Improving rail network velocity: A machine learning approach to predictive maintenance

Rail network velocity is defined as system-wide average speed of line-haul movement between terminals. To accommodate increased service demand and load on rail networks, increase in network velocity, without compromising safety, is required. Among many determinants of overall network velocity, a key driver is service interruption, including lowered operating speed due to track/train condition and delays caused by derailments. Railroads have put significant infrastructure and inspection programs in place to avoid service interruptions. One of the key measures is an extensive network of wayside mechanical condition detectors (temperature, strain, vision, infrared, weight, impact, etc.) that monitor the rolling-stock as it passes by. The detectors are designed to alert for conditions that either violate regulations set by governmental rail safety agencies or deteriorating rolling-stock conditions as determined by the railroad.Using huge volumes of historical detector data, in combination with failure data, maintenance action data, inspection schedule data, train type data and weather data, we are exploring several analytical approaches including, correlation analysis, causal analysis, time series analysis and machine learning techniques to automatically learn rules and build failure prediction models. These models will be applied against both historical and real-time data to predict conditions leading to failure in the future, thus avoiding service interruptions and increasing network velocity. Additionally, the analytics and models can also be used for detecting root cause of several failure modes and wear rate of components, which, while do not directly address network velocity, can be proactively used by maintenance organizations to optimize trade-offs related to maintenance schedule, costs and shop capacity. As part of our effort, we explore several avenues to machine learning techniques including distributed learning and hierarchical analytical approaches.     

Rail travel and the Leisure market in great Britain

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing and inducing leisure travel; to convey the sensitivity of rail travel receipts to the performance of the economy and more particularly family and personal disposable incomes; to examine the potential for further market research; and finally, to determine ways and means of attracting marginal revenue in the sustainable recreation/tourism sphere to a major public sector asset.

The paper focuses on leisure marketing by Britain's national railway corporation, British Rail (BR), and the relevant activities of its three passenger business sectors: Network SouthEast (NSE), which operates regional and local services in London and the South East (though not the London ‘tube’ system); Regional Railways, which operates regional and local services elsewhere in Great Britain; and InterCity, which operates the long distance express services.

The paper reviews BR's fares promotions of recent years and in particular draws on some examples taken from Regional Railways. This sector is now the only business of British Rail which in principle is subject to a significant public grant, to meet the obligation of a minimum level of service on social grounds. Of the other two passenger businesses, Network SouthEast receives a grant but the current intention is that it should operate on a breakeven basis from the 1992/93 financial year; InterCity runs on a purely commercial basis.     

多层次多制式轨道交通要点探究

伴随着我国城市轨道交通的快速发展,项目决策及建设过程中存在的一些问题也逐步显现,尤其在项目前期研究阶段,如何科学划分功能层次,合理把握制式选型,精准界定轻轨概念已成为长期困扰业内人士的热点问题。通过类比方法,对国内外轨道交通的发展经验及差异进行对比分析,总结构建多层次、多制式轨道交通体系的必要性和意义,探索地铁和轻轨的核心区别。研究结论表明:发展层次多元,制式合理的轨道交通体系是未来的发展趋势;在制式与层次的关系把握上,应坚持层次高于制式的原则;为了支撑城市空间结构优化,促进城市圈层的良性拓展,市域快轨应作为轨道交通未来发展的重点;以功能层次或导向体系作为划分标准,对现行的轨道交通分类标准提出相应的改进建议。     

京通线钢轨磨耗与防治措施

京通线西部曲线钢轨磨耗一直是困扰维修生产的难题，频繁地更换钢轨会增加维修成本，若磨耗钢轨不能及时更换又会给行车安全带来隐患。2002年京通西部线开始大修，对部分曲线采取了减磨措施。通过现场数据监测．减磨效果明显。。     

客专百米钢轨焊前自动测量优选配轨系统研究

通过对钢轨焊前激光自动测量方案的分析、论证，提出计算机仿真拟合虚拟钢轨外型，由计算机与标准钢轨参数比对，计算出钢轨外型数据的测量方法。在此基础上，利用多组钢轨外型轮廓进行自动优选配轨的模式，提高配轨精度和效率。     

Distance and time in intermodal goods transport networks in Europe: A generic approach

This paper is about distance and time as factors of competitiveness of intermodal transport. It reviews the relevance of the factors, evaluates time models in practice, compares network distances and times in alternative bundling networks with geometrically varied layouts, and points out how these networks perform in terms of vehicle scale, frequency and door-to-door time. The analysis focuses on intermodal transport in Europe, especially intermodal rail transport, but is in search for generic conclusions. The paper does not incorporate the distance and time results in cost models, and draws conclusions for transport innovation, wherever this is possible without cost modelling. For instance, the feature vehicle scale, an important factor of transport costs, is analysed and discussed.Distance and time are important factors of competitiveness of intermodal transport. They generate (direct) vehicle costs and – via transport quality – indirect costs to the customers. Clearly direct costs/prices are the most important performance of the intermodal transport system. The relevance of quality performances is less clarified. Customers emphasise the importance of a good match between the transport and the logistic system. In this framework (time) reliability is valued high. Often transport time, arrival and departure times, and frequency have a lower priority. But such conclusions can hardy be generalised. The range of valuations reflects the heterogeneity of situations. Some lack of clarity is obviously due to overlapping definitions of different performance types.The following parts of the paper are about two central fields of network design, which have a large impact on transport costs and quality, namely the design of vehicle roundtrips (and acceleration of transport speed) and the choice of bundling type: do vehicles provide direct services or run in what we call complex bundling networks? An example is the hub-and-spoke network. The objective of complex bundling is to increase vehicle scale and/or transport frequency even if network volumes are restricted. Complex bundling requires intermediate nodes for the exchange of load units. Examples of complex bundling networks are the hub-and-spoke network or the line network.Roundtrip and bundling design are interrelated policy fields: an acceleration of the roundtrip speed, often desirable from the cost point of view, can often only be carried out customer friendly, if the transport frequency is increased. But often the flow size is not sufficient for a higher frequency. Then a change of bundling model can be an outcome.Complex bundling networks are known to have longer average distances and times, the latter also due to the presence of additional intermediate exchange nodes. However, this disadvantage is – inside the limits of maximal vehicle sizes – overruled by the advantage of a restricted number of network links. Therefore generally, complex bundling networks have shorter total vehicle distances and times. This expression of economies of scale implies lower vehicle costs per load unit.The last part of the paper presents door-to-door times of load units of complex bundling networks and compares them with unimodal road transport. The times of complex bundling networks are larger than that of networks with direct connections, but nevertheless competitive with unimodal road transport, except for short distances.     

轨下垫板刚度的时变特性及其影响研究

以WJ7-A型轨下垫板为对象,测试轨下胶垫刚度随服役时间的变化,分析垫板刚度的时变特性;然后以此为基础,建立车辆-轨道垂向耦合动力学模型,研究轨下胶垫时变特性对轮轨随机振动响应的影响规律。研究结果表明:随着服役时间的增长,轨下橡胶垫板的刚度将增大,2年后垫板刚度的增幅为13.91%;随着运营时间的增长,车体振动加速度变化微弱;轮轨力及扣件力的第二主频幅值增大并向高频移动,且扣件力变化更显著,线路运营2年时间后,扣件力第二主频向高频移动7.4 Hz,幅值增幅达到53.80%。建议定期抽样测试轨下胶垫刚度并及时更换性能老化垫板,降低轮轨垂向力和扣件力。     

Challenges raised by freight for the operations planning of a shared-use rail network. A French perspective

Operating rail infrastructures that are shared among different uses is complex. In Western Europe, the predominance of passenger traffic over freight has traditionally led to thorough scheduling of capacity use, with an increasing tendency to anticipate through the design of regular-interval timetables. The paper discusses the specific challenges posed by fitting freight into the timetabling process for a mixed-use rail network, based on current French experience. The analysis is carried out from the perspective of the infrastructure manager. It is mainly supported by the results of a series of about 30 interviews, carried out in 2012 and 2013 with the parties involved in the timetabling process. The paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the process in terms of organization, rules and practices, with an emphasis on the characteristics of freight traffic compared with passenger traffic. The author highlights three key management issues for the French infrastructure manager when dealing with freight: (1) the uncertainty surrounding the mid-long term development of the rail freight market at the national level; (2) the heterogeneity resulting from the diversity of commodities, convoys and profiles and behaviors of the capacity applicants; (3) the volatility of some freight traffic resulting in a great amount of activity in the later stages of the timetabling process. If uncertainty about the future appears to be a highly sensitive issue in the French context, heterogeneity and volatility of freight traffic can be perceived as management challenges that may be experienced, to a greater or lesser degree, on other rail networks.     

The container retrieval problem with respect to relocation

The demand for container terminal yards is growing significantly faster than the supply of available land; therefore, containers are typically stacked high to better utilize the land space in container yards. However, in the process of container retrieval, non-productive reshuffling may be required to relocate the containers that are stacked on top of the target container. Container retrieval is directly related to the operational efficiency of terminals. Because the industry has become increasingly competitive, it has become critical to introduce a systematic approach to retrieving containers. In this study, we develop a heuristic that can generate feasible working plans for rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGC) in container yards to minimize the number of container movements while taking the RMGC working time into consideration. The methodology takes into consideration the case that containers are grouped in terms of their retrieval order. Multi-lift RMGC models also are studied. Comprehensive numerical experiments reveal that the method runs faster than other methods published in the literature by several orders of magnitude; additionally, our method is able to solve instances larger than practical use. The number of movements approaches a theoretical lower bound, and the numerical results clearly demonstrate the tradeoff between the number of movements and the working time, and provide useful insights for yard planning.     

城市轨道交通票制与票价研究

随着城市轨道交通的快速发展,其票制与票价问题备受瞩目。本文介绍了城市轨道交通基本票制、票价制定原则及其优惠政策,在分析各城市轨道交通票价的基础上,对影响城市轨道交通票价的因素进行分析,提出未来城市轨道交通票制与票价的发展建议。