Scenarios and requirements for the operation of longer freight trains in Europe

Abstract

The increase of the length of freight trains in operation across EU corridors is a key objective to achieve to increase the capacity and strengthen the competitiveness of rail freight transport by decreasing the cost of rail haulage without affecting safety standards. Research projects such as MARATHON-FP7 aimed at developing technical solutions for the regular operation of 1,500 metres long freight trains.
The definition of technical and homologation requirements, together with safety standards and protocols for radio-remote controlling is of paramount importance to ensure that longer freight trains are put in operation across rail networks in EU Member States and beyond.
Shift2Rail project DYNAFREIGHT (whose activities are carried out in cooperation with the Shift2Rail project FF4LE) is now an ongoing project and full results will be available in late 2018. This paper shows the results achieved at the current intermediate stage on the definition of longer train requirements and tests. Functional and technical requirements of longer trains, including the radio controlled traction and braking are going to be defined with the aim to develop a radio system for long train operation ready for certification. This paper reports the results of the safety analysis performed with full-scale tests and first indications for functional requirements. Moreover, the paper reports the results of pneumatics and multibody dynamics simulations performed to provide guidelines on how to reduce the risk of derailment of long freight trains. The analyses will deal with different train configurations (vehicles and payloads), initial speed and brake applications, as well as different track layouts including gradients and horizontal curves.
Finally, a thorough analysis of infrastructure requirements has to be developed to derive common technical specification and quality requirements for rail infrastructure to accommodate long freight train operations. The present paper reports the analysis made on the Spanish rail network leading to preliminary identification of lines where 1500m long trains could be tested, while identifying current infrastructure constraints that constitute barriers against a full implementation of longer train traffic.