HSR THE TRAIN OF THE FUTURE New technologies and research trends Manuel S. Pereira* * ERRAC Vice-Chairman JUL 2008
The third dimension: Competitiveness & innovation ENERGY/POWER BIOMECHANICS HUMAN/MACHINE CLEAN SAFE CONFORTABLE ATRACTIVENESS PERFORMANCE MORE TRAFFIC (FREIGHT/PASSENGERS) SAME NETWORK New technologies Interoperability Systems integration MATERIALS LIGHT WEIGHT SMART STRUCTURES OPTIMIZATION DESIGN FOR MANUF AERODYNAMICS CFD NOISE INDUCED MECHATRONICS WHEEL/RAIL STEERING,SUSPENSIONS
HSR SOME FACTS AND FIGURES Japan 4 billions passengers transported w/o one single fatal accident 360 000 passengers per day in the Tokaido Shinkansen line 130 millions passenger/year Eurostar and Thalys Leaders of the international air/rail market Eurostar holds 70% of the Air/rail traffic over Paris London route. 8.26 million passengers last year, with revenues up a healthy 15.4 percent to $1.18 billion. FRANCE 1.2 billions passengers transported in TGV since 1981. More then 1000 TGV commissioned for the July weekends SPAIN New world record: 47 000 passengers travelled in the Madrid-Seville line (AVE) in 136 trains in an holiday weekend EUROPE in the last 10 years Line km increased 1.7 times up to ~3 750 km 170 km of new lines per year Traffic volume (passenger-lm) increased 2.6 times EUROPE in 2010 6 000 km of new lines
Features of a high speed railway No level crossings (grade crossings) Fenced off Concrete Foundations Usually a layer of concrete and tarmac is put down (like a road) and then the ballast is put on top. This is to try and stop movements in the ground from affecting the alignment of the railway Wide spacing between lines when two trains pass each other the speed difference can be as much as 600kmph or 370mph. If the two trains are too close together this causes at first a burst of air pressure when they first pass and then a drop in pressure during the coaches. Although this isn't enough to push the trains off the track, repeated stress on the windows may cause fatigue and mean they break eventually. Curves of Radius less than 3miles (5km) are avoided and are tilted. Gradients more than on conventional railway line Through stations are constructed with 4 tracks Tunnels avoided
Features of a high speed railway Greater gradients are allowed on high speed lines than conventional railways. modern high speed trains are extremely powerful, TGVs generate as much as 12 000 hp, steam engines were no where near as powerful (about 1,000hp) in the era when conventional railways were built. the faster a train travels the less it will slow down for the same rise in height. This is because as it is going fast it takes less time to climb the hill and so gravity has less time to act to slow the train down.
Features of a high speed railway Engineers try and avoid tunnels on high speed lines. when a train enters a tunnel at speed it causes large pressure changes. This can be painful and harmful to passengers ear drums. A solution was thought to be to pressure seal trains as with the TGV Reseau, however with very high speed trains (300km/h or 186mph) the pressure changes can be so large it can shatter the windows, particularly when two trains pass in opposite directions in a tunnel with a closing speed of 600km/h or 372mph in a confined space. German (125mph,200km/h) Italian (103mph 165km/k) France (158mph, 254km/h) Japan (164mph, 262km/h), British conventional railway 112mph, 180km/h between London and York
700 Speed km/h 600 500 400 300 France Aerotrain France TGV Japan Shinkansen Japan ML France TGV W. Germany France ICE TGV Japan Shinkansen Japan W. Germany ICE HSST Japan Shinkansen W. Germany ICE Japan MLX01 Japan MLX01 W. Germany Transrapid France TGV 200 Japan Shinkansen W. Germany ICE W. Germany ICE Italy Pendolino 100 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Features of a high speed railway Rolling stock Articulated multiple units, Steel or aluminum two power cars and eight carriages, including a powered bogie in each of the carriages adjacent to the power cars. capacity 345 seats, 200 m (656 ft) long and 2.81 m (9.2 ft) wide. Weigh 385 tonnes (424 tons) with a power output of 6,450 kw under 25 kv. Pantographs, suspensions, distributed power trains, overhead lines How does it stop? Dynamic brakes, brake shoes for emergency stops. Trailers are equipped with four disks per axle, and backup brake shoes. Magnetic induction track brakes are planned for the next models. Maglevs are slowed down in the same way it is propelled, by superconducting magnets.
Tilting trains Problems with corners for building a high speed railway transport system... they can either invest money in the train to make it tilt but use existing railway lines, or they invest money in a new railway but don't need to spend money on expensive tilting mechanisms. This is why TGV, and ICE and bullet trains do not tilt, because they have their own dedicated high speed railway lines where curves are built with very high radii. It is worth pointing out that the centrifugal force is a function of v 2 /r where v is the velocity and r is the radius. if you double the velocity, you quadruple the centrifugal force. Similarly, if you want to triple the velocity but keep the centrifugal force the same, you must increase the radius by a factor of nine! Something not always possible. This is why even apparently gentle curves can be much more of a problem with high speeds than one might thing, because the force rises with the square of velocity. Radius less then 600m
Wheel-rail contact the genetic technology comfort, speed, stability and safety. The bogies frame has a guaranteed 30-year lifespan.
welded rails on hybrid steel and concrete ties, lay on a thick bed of ballast. The combination of curve radii and superelevation makes high speed possible: a 5 km (3 mile) radius would be considered tight Signaling
NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND RESEARCH TRENDS Improve Performance Energy use and environmental performances Comfort Safety and Security Reduction in investment and maintenance costs Interoperabilty
IMPROVE PERFORMANCE Forecast for commercial speeds, 320, 350, 360 Speed records 574 km/h in France
Use of energy and environmental performance The 3 largest European networks are spending 1.75 Billion on energy (20% increase last year) Traction, power trains New combustion processes, closed loop emissions control, renewable fuels,, integrated exaust after treatment systems Wheel/rail interaction Aerodynamics Noise reduction (emission and abatment) Whisper brakes LCC, New materials, light weight Efficient land use
COMFORT Low accelerations line maintenance Information services Internet, TV,.. Instalations for PRM Old age market and family facilities
SAFETY and SECURITY Applies to Rolling stock, Infrastructure Trafic management systems ETCS for control/command GSM-R railway communication systems Optimization of infrastructure Track stability, protection for x winds, sismic risks
Cost reductions Research for standards, modularization LCC costs. Maintenance free RS Maintenance operations. Predictive and/or preventive maintenance to increase availablity and reduce costs. Faster fleet turnovers NDT Technologies
FOOD FOR THOUGHT How can we lower costs of these new high speed rails? Is there any way to use money not funded by taxpayers to pay for high-speed rail technology? Is there any way to further improve the safety of drivers? What other steps can we take to lower the amount of accidents, How can we improve cross acceptance? Can we make high-speed trains faster? If so, how? Will more public knowledge and awareness of these new technologies increase support for them? How do we make high-speed rails even more convenient for its passengers in terms of once they get to their destination? Will the trend in decreasing automobile communities continue? Is that our goal? Can better fuel consumption compete with electronically powered transportation? How can we make fuel consumption even more efficient?