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Scholars often describe the history of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) from an exclusive urban development perspective (linear or finger cities) or from a limited mobility perspective (Public Transit). In these histories, walking is described as the yardstick for a station's catchment area. Using primary sources, this article shows how between 1960 and 1990 the Dutch railroads played a forgotten but key and unique role in enriching the TOD concept in the densely populated Western Netherlands with the bicycle as a feeder mode. This created a spatial model of a belt with compact bicycle towns along railroad lines. In the process, the railroad reinforced by local and national policies since then helped create cycling-based rather than walking-based fifteen-minute cities that generated larger catchment zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The working situation of railway traffic control rooms (RTCR) employees makes them susceptible to human error. On the other hand, the occurrence of human error by these staff can lead to catastrophic events. Due to the lack of a standard questionnaire in estimating the probability of monthly human errors in employees of the RTCR, this study designs and validates such a tool. Methods: In this mixed-method research, an initial questionnaire of 67 questions was designed, using the literature review and experts’ experiences. To standardize and validate this questionnaire, the opinions of 15 experts, including university professors and experienced people working in control rooms were used. To determine the validity of the questionnaire, two indexes content validity index and content validity ratio were used. Meanwhile, to check the reliability, the weighted kappa coefficient was used. Results: All the initial questions were accepted and a final questionnaire with 67 questions was compiled in two sections for employees of the central control room and employees working in other RTCR. The content validity index values of the questionnaire were 0.9, 0.9 and 0.92 in terms of simplicity, relevancy and clarity, respectively. The content validity ratio value was 0.87. The reliability of this questionnaire was also confirmed by obtaining 73.71%, 87.14% and 80.31% for the minimum, maximum and average percentage of agreement between the questions, respectively. Discussion: The designed questionnaire can estimate the probability of monthly human errors among RTCR employees and can be used in future studies.

This article is an assemblage of thematically inter-relatable quotations promoting critically oriented, non-linear complexity of thought. The quotes concern: recent derailments and safety protocols; what trains carry; ideas about linearity, sequence, and simultaneity; environmental issues; trains used in genocide, race-based segregation and exploitation, and immigration; trains communicating art, symbols, and meaning; and quotes from literary figures, artists, and social theory. A central question emerges: Do the contents and arrangements of our (ever longer) cause-and-effect chains together constitute globally indeterminate, unanticipated consequences and both random and systemic interconnectivity, bridging industrial and post industrial eras, networks, and concerns? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic detection of railroad infrastructure using Mobile Laser Scanning systems is a key technology for both advanced rail driver assistance and intelligent track maintenance. The recent research into railway facility extraction or condition monitoring usually relies on high-density point cloud dataset with known sensor parameters but ignores the processing performance in actual deployment and has high requirements for the acquisition device. To address these limitations, a novel rail extraction algorithm is proposed for processing Mobile Laser Scanning data in real time during acquisition, which could extract rail features by a hierarchical coarse-to-fine method with basic structural parameters. Using the geometric and global statistical characteristics of rail in raw data, a new rail descriptor is defined based on the quantitative statistics of points satisfying height difference in generalized local neighborhood. The approach is evaluated experimentally by a simulated real-time acquisition data and compared with a reference method. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has a finer extraction effect and good real-time performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the transformations of informal transportation practices in Siberia as an example of the process of social embedding of infrastructure in remote regions. Research about informal transportation is predominantly based on studies of minibuses, motorcycles, rikshaws and other small, low-performance vehicles. Meanwhile, the railroad often best exemplifies formalization, control, and surveillance, the characteristics opposite to informal practices. On the basis of information gathered from local and regional archives and semi-formal interviews with railroad workers, their families, and BAM builders (2016–2020), this paper traces the roots of embeddedness in specific norms and expectations that formed during construction of the railroad and persisted during its operation. Informal transportation became the norm and a resource for coping with a lack of infrastructure. Recent reforms have changed the railroad from a public system to a private, profit-seeking, dis-embedded enterprise. This process affects local communities' access to the railroad. Workers' trains, or okurki, are a last refuge for the retention of local mobility mostly in an informal way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding fundamental track behaviors under dynamic load conditions is important to optimize design practices and achieve high-quality track performance. The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association provides recommended practices to estimate trackbed pressures, which are primarily based on the Talbot equations. The Talbot methodology for computing crosstie-ballast (CT-B) interfacial pressures may "not" be valid for modern railroad design due to several factors, including the sensitivity of pressure measuring equipment, the presence of uneven support conditions, and the implementation of jointed rails in testing different wheel loadings, which contributed to overestimation of pressure readings as a result of impact loading. However, modern railroad infrastructure has been designed with a smooth track layout and well-supported rails as well as incorporating rolling stock equipped with smooth wheels, particularly in high-speed train operations. This study proposes a new approach to estimate the pressures at the CT-B interface, which was developed using measured in-track CT-B interfacial pressures taken from an active mainline. The data from the in-track measurements were filtered by using a signal processing tool and analyzed to develop basic equations to predict interfacial pressures as a function of basic train characteristics, including train speed, wheel loads, and wheel spacing, assuming no impact loading from wheel defects. To validate the efficacy of the square wave theory, the predicted pressures were compared with the data obtained from in-track tests. Further, a method to estimate dynamic pressures of a moving train at the CT-B interface was developed using square wave theory. By representing the vehicles of a train as a periodic square waveform, the dynamic CT-B interfacial pressures can be predicted for an unlimited number of locomotives and cars for smooth track geometry, smooth wheels, limited rail surface roughness, and well-supported track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to comprehensively assess the lubrication effect of leaves on wheel–rail contact dynamics using the Virginia Tech-Federal Railroad Administration (VT-FRA) Roller Rig, which closely simulates field conditions with precision and repeatability. Railway operators grapple with the seasonally recurring challenge of leaf contamination, which can cause partial loss of braking and lead to undesired events such as station overruns. Better understanding the adhesion-reducing impact of leaf contamination significantly improves railway engineering practices to counter their effects on train braking and traction. This experimental study evaluates the reduction in traction and braking forces (collectively called "adhesion") as a function of leaf volume, using two leaf species that commonly grow along U.S. railroad tracks. The test methods rely on the chosen leaves' transpiration characteristics while ensuring the result's reproducibility. Leaves were symmetrically positioned on the wheel surface, centered around the mid-rib area within the wear band, and taped on the edges far from the wear band. The critical test parameters (i.e., wheel load, wheel velocity, and percentage creepage) are kept constant among the tests. At the same time, leaf volume is reduced from a maximum amount that covers the entire wheel surface (100% coverage) to no leaves (0%). The latter is used as the baseline. The percentage creepage is kept constant at an exaggerated amount of 2% to accelerate the test time. The results indicate a nonlinear relationship between leaf volume and the loss of braking. Even a small amount of leaf contamination causes a significant reduction in adhesion by as much as 50% compared with no contamination (i.e., baseline). Increasing leaf volume results in contact saturation, beyond which adhesion is not reduced. The minimum adhesion observed in this study is 20% of the maximum adhesion that occurs when no leaf contamination is present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railways are essential to the global transportation infrastructure, providing eco-friendly and economical solutions for the movement of freight and passengers. Inspecting and maintaining extensive rail networks timely poses significant challenges. My group and collaborators have focused on automated railroad inspection technologies, emphasizing the use of deep learning and computer vision to overcome the limitations of traditional manual inspections. Our research introduces groundbreaking real-time inspection methods, leveraging a specialized dataset of railroad components for enhanced instance segmentation models, achieving unprecedented accuracy and inference speeds. The developed computer vision systems efficiently detect track components and their changes over time, and also quantify rail surface defects. Additionally, our work extends to improving railroad crossing safety, utilizing deep learning frameworks for the detection of unusual pedestrian behaviors and object identification, aimed at reducing crossing incidents and improving emergency response times. Our future research directions aim to further refine the cost-effectiveness and autonomy of railroad inspection systems. Through these innovations, we hope to aid in the inspection and maintenance of railroads, offering practical solutions for railroad and other civil engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rails and wheels are one of the most critical and expensive components of railway transport, and any problem could generate numerous consequences. The ability to manage friction at the wheel-rail interface currently represents one of the greatest challenges and one of the most powerful tools in railway engineering. The application of friction modifiers, lubricants, and friction enhancers to friction control have been the focus of extensive research of wheel-rail systems. The friction modifier (FM) provides a targeted coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.3–0.4. Currently, the laboratorial retentivity tests conducted by manufacturers do not describe the standards used, neither the surface integrity before the FM application. This work studies the influence in the retentivity of the different surface integrity states before application of FM using a twin-disk test. It will be possible to define the surface condition necessary for the application of FMs in retentivity tests, using a twin-disk tribometer. A commercial friction modifier was applied before the test (zero cycles) and after 500; 1,000; 1,500; 2,000; 3,000; 4,000; and 5,000 dry cycles, ending the tests when the coefficient of traction (COT) reached 0.4. To compare the retentivity of different FMs, a complete standardization of the twin-disk test is essential, applying the FM in a controlled amount, with over 2,000 dry cycles, and using a disk with controlled initial roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article addresses the trajectory of José Antonio de Oliveira, known as Zeca Vaccariano, who carried out the assault on the group of payers on the São Paulo-Rio Grande Railroad, which took place on October 24, 1909, in the interior of the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Theoretically, the work is guided by the perspective of social banditry, against the background of the historical context of the old republic in which a modernization process is articulated in the region under the aegis of mandonism. This is developed methodologically supported by bibliographical and documental research. As a central objective, the text discusses how social banditry represents an element inherent to the social dynamics of that space-time, providing the protagonist with an ascent from robber to police chief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Ingenieria, Matematicas y Ciencias de la Informacion is the property of Corporacion Universitaria Republicana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Little is known about Irish migration to Central America in the nineteenth century. This paper sheds light on a forgotten episode of Ireland's history which has hitherto been overlooked by students of the country's nineteenth-century diaspora. It has two main objectives. Firstly, to show that there was substantial Irish involvement in building the world's first interoceanic railroad across Panama in the 1850s. My research, using primary and secondary sources, has brought to light the participation of approximately 3,700 Irish labourers in this pioneering project. Most were immigrants in the United States, but a minority was recruited directly in Cork. Secondly, by using a methodology adapted from the French attempt to build a canal across Panama in the 1880s, I challenge the myth that virtually all of the Irish workers who went to Panama died there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railways are essential to the global transportation infrastructure, providing eco-friendly and economical solutions for the movement of freight and passengers. Inspecting and maintaining extensive rail networks timely poses significant challenges. My group and collaborators have focused on automated railroad inspection technologies, emphasizing the use of deep learning and computer vision to overcome the limitations of traditional manual inspections. Our research introduces groundbreaking real-time inspection methods, leveraging a specialized dataset of railroad components for enhanced instance segmentation models, achieving unprecedented accuracy and inference speeds. The developed computer vision systems efficiently detect track components and their changes over time, and also quantify rail surface defects. Additionally, our work extends to improving railroad crossing safety, utilizing deep learning frameworks for the detection of unusual pedestrian behaviors and object identification, aimed at reducing crossing incidents and improving emergency response times. Our future research directions aim to further refine the cost-effectiveness and autonomy of railroad inspection systems. Through these innovations, we hope to aid in the inspection and maintenance of railroads, offering practical solutions for railroad and other civil engineering applications.

The aim of the work is the optimisation of a rail heater, constituted by a magnetic core supplied by a sinusoidal current, which induces an eddy current in the rail. Optimisation parameters are electrical and geometrical quantities: supply frequency, voltage amplitude, airgaps, and core shape, while objectives are power transferred to the rail, absorbed current, and power distribution index. Optimisation is performed by an accurate field analysis, provided by the finite element method (FEM), coupled to an automated multiobjective procedure based on fuzzy logic. Particular care has been devoted to the FEM model in order to take into account important phenomena as non-linearity magnetic behaviour and non-uniform distribution of current in the rail caused by eddy currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Roads & Bridges / Drogi i Mosty is the property of Road & Bridge Research Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper proposes the concept of zombie infrastructure to understand the entangled histories of railroad colonialism, Indigenous dispossession, and corporate power in the California desert. I examine debates over the Cadiz project, a contemporary water project that proposes to take water from a California desert aquifer and transport it to the California coast. I argue that the life of the Cadiz project depends on Cadiz Inc.’s ability to revive the legal rights and body of a little-used railroad shortline, thus bringing back a legal infrastructure and corporate power from the late nineteenth century in the service of a new corporation. In so doing, the Cadiz project enlivens the racialized dispossession of land and labor that the railroad initially required. Routing the politics of a contemporary infrastructure project through the railroad and its octopus past, I argue, places the politics of infrastructure at the intersection of laws, monstrosity, and dispossession. Drawing on economic and legal geography, this paper proposes the concept of zombie infrastructure, a concept that builds on what activists call zombie projects in order to show the life and death of infrastructure, and reveals how contemporary capitalists enliven old infrastructures for new purposes.

This study aims to comprehensively assess the lubrication effect of leaves on wheel–rail contact dynamics using the Virginia Tech-Federal Railroad Administration (VT-FRA) Roller Rig, which closely simulates field conditions with precision and repeatability. Railway operators grapple with the seasonally recurring challenge of leaf contamination, which can cause partial loss of braking and lead to undesired events such as station overruns. Better understanding the adhesion-reducing impact of leaf contamination significantly improves railway engineering practices to counter their effects on train braking and traction. This experimental study evaluates the reduction in traction and braking forces (collectively called “adhesion”) as a function of leaf volume, using two leaf species that commonly grow along U.S. railroad tracks. The test methods rely on the chosen leaves’ transpiration characteristics while ensuring the result’s reproducibility. Leaves were symmetrically positioned on the wheel surface, centered around the mid-rib area within the wear band, and taped on the edges far from the wear band. The critical test parameters (i.e., wheel load, wheel velocity, and percentage creepage) are kept constant among the tests. At the same time, leaf volume is reduced from a maximum amount that covers the entire wheel surface (100% coverage) to no leaves (0%). The latter is used as the baseline. The percentage creepage is kept constant at an exaggerated amount of 2% to accelerate the test time. The results indicate a nonlinear relationship between leaf volume and the loss of braking. Even a small amount of leaf contamination causes a significant reduction in adhesion by as much as 50% compared with no contamination (i.e., baseline). Increasing leaf volume results in contact saturation, beyond which adhesion is not reduced. The minimum adhesion observed in this study is 20% of the maximum adhesion that occurs when no leaf contamination is present.

Excessive crosstie wear and abrasion and ballast wear and fouling are fundamental problems contributing to inadequate railroad track performance. This adversely affects the attainment and long-term maintenance of desired track geometric requirements. The magnitudes and distribution of the stresses at the crosstie-ballast (CT-B) interface must be known to determine the stress distribution on and within the ballast. However, the track design recommendations to determine these pressures, which are largely based on a methodology from the 1980s, are currently valid for modern-day railroad applications for multiple reasons discussed in this study. This study analyzed CT-B interfacial pressure data measured on an active freight mainline in Mascot, Tennessee. Dynamic contact pressures at the CT-B interface were measured using hydraulic earth pressure cells for various wheel loads and train speeds. The test train was a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) test train consisting of a diesel electric locomotive, a test car that had different wheel loads based on the deployable axle load, and an inspection car. Although the maximum train speed was limited to 64 km=h, this research found that speed variation has a minimal effect on the CT-B interfacial pressures. From the measured data, a Gaussian stress distribution equation is proposed to determine longitudinal pressure distribution transmitted to the CT-B interface for static conditions. In addition, the stress distribution along the length of a crosstie was investigated via laboratory experimentation using a half-length crosstie. As a result of the experimentation, a dimensionless trilinear approximation was developed to estimate the stress distribution along the length of the crosstie. In general, this research recommends that the longitudinal and lateral stress distributions be considered together to design a better railroad track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Omer Halisdemir Universitesi Iktisadi ve Idari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Omer Halisdemir University, Faculty of Economics & Admistrative Sciene and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The telegraph and the railroad have remained among the most iconic technologies associated with the impending modernization of the United States as represented in the Western genre. However, the lesser-known but still iconic Pony Express – a short lived, horse-and-rider messenger service from the mid-nineteenth century which has enjoyed significant popular cultural representation – provides an alternative, anachronistic iconography for the same transitionary period that suggests a different path for American modernity through western expansion. Focusing on the Western as it appears in Hollywood and non-commercial film, as well as television shows, I consider how the Pony Express as a subject or character challenges antagonistic narratives and iconographies of American modernity in the Western that usually pit older modes of living against the encroachment of newer, mechanized modes of modernity. Appearing both old and new at the same time, I argue that Pony Express narratives instead emphasize and endorse co-operation between tradition on the one hand and innovation on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crosslevel is defined as the difference in elevation between the top surface of two railroad tracks. Severe changes in crosslevel, for example, due to earthquakes, ground settlement, or crushed ballasts, affect track geometry and can cause train derailment. Therefore, the objective of this study was to monitoring railroad crosslevel by using electrical time domain reflectometry (ETDR) to simultaneously interrogate multiple capacitive tilt sensor prototypes connected in a transmission line. ETDR works by propagating an electrical pulse signal from one end of the transmission line and then monitoring the characteristics of each reflected pulse, which is affected by the capacitance (or tilt) of the sensors. This study begins with a discussion of the capacitive tilt sensor's design. These 3D-printed sensors were tested to characterize their tilt sensing performance. Then, multiple tilt sensors were connected in a transmission line and interrogated by ETDR. The ability to use ETDR to multiplex and interrogate sensors subjected to different angles of tilt was validated.

Brazilian railroads are continuously looking to increase their asset performance. In this sense, wheel/rail interface studies have been conducted, which allowed benefits that were not previously considered. Improved wheel/rail contact can significantly reduce maintenance costs, increase energy efficiency, and increase operational safety. For rolling stock, wheel consumption usually has the highest maintenance cost and is among the highest total costs of a railroad. Therefore, the understanding of wheel wear behavior, which is carried out in an integrated manner with permanent track and operating conditions, must be investigated in depth. This study aims to analyze the influence of bogies on wheel wear. Two aspects were considered: maintenance conditions and bogie design. The maintenance conditions were evaluated through wayside and field measurements. The collected data were later statistically evaluated and modeled in integer programming to optimize and review the maintenance strategy, which could avoid premature wheel scrapping after 5 years, allowing for a regular wheel life of 9 years. This analysis has allowed for the development of a new bogie maintenance parameter, which is not defined in manual and rule standards. The bogie design modernization was analyzed using the VAMPIRE multibody simulation software. The retrofitted bogie was modeled to improve the dynamic behavior and analyzed using wheel/rail contact theory. The polymer suspension elements' modelings were thoroughly detailed for each property to illustrate the retrofit's design features. Therefore, to calculate the gains of the retrofitted bogie, a methodology was built to compare the results of wheel wear in a real railroad track section. This methodology can be used to show that the retrofit can provide a reduction in wheel wear of 40% for ride control for a broad gauge (1600 mm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of powered hand tools and equipment that exposes track workers to HAV vibration and other biomechanical hazards in the USA was investigated by a research team, following scientific principles and guidelines including protecting confidentiality of study participants. Musculoskeletal symptoms and neuro-musculoskeletal disorders were linked to workplace physical factors, such as HAV, and were reported in peer-reviewed journals. The methodology and results were subsequently challenged by a team of consultants hired by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which represents major North American railroad corporations. Such an influence appears to challenge the integrity of occupational health research and impede the conduct of such research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing demand for high strength and more durable materials in the asphalt technology market. In response to the demand, epoxy asphalt mixture (EAM) is one relatively new technology for use as a paving material in flexible pavements. There are various research works carried out on the laboratory and field performance of EAM. However, comprehensive research covering functional and field (F&F) performance of EAM is lacking. The main purpose of this review is to bridge this gap via the analysis of the functional properties of EAM. Consequently, the field performance of EAM in different case studies is reviewed and the serviceability of EAM in various transportation infrastructure is investigated. This paper also reviews the life cycle cost and maintenance of EAM. The major findings indicate that EAM shows superior F&F performance compared to the traditional hot and warm asphalt mixture. Additionally, the use of EAM is beneficial in the structure of pavements in tunnels and on bridge decks. In conclusion, the higher F&F performance of EAM supports the development of better performing pavements for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current railroad customs clearance systems are problematic in that the movement of trains is occasionally restricted for extended periods during inspections to verify cargo integrity at customs clearance. Consequently, significant human and material resources are consumed to obtain customs clearance to the destination, considering different processes exist for cross-border trade. Therefore, we developed a cross-border blockchain-based non-stop customs clearance (NSCC) system to address these delays and reduce resource consumption for cross-border trains. The integrity, stability, and traceability of blockchain technology are used to construct a stable and reliable customs clearance system to address these problems. The proposed method connects diverse trade and customs clearance agreements in a single blockchain network, which ensures integrity and minimal resource consumption, and includes railroads, freight vehicles, and transit stations in addition to the current customs clearance system. The integrity and confidentiality of customs clearance data are protected using sequence diagrams and the blockchain to strengthen the resilience of the NSCC process against attacks; the blockchain-based NSCC system structurally verifies the attack resilience based on matching sequences. The results confirm that the blockchain-based NSCC system is time- and cost-efficient compared with the current customs clearance system and offers improved attack resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the obvious religious allegory that frames Hawthorne's 1843 short story "The Celestial Railroad," this article proposes that the story might be read more literally and ecocritcally, as evidence of Hawthorne's growing skepticism toward the emergent transportation industry as well as toward the environmentally deleterious fossil fuels that would animate it for decades and centuries to come. Reading "The Celestial Railroad" through an energy humanist framework might reveal, as the author suggests, Hawthorne's prescient intimations of the social and ecological degradation that would eventually result from the expansion of the fossil-fueled transportation industry. Placing the story in the context of Hawthorne's nascent concerns with industrialism and environmental decay—reading "The Celestial Railroad" historically and materially, rather than merely symbolically—provides crucial insight into Hawthorne's environmental imagination, particularly in relation to the increasingly visible ecological effects of industrial modernity upon the American landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance aspects such as travel time, punctuality, and robustness are conflicting goals of utmost importance for railway transports. To successfully plan railway traffic, it is therefore important to strike a balance between planned travel times and expected delays. In railway operations research, a lot of attention has been given to construct models and methods to generate robust timetables—that is, timetables with the potential to withstand design errors, incorrect data, and minor everyday disturbances. Despite this, the current state of practice in railway planning is to construct timetables manually, possibly with support of microsimulation for robustness evaluation. This paper aims to narrow the gap between the state-of-the-art optimization-based research approaches and the current state of practice to construct timetables by combining simulation and optimization. The paper proposes a combined simulation-optimization approach for double-track lines, which generalizes previous work to allow full flexibility in the order of trains by including a new and more generic model to predict delays. By utilizing delay data from simulation, the approach can make socioeconomically optimal modifications of a given timetable by minimizing predicted disutility—the weighted sum of scheduled travel time and total predicted delay. In a large simulation experiment on the heavily congested Swedish Western Main Line, it is demonstrated that compared with a real-life, manually constructed timetable, large reductions of delays as well as improvements in punctuality could be obtained for a small cost of marginally longer travel times. The cost of scheduled in-vehicle travel time and mean delay was reduced by 5% on average, representing a large improvement for a highly utilized railway line. Furthermore, a separate scaling experiment indicates that the approach can also be suitable for larger problems. Funding: This research was funded by Trafikverket [Grants TRV 2016/5090 and TRV 2020/72690]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines how documentary poetics—particularly as employed by Muriel Rukeyser—use a montage of images to form a visual landscape. This visual landscape is wielded effectively by politicians during the Whistle Stop Tour electioneering. In Rukeyser's "Campaign", one section in her long-form poetic biography of Wendell Willkie, entitled One Life, she describes the journey of the 1940 Republican presidential candidate as he campaigns from the observation car of a train. The visual landscape created by the Whistle Stop Tour and described through documentary poetics contains Willkie, his audience, and the train itself. It is a unified spectacle, one that contains the rider, the reader, and the onlooker. Rukeyser's documentary poetry and sensory-rich verse delimit the observation car as the mechanism through which this spectacle forms. The documentary poetics genre is one aptly suited for the description of the landscape through this railcar—a high velocity railspace that relays information by montage, which is to say, through a filmic collage of information assembled into a readable layout of the perceived world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/context: this paper is the result of a doctoral research that sought to analyze the trajectories of black and white railroad workers in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, in the cities of Rio Claro, São Carlos, and Araraquara between 1930 and 1970. The research focused on a reading of how railroad companies in the 20th century, in addition to interconnecting regions and bringing workers of different races closer together, influenced their ascension and mobility in the economic, political, social, and cultural fields in relation to other workers of the period. It aimed to analyze the trajectories and memories of these workers, to understand how black and white workers related to each other considering race and class issues. Methodology: based on the methodological concepts of memory and oral history, approximately 75 former Companhia Paulista railway workers were interviewed. Direct and indirect documentary sources such as books, articles, period newspapers, and other printed materials were also used in the research. Originality: the article advances the analyses presented in terms of possible intersections impregnated by oral history under the criterion of ethnicity and their position occupied in the world of work. Conclusions: the idea of a railway family was adapted to the myth of racial democracy, in its double meaning: although internal conflicts may exist, recognition as railway workers opened the way for all of the workers in the environment outside of work. The ambiguity between color and class coexisted in the trajectory of the interviewees as a relationship of implication, not of causality. The reduction of distances by means of informal cohabitation had an emotional background that was present even in those relationships that would be more characteristically impersonal. The fetish of equality among railroad workers functioned as a mediator in class relations, which contributed to the fact that conflictive situations frequently did not result in factual conflicts, but in conciliations within the railroad company.