
All articles from the Railway Reports available on this website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Issue No. 200, 2023
Editorial
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1. Longitudinal Sectioning of Overhead Contact Lines in Stations on Single-Track Lines
Damian DRATWA
Pages: 139-151
Summary. The length of standard gauge rail lines under the management of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. is 18,522.503 km, including 11,940.509 km of electrifi ed lines. In order to ensure reliable power supply to the electric traction, as well as to ensure that work can be carried out when the voltage on the overhead contact lines is switched off or as a result of a breakdown, sectioning is used. By electrically sectioning the overhead contact line, specifi c sections of it can be switched off. The impact on station capacity as a result of a power outage in the overhead contact line depends on how the sectioning is performed. Th is performance is not strictly defi ned in the case of stations on single-track lines, where the sectioning of the overhead contact line is done in diff erent ways. The article analyses the impact of longitudinal sectioning on the possibility of running trains by electric traction, using the example of two sections of single-track railroad lines No. 15 and No. 16.
Keywords: overhead contact line, longitudinal sectioning, station capacity, track closures, maintenance of overhead contact line
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2. Factors Determining the Development of Rail Passenger and Freight Transport on the Example of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship
Marek GRAFF
Pages: 153-170
Summary. The availability of EU funds for the modernization of infrastructure, including railways (infrastructure renovations and rolling stock purchases) has led the local authorities of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship to acquire diesel-powered rolling stock initially and later electric, too. Renovations of the railway network are – on the one hand – carried out by the infrastructure owner Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK), which is managed centrally, and – on the other hand – more complicated due to costs as well as legal and procedural issues (the need to comply with EU law). Thus, for example, the modernization of LK 91 Kraków – Rzeszów only began in 2011; for comparison, the first diesel vehicles were purchased by the Marshal’s Office of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship in Rzeszów in 2004, and electric vehicles in 2013. As more vehicles were acquired (by mid-2023 the number – including those ordered – was 49) and the infrastructure was renovated. Th en it was decided to launch a Suburban Agglomeration Railway (PKA), connecting Rzeszów with towns located up to 50 km from the capital of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship via the existing railway infrastructure. A comprehensive modernization of Rzeszów Główny Station is underway now including renovation of the station building. Also, due to the proximity of the border with Ukraine, the modernization of the eastbound railway lines and border stations of PLK and UZ (1435 + 1520 mm) started a few years ago. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, they proved to be much needed given the need to transport refugees and international aid to Ukraine.
Keywords: Podkarpackie Voivodeship, PLK, PKA (Suburban Railway in Podkarpacie), Jasionka Airport
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3. Basic Variants of the Analytical Method of Designing Track Geometric Layouts
Władysław KOC
Pages: 171-185
Summary. The article presents (and extends) the basic assumptions of the analytical method for designing track geometric layouts. The individual elements of the layout (straight sections, circular arcs and transition curves) are described using mathematical equations and connected with each other while maintaining the condition of tangent compliance. The method covers various design cases: asymmetrical case, with transition curves of the same type and the same length, an asymmetrical case, resulting from diff erent types and lengths of transition curves, as well as methods of designing compound and reverse curves. The work presents a detailed design procedure for the typical, most common case in which the transition curves are symmetrical in relation to the circular arc. Two basic variants diff ering in the location of the local coordinate system are considered. In the standard (universal) variant, the location of the beginning of the system in the PL-2000 system is not known and is determined only in the final phase of the procedure. Due to this, some interpretation problems may arise. In the case of a symmetrical geometric layout, these diffi culties can be avoided thanks to the introduced modifi cation consisting of locating the origin of the local coordinate system at the intersection of two main directions of the route. The article presents computational algorithms for both discussed variants. The benefits of the introduced modifi cation are illustrated by the presented computational examples.
Keywords railroad, analytical design method, modifi cation of the local coordinate system, calculation algorithm, sample geometric layouts
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4. Key Issues Related to Permanent Way in the Work of Professor Henryk Bałuch
Andrzej MASSEL
Pages: 187-191
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5. Overview of the Areas of the Railway Research Institute Activities
Marek PAWLIK
Pages: 193-207
Summary: Railway transport employs mechanical, pneumatic, electrical, electrotechnical, relay, and electronic programmable solutions, as well as hydraulic, optical and laser-based solutions for the construction and everyday exploitation of various infrastructure and rolling stock functionalities and for supporting and documenting both operation and maintenance. The safe and reliable operation of railways depends, to a significant extent, on the proper interaction of the various technical and procedural solutions. It is based on normative documents, approval procedures and rules regarding handling technical, operational and organisational changes. The article presents the railway system’s technical complexity as well as types and formal constraints of the normative and legal documents defining technical and procedural requirements, using both of them as a background for showing the Railway Research Institute’s areas of activities from technical competencies and research facilities used in approval processes to involvement in the development of normative documents.
Keywords: railway infrastructure, railway rolling stock, approval processes, normative documents
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6. Environmental Impacts of High-Speed Rail. Part 1: Acoustic Impacts
Krzysztof POLAK
Pages: 209-216
Summary: The article discusses issues related to acoustic impacts generated by high-speed railways. It indicates the most important legal regulations concerning noise in railway transport and characterises the main sources of noise generated by highspeed railway lines. It attempts to determine the negative acoustic impact on various elements of the environment during the construction, operation and decommissioning of a high-speed railways. Furthermore, it also outlines the most frequently applied solutions to minimise this impact.
Keywords: noise, acoustic impact, high-speed railway, environmental impact of high-speed railway
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7. Electrical Endurance of DC Switching Devices
Artur ROJEK
Pages: 217-227
Summary: The article focuses on the electrical endurance testing of direct current switching devices, such as high speed circuit breakers, switch disconnectors and contactors. It presents the normative requirements for these tests and provides sample results obtained during testing conducted in the electrical laboratory of the Department of Electrical Power Engineering at the Railway Research Institute. The most commonly tested switching devices have nominal voltages of 900, 1800, and 3600 V DC, with nominal currents of up to 6.5 kA. The article also discusses phenomena and hazards that may occur during electrical endurance testing.
Keywords: electrical endurance, high speed circuit breaker, switch disconnector, contactor, DC breaking
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8. Change of the Electric Traction Power Supply System in Poland From 3 kV DC to 25 kV AC
Artur ROJEK
Pages: 229-241
Summary: The article compares the 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC railway electric traction power supply systems. Both systems were characterised, including their requirements in terms of power supply to traction substations, system losses and the influence of the choice of system on the parameters of railway traffic.
Keywords: electric traction power supply system, 3 kV DC system, 25 kV AC system, energy losses, catenary
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9. Research Issues Regarding the Impact of a Rolling Stock on a Trackside Train Detection Systems Devices
Łukasz ZAWADKA, Dominik ADAMSKI
Pages: 243-249
Summary: The paper characterises the operation and basic components of track occupancy devices that are currently used on the PKP PLK S.A. network. Furthermore research methods of measurement of railway vehicles impact on track circuits and axle counter systems as well as wheel set axle impedance measurement that are performed in Railway Research Institute were described. Examples of measurement results were presented for each of the described methods.
Keywords: track circuits, axle counters, interference, magnetic fields, EMC
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10. Aerodynamic Phenomena Caused by the Passage of a Train. Part 6: Other Infl uences. Summary of Series
Andrzej Zbieć
Pages: 251-257
Summary: This series of articles describes the aerodynamic phenomena caused by the passage of a train, characterising the effects that a train running at high speed has on itself, other trains, trackside objects and people. This impact can be of two types − generated pressure and slipstream. Apart from the literature analysis, the author’s research is also taken into account. The sixth part of the series describes mixed aerodynamic impacts on people, as well as other types of impacts, and summarises the entire series.
Keywords: rolling stock, high speed railways, aerodynamic phenomena
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All articles from the Railway Reports available on this website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Issue No. 202, 2025
Editorial
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1. Historical Outline of Railway Control Command and Signalling Systems Development Based on Research Conducted at the Railway Research Institute
Andrzej Białoń
Pages: 75-86
Summary. Railway control command and signalling systems ensure the safe operation of rolling stock by utilising appropriate equipment, either automatically or with the involvement of an operator. This paper presents a historical outline of the development of railway control command and signalling equipment from its beginnings to the present day. The process of refining traffic control equipment is illustrated through the example of work conducted in Poland, particularly at the Railway Traffic Control and Telecom Department of the Railway Research Institute. Attention is drawn to the elements of traffic control equipment that have evolved due to technological developments. The paper also highlights the international cooperation of the Railway Traffic Control and Telecom Department at the Railway Research Institute, as well as its knowledge dissemination activities.
Keywords: rail transport, traffic control, development, research
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2. “Beautiful Helen” locomotive and more
Andrzej Chudzikiewicz, Ignacy Góra
Pages: 87-98
Summary.
Poland’s regaining of independence in 1918 was a powerful stimulus for many areas of social and economic life in the Polish state that was being created from scratch. One of such sectors, vital to the development of the economy and social life, was transport and the steam locomotive industry. At the time, the steam locomotive was a modern means of transport enabling people and goods to be moved over closer and further distances, quickly, efficiently and comfortably. This article presents the history of the development of the Polish school of locomotive design and construction after 1918 and, in this context, the development of research on steam locomotives constructed and built in newly established factories, and in particular the history of the design and construction of the Pt 31 steam locomotive. Following 1918, engineers, prominent steam locomotive constructors, began to return to Poland from Russia and began to perform “basic work”, establishing Locomotive Construction Departments at Polish technical universities and also participating in the organisation of the production and construction of new locomotives. Examples of such figures include: Antoni Xiężopolski, Wacław Łopuszyński, Albert Czeczott or Adolf Langrod.
The dynamically developing technical higher education in Poland after 2019, and in particular the mechanical faculties of the Lviv or Warsaw technical universities, resulted in the development of design offices in the emerging rail vehicle production plants such as Fablok, H. Cegielski, Warszawska Społka Akcyjna Budowy Parowozow or PZInż. in Ursus, as well as the establishment of organisational structures in the then Ministry of Transport (Ministerstwo Komunikacji) dealing with rail transport and in particular rail vehicles. Examples include: Department of Locomotive Construction (Katedra Budowy Lokomotyw) at the Warsaw University of Technology or the Experimental Division (Referat Doświadczalny) at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Ministry of Transport. One of the graduates of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology in 1928 was inż. Kazimierz Zembrzuski, who, in 1930, at the age of 25, began working in the construction bureau of the First Locomotive Factory in Poland in Chrzanow. After several years of work he designed, and then as head of the design team, supervised the construction of two prototypes of the Pm36 steam locomotive. One of these, at the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life in Paris, was exhibited in 1937. The article describes the course of development of the rolling stock construction and building industry at the beginning of the 20th century and the activities associated with the history of the Pm36 steam locomotive.
Keywords: Pm36 steam locomotive, K. Zembrzuski, Fablok
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3. Determination of directional angle of a railway route and curvature of the railway track axis on high-speed railways
Władysław Koc
Pages: 99-111
Summary. The paper describes the assumptions underlying two new calculation methods: the determination of the directional angle of a railway route and the determination of the curvature of a railway track axis. These methods use measurement data in the form of Cartesian coordinates of the track axis (obtained during the survey), while the basis for the calculation is the identification of a virtual chord projected in a horizontal plane, which connects two points on the track axis. The key role for the calculation is played here by the determined slope of the tangent to the track axis. Subsequently, an attempt was made to test the extent to which these methods correspond to the conditions specific for high-speed railways. This was illustrated using two calculation examples involving geometric layouts for speeds of 260 km/h and 350 km/h. In order to keep the applicability to reality to a greater extent, a decision was made to obtain hypothetical measurement data by virtual modification of these layouts. Qualitatively, the results of the analysis carried out were no different from previous analyses relating to standard railways. In particular, they confirmed beyond doubt the suitability of the methods considered for determining the directional angle of the railway route and determining the curvature of the railway track axis on high-speed railways. As shown, for use on these railways, a chord length of lc = 100 m should be recommended.
Keywords railway, high-speed rail, directional angle of a railway route, curvature of the railway track axis, calculation algorithms, example geometric layouts
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4. Railway Buffer Stops
Dariusz Kowalczyk
Pages: 113-126
Summary: Track end devices are highly significant structures, not only in rail transport. This paper presents and describes several instances of vehicle collisions with track end devices (buffer stops), demonstrating the substantial impact of these devices on safety, the effectiveness of their design, and the reduction (decrease) of damage. An analysis was conducted of the requirements for older track end device designs according to BN-79 9310-06
“Buffer Stops” and the currently applicable regulations.The paper also outlines the guidelines for newly designed track end constructions, as mandated for PKP PLK railway lines and outlined in the document “Railway Track Superstructure – Volume 1” 2021 It describes examples of track end device designs, including fixed (non-sliding) and sliding types. Explicit finite element method (FEM) calculations were performed using the ANSYS Mechanical R2023 software, simulating the process of a vehicle colliding with a buffer stop (fixed, non-sliding). The design of track end devices constructed according to the requirements of the industry standard BN-79 9310-06, which are still frequently found in railway infrastructure, was evaluated.
Keywords: buffer stop, sliding buffer stops, fixed buffer stops
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5. Carbon Footprint in Rail Transport
Jolanta Maria Radziszewska-Wolińska, Maria Łyszcz
Pages: 127-133
Summary:
This article discusses the concept of the carbon footprint, which represents the total sum of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly or indirectly by a given entity (person, organisation, event, or product). It characterises the currently used methods for calculating and presenting the carbon footprint, based on the ISO 14067:2018 standard and the ISO 14040:2009 series of standards. Furthermore, it presents the carbon footprint in relation to different means of transport.
The analysis reveals that the highest amount of greenhouse gases originates from road transport, while the lowest comes from rail transport. However, it is important to note that for each journey and its associated carbon footprint, factors such as emissions generated during the production of components and their transportation to vehicle manufacturers, emissions from the vehicle manufacturing process and their deployment into service, as well as the construction of necessary infrastructure, must be taken into account. The article also demonstrates that the construction of new high-speed railway lines contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in transport. Additionally, it suggests re-evaluating the feasibility of developing intermodal freight transport.
Keywords: ecological footprint, greenhouse gases, means of transport, intermodal transport
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