This paper focuses on the general context of implementing battery-powered railway units into operation and summarizes the relevant legislation in the Czech Republic. It presents a tool for modelling energy consumption. Finally, two case studies are presented involving the deployment of battery units on real long-distance lines in the Czech Republic.
The issue of mutual wear between railway wheels and rails has long been under discussion, as it has a significant impact on the maintenance costs of both railway vehicles and infrastructure. This issue and its technical solutions can be studied from different perspectives. The approach presented in this paper focuses on the application of active wheelset steering for tramcars. In principle, this method leads to a reduction in mutual force interaction between wheels and rails when a vehicle passes through a curve. Research and practical implementation of this technology in tramcar applications are very rare. However, there is significant potential for wheel wear reduction, as demonstrated by the simulation results presented in this article. The other aspect, which is much more complex due to the lack of development by tramcar manufacturers, is the technical solution itself, which is currently limited mainly to design studies. Therefore, this paper also describes efforts to assess the technical difficulties and possibilities of implementing such a system in a modern tramcar bogie.
The paper addresses the operational possibilities of battery electric multiple units (BEMU) on non-electrified railway lines and analyses various charging methods. It provides a detailed discussion of charging options through overhead contact lines, pre-heating stands, standard sockets, and dedicated charging equipment. Furthermore, the paper explores the use of conventional electrification approaches such as extending services onto electrified lines, establishing charging islands, or shortening nonelectrified terminal sections.
The paper develops a transferable framework to support future high-speed rail operations in the Czech Republic by integrating demand forecasting with revenue management. It combines a structured review of the literature on dynamic pricing and seat allocation in high-speed rail with the identification of data and data sources suitable for predictive demand modeling.
The article addresses the issue of operational railway traffic management in the context of modern digitalised railways. It characterises the differences between local traffic control and remote traffic control, which represents the contemporary trend. The text outlines the role of the human factor in operational railway traffic management, highlighting the gradual shift away from the traditional role of the station dispatcher, limited to a single station. The role of traffic dispatchers is increasingly being taken over by line dispatchers, who manage traffic over entire sections of lines across multiple stations simultaneously. The information available to traffic management employees online, which enables them to make operational and high-quality decisions, is characterised. The authors also address potential shortcomings in access to information and propose possible solutions for further improving information availability in the decision-making process.
The deployment of digital technologies on the railway, especially the widespread deployment of the ETCS system at the L2 application level, enables direct control of railway vehicles, i.e. vehicles are permanently connected by a radio system with the infrastructure interlocking system. One of the expected benefits of using these technologies, in addition to increasing safety, is the possibility of increasing the capacity and usability of the railway infrastructure, as well as reducing investment costs for technologies (infrastructure occupancy detection devices and signaling) currently installed in the infrastructure. However, to replace these technologies, the information about the position of each train must be available, both its front (today provided by the ETCS mobile part) and its end of the train. The paper presents the main outputs of the TACR project – CK04000156 “INTELIGENT_END4TRAIN”, which carried out research into the possibility of detecting the integrity of a freight train based on monitoring pressure conditions in the main brake pipe. The research focused on the implementation and operational verification of the Intelligent Train End measurement system and the examination of operational aspects on the basis of which it would be possible to evaluate information about the integrity of the train.
This paper is aimed at evaluation of the track geometry quality based on data from a measuring car for railway superstructure. The evaluation of the track geometry quality serves as a necessary basis for effective track maintenance planning. In the first part of the paper methods and procedures for assessment of the track geometry quality are described. The second part of the paper deals with track geometry data evaluation using variables such as standard deviation, track quality index and fractal dimension. The last part of the paper is focused on comparison of the variables and summary of results.
This paper examines the measurement of freight train speeds as part of a broader study previously focused on passenger services. It outlines the applied methodology, highlights the main challenges encountered during data collection and processing, and presents the approaches adopted to address them. The direct measurements are further supported by validation through simulation.
As railway traffic continues to grow, especially in suburban areas, it becomes increasingly important to both expand capacity and improve its utilization. The most promising strategy is to enhance the efficiency of capacity usage, primarily through the implementation of advanced operational support systems that assist traffic controllers in making faster and more accurate decisions during traffic conflicts. In densely populated urban areas, slower trains are frequently overtaken by faster ones. The utilization of performance indicators has the potential to facilitate the analysis and prevention of errors, as well as the resolution of conflicts in such circumstances. This paper introduces a novel methodology to facilitate the evaluation of disparate traffic simulation scenarios. This fuzzy logic-driven methodology constitutes a pivotal step towards ensuring collision-free operation.
This paper deals with analysis (modeling) of collision between road vehicle and train at level crossing. Collision analysis is used in forensic engineering for the assessment of traffic accidents. Several methods can be used for the theoretical analysis of vehicle motion at and near the level crossing. In this work the time interval method is applied. Based on the theoretical analysis of vehicles motion, a parametric theoretical computational model was developed to simulate three possible scenarios. The road vehicle approaches the level crossing either with uniformly decelerated motion, or with constant velocity, or with uniformly accelerated motion starting from zero initial velocity. The rail vehicle is always moving with uniformly decelerated motion. The model was created using free mathematical software SMathStudio.
This article focuses on comparing two generic data models of railway infrastructure. The first of these models is the RailTopoModel. Although originally created under the patronage of the UIC, in recent years, its development has been carried out in close coordination with the development of the railML exchange data format. The second model is the RailSystemModel. In fact, it is an extension of the original UIC RailTopoModel specifications to include some substantive aspects of the description of railway infrastructure and its surroundings. It remains under the management of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The versions compared are RailTopoModel 1.5 (released together with railML 3.3) and RailSystemModel 1.2 (the only stable version of RailSystemModel so far). The focus is on aspects that appear in both data models simultaneously, expressed in each case in a different way, rather than on aspects that have been added to each of the data models.
First/last-mile frictions remain a key barrier to public-transport competitiveness. This paper develops and evaluates an integrated solution for the Pardubice region (Czechia): a direct suburban rail service on the Holice – Pardubice – Heřmanův Městec axis coupled with a station-based Bike+Rail (B+R) system. We combine census-derived mobility data with a transparent fleet-dimensioning model that accounts for adoption, peak simultaneity, daily turnover, and capacity margin. Rail impacts are assessed using Generalized Journey Time (GJT) and conservative short-run elasticities. The results indicate that a moderate, spatially focused B+R fleet distributed across the main interchange nodes, together with direct trains, can meaningfully reduce GJT by removing transfer penalties and smoothing access/egress. To stimulate habitual use without compromising availability, we propose a non-personalized dynamic pricing scheme based on progressive loyalty discounts for B+R trips originating/terminating in station zones and aligned with train time windows. Overall, coupling direct suburban rail with a targeted B+R scheme appears capable of materially improving door-to-door accessibility and strengthening modal competitiveness against car travel. A pilot implementation with subsequent calibration is recommended to validate behavioural responses, operational performance, and economic viability.
The paper in the introductory part points out the fact, that for the successful operation of the modern railway transport it will be appropriate to increase the number of graduates of vocational secondary schools and universities dealing with the design and operation of rail vehicles. Based on the analysis of the expected modernization and electrification of railway lines in the Czech Republic, it draws attention to the possibilities of using battery-trolley rail vehicles, or the possible use of the Energy-Tender by 2nd and 3rd generation electric locomotives for traffic on non-electrified regional railway lines in the Czech Republic. The article documents that in order to solve the problem of minimizing traction energy consumption when driving rail vehicles and electric units on a real track, it is appropriate to know the efficiency maps of the partial drive components (traction transformer, traction converter, traction motor – ASM or PMSM, gearbox) when designing traction and auxiliary drives of rail vehicles. Given the increasing prices of input energy and the requirement to reduce CO2 emissions from transport, the article presents a proposal for improving the efficiency of the traction drive of wheelsets in BEMU units for regional transport using two-stage axle gearboxes. The main directions of the vocational education and research in the field of development of new rail vehicles must be focused on expanding the abilities of graduates to be able to analyse in more detail, based on simulations of the digital twin of a train on a real track, the design properties of new rail vehicles and units, solutions for the transmission of traction energy and the arrangement of the traction drive of vehicles with regard to reducing the vehicle weight, the electrical energy consumption and other requirements of the life cycle cost analysis (LCC).
The increasing demand for efficient battery charging in railway vehicles is driving the development of compact, high-performance power converters. Small form-factor onboard chargers require high-frequency operation, necessitating the use of small filtering components and high efficiency to ensure thermal stability and reliability. In railway systems, optimizing power losses is crucial to minimizing the converter’s weight and size while maintaining effective passive cooling. This article presents a three-phase LLC resonant converter topology utilizing a wye-wye transformer, identified as a promising solution for achieving high efficiency, compactness, and effective power density while minimizing losses. The design considerations and operational characteristics of the LLC resonant converter are discussed, highlighting its suitability for railway applications. The findings show that this topology meets the stringent requirements for railway vehicle battery charging and enhances overall system performance. The prototype converter utilizes SiC (Silicon Carbide) technology to reduce switching losses and improve thermal performance. It has an output power rating of approximately 10.5 kW, with a regulated output voltage of 400 V, controlled by varying the switching frequency, and demonstrates an efficiency of 97.7 %.
Crowds moving through bottlenecks form a dynamical system, with its density fluctuating in time and space. The system dynamics can be learned and predicted using the Koopman operator framework. But how reliable are predictions for previously unseen crowd sizes? How significant is the impact of stochastic observations? In this work, we show that enriching the state space with head counts and using diffusion maps as part of our learning pipeline facilitates the robustness of Koopman-based surrogate models.
Numerous operational methods and related research focus on the efficient use of controlled airspace and thus on the management of its capacity. During the optimisation processes, various legislative limitations or technological constraints might appear. As the aviation industry continues to evolve, it occasionally happens that one of these pillars lags behind the other. This research focuses on a relatively underexplored aspect of using vertical profiles of air traffic service routes within the TMA Praha to optimise traffic flow in terms of flight efficiency and environmental impact.Virtual points, defining the aircraft’s vertical position limits along the given route, were computed to establish a vertical profile on already published standard departure or arrival routes. These points define the aircraft’s vertical position limits along the given route. Along with the proposal of a vertical profile, newly designed arrival and departure routes were implemented into the air traffic control simulation tool Escape Light and validated simultaneously within X-Plane simulator. Simulation studies conducted in these environments demonstrated significant fuel savings, averaging 13.2 %, with even greater savings observed in the Boeing 737-800, exceeding 25 %. These results confirm that applying vertical profiles positively impacts fuel consumption and contributes to more environmentally friendly operations.
This study analyses incidents on the D1 motorway over the period 2015–2023, with a focus on improving towing operations processes. The analysis includes a breakdown of incidents by type (accidents, technical failures), injuries and deaths, and considers seasonal variations and traffic conditions. The data show that traffic accidents account for most incidents, especially in sections with heavy traffic and difficult weather conditions. At the same time, there is an increase in the number of incidents in 2018 and 2019, while 2020 brings a temporary decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is part of a long-term project aimed at optimizing and standardizing the processes of extrication and towing activities, with the aim of streamlining interventions, minimizing traffic complications and ensuring rapid traffic recovery on key roads. Subsequent steps will focus on designing new standards for towing interventions and improving current protocols.
The aim of this article is to introduce an issue that has not yet been addressed in our region – the fire hazards of BEMU units. The methodology of the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic vehicles was used to establish the basic procedure for extinguishing batteries in railway passenger coaches.
The landing and take-off (LTO) cycle, which is used to calculate emissions of aircraft below 3 000 feet, consists of four operating modes, each of which has a standardized time duration or time-in-mode (TIM). In this paper, we model TIM values of the Approach operating mode for two aircraft types (Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A320) arriving on Runway 24 at Prague Václav Havel Airport using the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution. Predictions of the TIM values are made using the models, and the performance of each model is evaluated. The results show that for both aircraft types, the predicted TIM values lead to total emissions estimates deviating on average by 1 to 2 percent from estimates made using the real TIM values, showing good model performance. The presented approach is also shown to be beneficial in comparison with using the standard TIM value (240 s), highlighting the feasibility of further research in this area as one of the avenues of improving the LTO cycle methodology.
The VALVERDE project focuses on the investigation of the melt flow characteristics of the core melt simulant material and the subsequent development of suitable procedures and methodologies for the description of the melt flow of the simulant in a defined geometry. The main aim is to develop an experimental setup in which the melt spreading of the corium will be performed using suitable simulants. The current version of the experimental setup and the CFD simulations of the spreading of the reactor core melt simulant will be presented.
