the passing trains by minimizing the operational impact. This paper presents a method to determine the optimal positions of infill balise groups for applications of European Train Control System (ETCS) level 1. ETCS will be the only train protection system in the European Union of the future. Level 1 specifically enables a less complex system while retaining full compatibility to and interoperability of ETCS level 2. In level 1, the Movement Authority (MA), which contains information on how far and at what speed the train is authorized to run, is transmitted at fixed locations where switchable radio beacons—infill balise groups—are placed. Due to technical and economical constraints, their locations need to be optimized so that they provide the maximum operational benefit. Such a method with universal adaptability has not been available to date, so we developed an algorithm that determines the optimal locations of infill balise groups. The algorithm uses the basic laws of motion combined with domain knowledge about railways in general and specifically ETCS. All important parameters are considered while retaining simplicity in the application, making it convenient to use for planning new ETCS deployments and as a foundation for future research on ETCS level 1. The algorithm was implemented using Python and tested with real-world train characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses the shift scheduling problem of security personnel, considering personnel preferences for 43 stations on four lines of the Ankara metro, which carries more than 10 million passengers monthly. Firstly, 751 security personnel have been distributed to four lines of the Ankara metro according to personnel needs. A survey is conducted among the personnel at the stations on each line, and they are asked to rank the stations they want to work at according to their preferences. The station preferences of the personnel are listed with increasing scoring in parallel with the order of preference. A goal programming model has been used to assign personnel to stations, considering personnel needs, operating rules, and personnel preference scoring at the stations. The main objective of the model is to minimize the personnel-preferred station scoring. As a result of the solution of the mathematical model solved separately for four lines, 24.23% of the personnel for the M1 (Kızılay-Batıkent) line, 27.94% of the personnel for the M2 (Kızılay-Koru) line, 23.32% of the personnel for the M3 (Batıkent-Sincan) line, and 35.85% of the personnel for the M4 (Keçiören-Şehitler) line, are assigned to their first three preferences. Moreover, an important balance is achieved between personnel preferences. Few studies are in the literature on railway security personnel scheduling, and no studies that consider personnel preferences have been found in this field. This study, which considers personnel preferences, contributes to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years, there has been a growing interest in the emerging concept of digital twin (DT) as it represents a promising paradigm to continuously monitor cyber–physical systems, as well as to test and validate predictability, safety, and reliability aspects. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is exponentially affirming as an extremely powerful tool when it comes to modeling the behavior of physical assets allowing, de facto, the possibility of making predictions on their potential evolution. However, despite the fact that DTs and AI (and their combination) can act as game-changing technologies in different domains (including the railways), several challenges have to be faced to ensure their effectiveness, especially when dealing with safety-critical systems. This paper provides a narrative review of the scientific literature on DTs for railway maintenance applications, with a special focus on their relationship with AI. The aim is to discuss the opportunities the integration of these two technologies could open in railway maintenance applications (and beyond), while highlighting the main challenges that should be overcome for its effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of a mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSE wall) is prevalent due to its stability and cost-effectiveness compared to conventional earthwork construction methods. In addition, the railway transportation infrastructure has played a vital role in connecting Thailand's numerous regions. The behavior of a 6-m-high MSE wall constructed on a hard ground foundation, which was reinforced with high-density polyethylene on one side and a metallic strip on the other side, was studied in this research. The purpose of this MSE wall is to support the railway structure under dynamic train loads at 100, 150, and 200 km/h. The three-dimensional finite-element method was used to simulate and investigate the behavior of the MSE wall in terms of lateral displacement, settlement, and strain of reinforcement materials. The findings of the study demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between train speed and both lateral displacement and settlement. This relationship is most pronounced at the top of the MSE wall, which is primarily attributable to the influence of surface waves. The MSE wall's behavior under the influence of dynamic train loads was most prominently displayed by the surface waves, which were a curved wavefront at 150 km/h and a Mach cone at 200 km/h. The settlement profile increased when the speed of dynamic train loads increased. The impact of velocity fluctuations on the strain of the reinforcement material was insignificant. Due to the hard ground foundation, the behavior of the MSE wall on both types of reinforcement materials exhibited similar tendencies. Moreover, it was observed that the maximum tension lines closely follow the bilinear coherent gravity method with a standard distance of 0.3H from the facing, where H represents the equivalent height of the MSE wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional on-site survey for railway flood safety is inadequate for the increasing demand of flood hazard assessment. This study introduced an integrated desktop system to enhance the efficiency and precision of flood hazard monitoring. By integrating drone multimodal data with railway geographic information, the system addressed the challenges of hazard identification, management, and reporting. Based on the WPF framework and integrated with the Cefsharp and Vue. js, it seamlessly combined 3D scenes with data operations and employed an OpenGL-based 3D GIS engine for multimodal data display and spatial analysis. A classified hazard marking function and an offline SpatiaLite database ensured data persistence and portability. Tested on a 300 km railway section with 148 key flood points and two phases of drone data, the system demonstrates effective multimodal data management and real scene visualization for hazard assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the challenges of effectively managing and professionally utilizing massive geospatial data in the railway surveying process, this paper presented an automated management and publishing method based on the ERDAS APOLLO spatial GIS engine. By integrating the characteristics of data at various stages of railway surveying, a standardized process for data organization, storage, processing, and sharing was established. A method for collecting and verifying railway geospatial metadata was developed, enabling rapid data entry and attribute acquisition for railway geospatial information. A system architecture with separate data, service, and application layers was designed in a B/ S (Browser/ Server) mode for the distribution and display of multi-source geospatial information. Utilizing Asp. Net, Vue. js, and the Cesium mapping framework. A railway multi-source geospatial data management system was developed in a front-end and backend separated architecture, achieving unified data management and shared application. A survey project with a total data volume exceeding 600 GB was selected as a case study to verify the system's capabilities in data management, checking, verification, and visualization. The research indicates that the automated data management and service publishing process significantly reduce the costs associated with data storage, processing, and maintenance. The integrated map and attribute approach enhances the efficiency of data retrieval and increases the value of data utilization, effectively serving the application needs of the railway design profession for geospatial information data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet the monitoring needs of the roadbed in the station renovation project, grasp the changes in roadbed settlement during the construction of the station renovation project, relying on a certain station renovation construction project and combining with the characteristics of the station renovation project, the traditional manual monitoring and four commonly used automated monitoring methods were compared. It was found that the static level automation monitoring technology had a lower cost and could overcome the limitations of station renovation construction while taking into account the preferences of equipment management units. By analyzing the principle of static level automation monitoring technology, a static level automation monitoring system based on the station renovation project was built, and multiple static level gauges were connected in series to form a connected pipe, which collected the liquid level height in real time and transmitted it to the static level automation monitoring cloud platform. Research has shown that the system can obtain real-time settlement changes of station renovation construction line foundations according to monitoring frequency requirements. After a rainy season, the maximum cumulative settlement change is 2.43 mm, which does not exceed the warning value ± 6 mm, indicating that the station renovation project did not have a significant impact on the roadbed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the noise problem in the automatic deformation monitoring data of railway bridges, the acquired automatic deformation monitoring data was denoised based on a wavelet threshold denoising method. The method could remove noise from automated deformation monitoring data and extract the real deformation trend information of railway bridges. Firstly, a set of simulated deformation monitoring signals containing noise was constructed by the Matlab. The influences of different wavelet basis functions and different wavelet decomposition levels on the denoising results were analyzed through simulation experiments. In order to achieve the optimal denoising result, the denoising quality comprehensive evaluation index T was used to select the optimal wavelet basis function and wavelet decomposition level. Finally, to prove the reliability of the denoising method, the denoising method was used to denoise the automatic deformation monitoring data of a railway bridge static level. The results show that this method can effectively remove the noise in the measured data and retain the detailed characteristics of the bridge pier deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the non-standardization and the personalized need of thematic mapping, the processing efficiency of basic geographic information data has not been effectively improved. The thematic mapping technology based on Photoshop has been adopted in railway industry widely. This paper applied the JavaScript technology to the secondary development of mapping, called the API of Windows and Photoshop, and used common mapping modules, mapping functions, main parameters, and hotkeys to encapsulate packages. It realized batch processing of remote sensing images, automatically processing of features on thematic map, and modification of map features in human-machine interaction manner. The research includes three parts: (1) The introduction of the configure environment, compile platform, and result of secondary development based on Javascript. (2) The application of four application scenarios for JavaScript technology: 1 Image batch processing to achieve automatic spectral enhancement of remote sensing image. 3 Automatic mapping for thematic map elements. 2 Batch and automatic modification of features on maps. 4 processing of elements on the map in human-machine interaction manner. (3) The example of the thematic mapping of a railway project in Europe using remote sensing image for the verification of the feasibility. The results show that the technology can significantly improve the mapping efficiency, make it easier to standardize drawing map symbol, and solve the problems on high redundancy of data and low efficiency of execution during batch and automatic processing scripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the technical principle and advantages of GB-SAR, and combined engineering practices to study the site selection, data acquisition scheme and data processing of GB-SAR station, and made a complete emergency monitoring scheme. Taking the construction blasting scene of an engineering construction as an example, the blasting point was located in the central position where the whole reinforced slope needs to be monitored. The emergency monitoring was carried out by using GB-SAR and the deformation information was obtained by using time-series data processing method, which verified the feasibility of the proposed emergency monitoring scheme and the reliability of data processing. The results show that, the blasting has little influence on the well-supported structure, and the shape variable is less than 1. 5 mm. After the explosion, the position shape variable near the center increases sharply, and the maximum value can reach 103 mm during the monitoring period. It is further confirmed that the GB-SAR can effectively monitor the impact of blasting on the surrounding construction scene, and can provide strong support for construction operations and project risk investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the disadvantages of traditional railway operation and maintenance manual inspection, including low efficiency, high cost, and detection blind spots, to solve the problems faced by drones in data acquisition, data processing and application, this paper innovatively proposed a route planning algorithm with a safe buffer zone. The algorithm adopted a partition operation strategy, and used two methods of orthography and side-view shooting to effectively improve the operation efficiency and the security of data acquisition. In addition, based on the data of UAV inspection aerial photography project, this paper formed a typical disease sample library in railway operation and maintenance environment through relevant processing, and used YOLOv7 target detection algorithm to realize the rapid automatic detection of three typical diseases of color steel tile, dustproof net and plastic film. Combined with human-computer interaction, the intelligent extraction and rapid filing of external environmental hazards were realized, and a set of intelligent monitoring technology scheme of railway operation and maintenance environment based on UAV platform was formed. The results show that, the effective combination of UAV technology, target detection technology and computer technology can realize rapid automatic hidden danger identification, which can improve the efficiency of railway operation and maintenance inspection by 150%, and provide important technical support for railway safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the efficiency of railway track profile measurement and reduce the safety risk, combined with the speed-up renovation project of an existing conventional railway in western China, this study adopted vehicle-borne lidar technology to improve the accuracy of vehicle-borne lidar elevation measurement from the aspects of system equipment selection, vehicle-borne lidar configuration, encryption of leveling control points and optimization of GNSS measurement scheme. The measurement scheme was constructed and the scanning of track and railway structures was carried out. Then, through point cloud matching, the corresponding relationship between the WGS84 linear coordinates collected by the feature point radar and the construction coordinates of the feature points collected by RTK was established, and the mathematical model of coordinate transformation was constructed. The model was used to map the coordinate space of the point cloud to the independent space coordinates of the designed railway construction project. Then, the track coordinates and elevation information were extracted by software, and the linear measurement of the railway track by the vehicle-borne lidar technology was realized. The results show that based on the vehicle-borne lidar scanning, the railway track profile measurement of the capacity expansion railway is encrypted to about 500 m according to the fourth-order leveling accuracy spacing along the leveling point. The elevation accuracy is conditionally controlled within 2 cm, and the elevation, 100-meter standard measurement and dialing distance acquisition quality can meet the accuracy requirements of the railway track profile measurement of the capacity expansion railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the precision of plane coordinate conversion between different datum, a fourparameter coordinate conversion method which calculated the approximate parameters of coordinate system first was adopted. The main steps of the method are as follows: Firstly, by studying the Gaussian projection deformation and the principle of compensating coordinate system, the linear correlation between the height of the projection surface and the length deformation of the coordinate transformation control point was analyzed. Then, combined with the influence of Gaussian projection on the angular projection deformation, the coordinate transformation model with scale parameters and rotation parameters was determined to reduce the linear projection deformation difference between control points, such as the four-parameter and sevenparameter transformation model. Secondly, by analyzing the influence of ellipsoid type on the projection deformation difference between coordinate transformation control points, a method which calculating the approximate parameters of different ellipsoid coordinates was proposed to reduce the Gaussian projection nonlinear deformation difference. The research results show that, the effect of ellipsoid type on the nonlinear projection deformation of coordinates is submillimeter. When the coordinate system parameters of different datum are approximately the same, the inner and outer coincidence accuracy of the coordinate transformation of four parameters and seven parameters can reach millimeter level. An engineering example shows that the precision of coordinate transformation can be improved by one order of magnitude by the four-parameter coordinate conversion method which calculates the approximate parameters of coordinate system first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross measurement is an important foundational work for special surveying and survey of newly built railways. The existing cross measurement is mainly completed through manual field measurement methods such as angle shifting, polar coordinate method, and GNSS-RTK method, which has problems such as low operational efficiency, multiple rework measurements, and high safety hazards. Aiming at this technical problem, this paper proposed a new railway crossing survey method based on UAV laser point cloud and image fusion, including key technologies such as data acquisition and pre-processing of railway band UAV aerial photography, sorting of design line positions and determination of cross measurement positions, and extraction of cross measurement information. The purpose is to complete the cross measurement work of the newly built railway through non-contact means. The results show that, compared to traditional operation methods, this method avoids difficulties in entering complex areas, significant safety hazards, and inconvenient installation of conventional measuring instruments. The efficiency can be improved significantly in terms of the flexibility and safety of measurement field operations. Based on the fusion processing technology of drone laser point cloud and image, the characteristics of high density, high accuracy, rich image texture, and high visualization degree of drone laser point cloud are fully utilized, laying a good foundation for determining the cross measurement position and extracting information. The method for calculating cross measurement parameters can improve the accuracy and reliability of cross measurement, and can also provide reference for the research of other types of cross, cross measurement, or other technical means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Could the connectivity of a global railway network increase through small changes in the timetable services? When designing railway schedules, transfer connections to intermediate stations may not be the primary focus considered. However, they may have an important influence on connectivity. In this paper, we study the potential improvement in connections by introducing small changes to the current schedules, using real timetables from all international railway services in Europe. The modelling was completed using the Complex Networks methodology and performance was measured based on total closeness centrality. Various factors are considered to calibrate the necessary amendments to provide a better traveller service, including connection times at stations and different allowed levels of schedule changes. The results indicate that by changing the schedule of only 1% of the services by at most 10 min, the connectivity improvement is remarkable. Railway companies should consider this result in order to expand the potential use of the international railway service at a time when public transportation must be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seat characteristics have high relevance in overall comfort on any transportation means. In particular, the foam's mechanical properties, interface pressure, and contact temperature play an important role in low- or no-vibration situations regarding static comfort. The present work presents the complete protocol for a static evaluation of different foams and seat covers to assess railway seats. Based on the evaluation of the foam's mechanical properties and interface pressure profiles, it was concluded that higher-density foam (80 kg/m3) is the most favorable. Regarding the foam cover, a thermographic assessment demonstrated that the fabric cover that induces lower temperatures at passenger interface contact promotes higher comfort levels. It should be highlighted that experiments were conducted on real train seat cushions and environments using a thermographic camera and pressure map sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unexplained instability phenomenon in railways is known to be caused by sliding friction in a catenary-pantograph system at low speeds. This is an important engineering problem because this instability phenomenon contributes to increased wear of contact wires and requires a train driver to confirm safety, which leads to train delays. Tribological analyses have found an increase in the friction coefficient at low speeds. Pantograph models based on the finite element method, multibody dynamics, and pin-disk model have been proposed for kinematic analyses. However, the mechanism is still uncertain, and no experimental investigations have been conducted. In this study, experimental and numerical investigations are conducted on the instability phenomenon caused by sliding friction. A method for estimating the friction coefficient for an actual pantograph is proposed and applied to experimentally investigate the instability phenomenon. A dynamic model is constructed based on various experiments. The frequency and the stable-unstable boundary of the instability phenomenon obtained in the simulations agree with those obtained in the experiment. From the dynamic model, it is found that the instability is a flutter-type instability caused by the asymmetry of the stiffness matrix due to Coulomb friction. Countermeasures for preventing the instability phenomenon based on the determined mechanism are proposed, and their effectiveness is verified by simulations and experiments. The results could contribute to the design of new pantographs to improve stability and the development of countermeasures for existing pantographs that experience instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in cognitive computing, through the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, have facilitated the development of intelligent cognitive systems (ICS). This benefits railway defect detection by enabling ICS to emulate human-like analysis of defect patterns in image data. Although visual defect classification based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) has achieved decent performance, the scarcity of large datasets for railway defect detection remains a challenge. This scarcity stems from the infrequent nature of accidents that result in defective railway parts. Existing research efforts have addressed the challenge of data scarcity by exploring rule-based and generative data augmentation approaches. Among these approaches, variational autoencoder (VAE) models can generate realistic data without the need for extensive baseline datasets for noise modeling. This study proposes a VAE-based synthetic image generation technique for training railway defect classifiers. Our approach introduces a modified regularization strategy that combines weight decay with reconstruction loss. Using this method, we created a synthetic dataset for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), consisting of 50 real samples across five classes. Remarkably, our method generated 500 synthetic samples, achieving a minimal reconstruction loss of 0.021. A visual transformer (ViT) model, fine-tuned using this synthetic CPR dataset, achieved high accuracy rates (98–99%) in classifying the five railway defect classes. This research presents an approach that addresses the data scarcity issue in railway defect detection, indicating a path toward enhancing the development of ICS in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The displacement of air masses caused by the movement of objects or vehicles is often characterized by considerable energy content, which, with appropriate technologies, can be partially recovered. In this sense, numerous scientific works consider rail transport as a possible context for application. However, the literature in the sector highlights how using existing wind technologies in these areas involves many difficulties, mainly related to the turbulent and impulsive nature of the airflows generated. This work presents the architecture and general aspects of an innovative technology for obtaining electrical energy from variable and impulsive airflows, such as those due to the rapid transit of railway trains in tunnels, without precluding its use in other similar fields. The innovative aspect mainly concerns the independent control of two distinct typologies of bladed elements, which can also have translational movement and drag-based and lift-based aerodynamic behavior to improve the adaptability of the embodiment to the site's fluid dynamic and geometric characteristics. Furthermore, the structural simplification of the apparatus, shifting some of the technological complexity to the control systems, brings further advantages in terms of construction cost, robustness, maintenance, reuse, and transferability to different contexts. Of course, the counterpart of these benefits lies in the software and hardware of the control devices. Analytical models to determine the non-dimensional performance coefficients of the two basic types have been reported as has the architectural model of the control system. The technology shown in this work is protected by an EP and US Patent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic literature survey on diagnostic methods used for railway materials and systems. The authors analyze various railway accident reports, focusing on the types of failures described and their causes. Previous review papers have addressed various aspects of railway systems diagnostics; however, most of the existing research focuses on specific parts of the rail vehicle or subsystems. In contrast, this survey focuses on railway diagnostic systems rather than general diagnostic methods used in mechanical and electrical engineering. The authors classify the types of failures and diagnostic methods that are used in rail transport into two categories: infrastructure and rolling stock. The purpose of this paper is to systematize the types of failure that occur in railway transport systems; identify the state-of-the-art means and methods of diagnostics in railway materials and systems, with particular focus on new research findings; and identify trends and possible research gaps in need of further development.

In risk management in railway transport, standard risk models are usually used based on its typical definition and discrete quantification. This approach allows for easy justification of the adopted model, most often by referring to appropriate norms or standards (such as IRIS). The scientific approach does not disqualify the practical use of standard risk models, but its disadvantages (especially typical risk matrices, including their subjectivity) are increasingly being pointed out. In risk management procedures, most frequently one model is used to assess the risk of all identified hazards. This may turn out to be a mistake, considering the specific characteristics of the hazards. A risk model applied to one hazard may not be adequate to assess the risk of another. Therefore, it should be individually adapted both in terms of variables and the ranges of their measurement values. For some hazards, it will even be necessary to develop or adopt non-standard models. The aim of the article is to present non-standard risk models that provide a base for their easy implementation in safety management procedures used by railway entities.

This article analyzes the activities of the gendarmerie railway police in ensuring compliance by freight carriers with prohibitions and restrictions on the export of certain raw materials and goods during World War I. Based on documentary materials, it reveals the content of the state policy of the Russian Empire regarding measures to halt the supply of essential resources to the Central Powers’ armies. The study of the administrative documentation of the railway police indicates that particular attention was paid to monitoring freight transport at border stations. The issue of police support for the stable functioning of railways under wartime conditions is explored. Gendarmerie officers facilitated the prioritization of military cargo movement along steel corridors. A critical responsibility of the gendarmerie was uncovering collusion among railway employees and shippers to manipulate train speeds for illicit speculative profit amid commodity shortages. The study concludes that the gendarmerie railway police played a significant role in overseeing the legality of freight transport during World War I. However, amid the disorganization of state mechanisms and deepening crises in Russian society, ensuring uninterrupted and effective railway operations proved impossible.

Large vessels that call at European ports will have to pay for their CO2 emissions from transporting cargo that enters or goes from a European port since January 2024. The costs will increase with increasing global trade. This results in a higher pollution level, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions like CO2.

Abstract The time-dependent effects in steel-concrete composite beam bridges can intensify track irregularities, subsequently leading to amplified train-bridge coupling vibrations. This phenomenon may increase the stress amplitudes in the bridge steel, thereby impacting the fatigue performance of the composite structures. This paper employs multiple rigid body dynamics to construct a high-speed train model and utilizes the finite element method to develop a steel-concrete composite beam element model that accounts for time-dependent effects, interfacial slip, and shear hysteresis. This approach enables the computational analysis of the train-bridge coupling system, facilitating an investigation into the influence of concrete’s time-dependent effects on the fatigue performance of railway steel-concrete composite bridges. Focusing on a 40-m simply supported composite bridge, the train-bridge coupling dynamic responses were computed for each operational year within a decade of the completion of construction. Applying the P-M linear fatigue damage accumulation theory, statistical analysis of stress history data across various operational periods was conducted to quantify the fatigue damage induced by a single eight-car high-speed train on the lower flange of the mid-span steel beam and the beam-end studs. The findings reveal that the beam-end studs sustain greater damage than the mid-span steel beam. Moreover, the detrimental impact of time-dependent effects diminishes with the increase of operational years. Notably, compared to the initial year, the fatigue damage to the lower flange of the mid-span steel beam by an eight-car train in the tenth year has surged by 39.3%. Conversely, the damage to the beam-end studs has decreased by 47.5%.

The relevance of the research problem is substantiated by the fact that this procedure creates the basis for developing students’ interest in constant progress in mastering foreign languages (i.e., it increases the level of motivation to learn a foreign language), in systematizing and deepening knowledge of a foreign language. The scope of the research is a consideration and description of the methodology for holding foreign language olympiads as a motivation factor in learning. Thegoal of the research is to prove the positive impact of holding an online Foreign Language Olympiad on motivation in learning a foreign language.The research objectives: to analyze the experience of holding foreign language olympiads, to develop practical advice on the methodology for conducting such procedures. Methods used by the authors to illuminate the stated issues: comparative analysis of sources on the above-mentioned topics, experimental method, statistical mathematical method of data processing – Student's T-test. The results of the research has proved hypothesis about the positive impact of holding olympiads on motivation in learning a foreign language through appropriate scientific research methods. It has been concluded that the results can be recommended as a tool for conducting olympiads of this kind both at the university and at other levels of education.

Railways are a mode of public transportation that can carry large numbers of passengers and commodities and can cover long distances quickly. Based on these advantages, the railway is a mode of transportation that is in great demand by people as their choice of transportation. Thus, this will increase the intensity and frequency of departures, thereby triggering opportunities for errors to occur that threaten passengers' safety. Currently, the paper needs to present risk assessment activities in railways comprehensively. This paper will systematically review the literature on risk management concepts, risk assessment techniques, standards, and guidelines for risk management in railways. It also groups the literature to provide directions and recommendations for distances that future researchers can examine. This study encompasses a review of 60 publications on risk management, risk assessment, and risk analysis in railways from reputable and highly indexed journals over the last ten years. Subsequently, an analysis was conducted on the characteristics of models, methods, and techniques proposed in railway risk assessment. Several countries' standards, regulations, and guidelines on railway safety will also be described. The number of studies examining risk assessment at level crossings is minimal, whereas most accidents occur in this area. Many countries have legislation and guidelines but are still general and do not detail risk assessment activities in areas with a high level of risk.

Purpose – The main objective of the present research is to investigate the benefits of using geogrid reinforcement in minimizing the rate of deterioration of ballasted rail track geometry resting on soft clay and to explore the effect of load amplitude, load frequency, presence of geogrid layer in ballast layer and ballast layer thickness on the behavior of track system. These variables are studied both experimentally and numerically. This paper examines the effect of geogrid reinforced ballast laying on a layer of clayey soil as a subgrade layer, where a half full scale railway tests are conducted as well as a theoretical analysis is performed. Design/methodology/approach – The experimental tests work consists of laboratory model tests to investigate the reduction in the compressibility and stress distribution induced in soft clay under a ballast railway reinforced by geogrid reinforcement subjected to dynamic load. Experimental model based on an approximate half scale for general rail track engineering practice is adopted in this study which is used in Iraqi railways. The investigated parameters are load amplitude, load frequency and presence of geogrid reinforcement layer. A half full-scale railway was constructed for carrying out the tests, which consists of two rails 800 mm in length with three wooden sleepers (900 mm × 90 mm × 90 mm). The ballast was overlying 500 mm thick clay layer. The tests were carried out with and without geogrid reinforcement, the tests were carried out in a well tied steel box of 1.5 m length × 1 m width × 1 m height. A series of laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the response of the ballast and the clay layers where the ballast was reinforced by a geogrid. Settlement in ballast and clay, was measured in reinforced and unreinforced ballast cases. In addition to the laboratory tests, the application of numerical analysis was made by using the finite element program PLAXIS 3D 2013. Findings – It was concluded that the settlement increased with increasing the simulated train load amplitude, there is a sharp increase in settlement up to the cycle 500 and after that, there is a gradual increase to level out between, 2,500 and 4,500 cycles depending on the load frequency. There is a little increase in the induced settlement when the load amplitude increased from 0.5 to 1 ton, but it is higher when the load amplitude increased to 2 ton, the increase in settlement depends on the geogrid existence and the other studied parameters. Both experimental and numerical results showed the same behavior. The effect of load frequency on the settlement ratio is almost constant after 500 cycles. In general, for reinforced cases, the effect of load frequency on the settlement ratio is very small ranging between 0.5 and 2% compared with the unreinforced case. Originality/value – Increasing the ballast layer thickness from 20 cm to 30 cm leads to decrease the settlement by about 50%. This ascertains the efficiency of ballast in spreading the waves induced by the track.