This article reviews the current state of railway engineering with a focus on the steady development of conventional technology that has led to the 575 km/h run of the French TGV train in 2007. Several key engineering areas are explored and predictions made for future technological developments in vehicle and track design including active suspension, improved aerodynamic performance, and novel track systems such as slab track. The conventional railway vehicle is inherently energy efficient and has been proved to work at up to 550 km/h with safety levels higher than any other transport mode. Radical solutions such as MAGLEV have been available for over 30 years but clearly do not offer a great enough advantage compared with the additional costs. Non-conventional technologies such as magnetic levitation are discussed but the conclusion arrived at is that considerable improvements are still possible through optimization and incremental development of conventional engineering solutions and that, in the short to medium term, implementation of radically novel systems is less likely. Freight vehicles will see continued improvements in bogie design, leading to increased efficiency and reduction in noise levels even at higher axle loads. The more dramatic improvements that could be achieved by using mechatronic solutions such as active suspensions are also likely progressively to appear in railway vehicles. Their introduction has so far been fairly slow with only tilting in widespread use.
Future trends in railway engineering
2009
8 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 31 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
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