The new system for door control and command: implementation and tests on a UIC project Doct. Eng.Gianfranco Cau* FS - Trenitalia - Unità Tecnologie Materiale Rotabile TRENITALIA has been charged by UIC to perform the activities on the new door system of passenger coaches in order to increase the complex safety of the related operations. Here are reported the main points of this realisation and some results of the tests on real trains. THE CONTEXT The UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer) decided to update the Leaflet 560 Doors, entrance platforms, windows, steps, handles and handrails of coaches and luggage vans to obtain some benefits related to safety and to the optimisation in door operation. For this reason a Working Group, to which many Railway Operators participated, issued a document containing a new description of doors control techniques that constituted the basis for field tests. The main innovations introduced by this system are the selective door release on driver s (or train conductor s) command, the centralised door blocking and the extension of door blocking for speed below the threshold. FS - TRENITALIA, which has been charged for the modification of a certain number of vehicles, decided to perform the field tests on real running trains to allow a clear evaluation of the functionality, of its acceptance by the users - operators and travellers - and of the robustness in all the conditions of exploitation. In this work TRENITALIA has equipped eight coaches, six second class and one first class, and two locomotives E 444 R which are used in Intercity trains running between Rome and Ancona. The trains are formed by six coaches, five second class and one first class, while the other vehicles are used as reserve to have at disposal reserve rolling stock for any eventuality. The two locomotives permit to evaluate the different conditions which identifies the queue vehicle and can also simulate a push-pull train. This ambitious set of activities has required a great effort on the technical side and on the logistic one, ranging from the planning of all the activities, the creation of the proper interfaces among the involved entities, the managing of the modifications in the workshops, the people training, and the methods to collect data: some hints on all these topics, besides the more technical one, are here reported and give an overview of this system. - 1 -
The realisation of the equipment and the assumptions have been critically examined; at the same time their usefulness to refine the engineering for a series production has been assessed and this allows the supplier to use the most suitable technologies. The problems deriving from the installation of the system on an heterogeneous fleet of vehicles are considered, as well as some investigation on the impact of its introduction on rolling stock owned by the various railways and this is strictly connected to the interoperability of this solution, which can really be obtained with a relatively cheap equipment. The tests have also offered the possibility to cope with the problem connected to all the operational conditions of the modified vehicles: one of them is the identification of the coach in failure on which some maintenance action has to be performed. This and other aspects like fault tree analysis give some hints to refine the UIC document and to have a stable and a tested specification. - 2 -
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THE STATE OF THE ART Here are reported some photographs which demonstrate the work done. Door central unit. Door complex. - 5 -
Driver's desk cab: door command & control. Door status panel: detail. - 6 -
Provisional loco panel: detail. Z1 equipped coaches. - 7 -
Loco E444 modified for door command & control. At the moment (June 2001) the field tests have been completed and have pointed out some elements to consider to issue the new UIC Leaflet 560. A general and detailed report is under edition and particular emphasis is given on the analysis of the faults due to equipment and / or personnel which may occur during the exploitation of the system. At the moment we can say the liking of this technique by the railway operators and by the travellers is high, but the most important thig is the increase of safety associated to doors operation. - 8 -