2013 Session: 680

• Rolling-Stock Automatic in Situ Line Deterioration and Operating Condition Sensing
  Abstract: Track and equipment failures dominate railroad accident causes. Railroads must visually inspect most tracks in service as often as twice weekly to comply with the Federal Track Safety Standards. They augment visual inspections with automated non-destructive-evaluation (NDE) equipment to locate developing and mature defects. However, the defect formation rate is escalating with increasing traffic load density and continuously declining railroad employment per track-mile. This indicates a widening gap between the rate of defect formation and the resources available to find them before they result in accidents, delays, and lost revenue. With resources thinly stretched and the rate of defect formation escalating with traffic load-density, railroads are seeking to enhance the efficiency of inspections and maintenance of way. This paper describes the development of a Rolling-stock Automatic In-situ Line Deterioration & Operating Condition Sensing (RAILDOCS) system to automatically locate and classify track and rail vehicle defects. The approach incorporates a new low-cost wireless sensor technology and Cloud computing method to guide and focus inspection activities to locations of equipment and track defect symptoms, leading to efficient diagnosis and remediation.RAILDOCS has on-board sensors which will continuously monitor track and vehicle condition and transmit a 3D inertial signature for a remote processor to analyze and produce a complete and updated picture of aggregate track and equipment quality. RAILDOCS complement more expensive visual and NDE methods by reallocating time spent on defect discovery to detailed inspections of prioritized defect symptom locations. Symptom sensors integrate micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS), global positioning system (GPS) satellite receivers, wireless communications, and microprocessors technology. Cloud computing and signal processing algorithms produce a track quality index, and forecast optimum maintenance triggers.
  Authors: Lu, Pan; Bridgelall, Raj; Tolliver, Denver D.
  Authors: Lu, Pan; Bridgelall, Raj; Tolliver, Denver D.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Railroads; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-0312
• Selection of Frequency Band for Mobile WiMAX in Railroad Networks
  Abstract: The North American freight railroad industry continues to strive for improving the safety and security of their operations. This requires a cost-effective and reliable communication network between the dispatch and control centers, the trains and operators, and wayside devices. However, a suitable high-performance network technology to provide coverage for the last segment - between this network infrastructure and the wayside devices and trains - is yet to be determined. One candidate technology for it, Mobile WiMAX, has been shown to provide very favorable performance for railroad applications. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues licenses for Mobile WiMAX in several spectrums, among which 2.5 GHz and 3.65 GHz are the most popular. The 2.5 GHz band achieves a significantly higher communication range due to its higher allowed maximum transmit signal power, and lower signal strength loss while it traverses over the air. Consequently, fewer base stations are required to provide the same coverage area. However, licensing operations in 3.65 GHz is significantly less costly and time consuming, making it an attractive choice for network deployments. A detailed study of both bands is required to establish whether the lower performance of 3.65 GHz can be compensated by the financial benefits of using it. In this paper, we provide performance analysis and quantitative comparison of the propagation characteristics of the two bands by testing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment in both laboratory and field environments. The results enable interested parties to select a frequency band that addresses the requirements of their specific applications and constraints.
  Authors: Shrestha, Pradhumna; Hempel, Michael; Ma, Tao; Sharif, Hamid
  Authors: Shrestha, Pradhumna; Hempel, Michael; Ma, Tao; Sharif, Hamid
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Railroads; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-0856
• Process Mining Approach for Recovery of Realized Train Paths and Route Conflict Identification
  Abstract: Data records from train describer systems are a valuable source of information for analyzing railway operations performance and assessing railway timetable quality. This paper presents a tool based on process mining event data records from the Dutch train describer system TROTS. The underlying algorithms automatically identify route conflicts with conflicting trains, determine accurate arrival and departure times/delays at stations, and reconstruct the train paths on track section and blocking time level. Graphical user interface and visualizations of the time-distance diagrams and blocking time diagrams support and simplify the analysis of running times, dwell times, incidents, track obstructions, disruptions, and structural errors in the timetable design. The case study of a one day of traffic on a busy railway corridor in the Netherlands is presented, as well as the examples to describe the graphical user interface.
  Authors: Kecman, Pavle; Goverde, Rob M.P.
  Authors: Kecman, Pavle; Goverde, Rob M.P.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Railroads; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-2701
• Modeling Rail Operating Costs for Multimodal Corridor Planning
  Abstract: Cost and delivery times are key variables used by shippers to determine freight mode choice. Unfortunately, transportation planners wishing to examine truck versus rail tradeoffs on major state and regional corridors use models that rarely capture the effects of cargo weight, running speeds, network capacity, or route characteristics, even though they are key inputs to any logistical analysis. Moreover, current models are incapable of fully internalizing external or social costs into their calculations—a failure that becomes more important as sustainable strategies are sought by society. Therefore, in three critical areas of transportation planning—network capacity, route features, and operating characteristics—most existing models are deficient. This paper gives planners a mechanistic method to determine variable rail costs on a single corridor which when combined with the latest truck operating cost mechanistic models, provide the cost differentials that underlie truck versus rail choice. The model is part of a study sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation to support freight movement on the extensive state network of multimodal corridors
  Authors: Owens, Travis; Seedah, Dan; Harrison, Robert
  Authors: Owens, Travis; Seedah, Dan; Harrison, Robert
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Railroads; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-4433
• Rolling-stock Automatic In-situ Line quality, Car Operation, and Tracking System
  Authors: Lu, Pan
  Authors: Lu, Pan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-0312
• Selection of Frequency Band for Mobile WiMAX in Railroad Networks
  Authors: Shrestha, Pradhumna
  Authors: Shrestha, Pradhumna
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-0856
• Process Mining Approach for Recovery of Realized Train Paths and Route Conflict Identification
  Authors: Kecman, Pavle
  Authors: Kecman, Pavle
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-2701
• Modeling Rail Operating Costs for Multimodal Corridor Planning
  Authors: Seedah, Dan
  Authors: Seedah, Dan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 680
  Paper Number: 13-4433