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Highspeed Rail Challenges on The Northeast Corridor Frank Vacca May 4, 2011 HSR P Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT HSR Practicum
Highspeed Rail Challenges g p gon
The Northeast Corridor
Frank VaccaMay 4, 2011
HSR P
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT
HSR Practicum
North American Differences to Consider
•NEC Operating Characteristics•NEC Operating Characteristics
•Regulatory Environment
•Axle Loads/Impact Loads
•Vehicle/Track Interaction Issues (VTI)Vehicle/Track Interaction Issues (VTI)
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 2
Not Too DifferentNot Too Different
•Catenary•Catenary
• Structures I L do Impact Leads
• Signalso Broken Rail Protectiono Positive Train Control
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 3
Northeast CorridorNortheast Corridor
•Mixed Traffic UseMixed Traffic Useo Impact Loadingo Maintenance Window Conflictso Mai te a ce Wi dow Co icts
•Corridor Configurationo Interlocking Spacingo Interlocking Spacingo Number of Wayside TO’s
A f ROW dA•Age of ROW and Assetso Curves/GradesS b d d B ll t C diti
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 4
o Sub‐grade and Ballast Conditions
Freight Trains
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 5
Commuter Trains
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 6
Commuter TrainsHighSpeed & RegionalHighSpeed & Regional
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 7
Regulatoryegu a o y
•Positive Train Control• Positive Train Control
•Roadway Worker Protection
•Track/Structures and Signal Standards
•Crash WorthinessCrash Worthiness
•Rule of Particular Applicability
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 8
Axle Loads•NEC is a Mixed Traffic environment
•Amtrak uses six Wheel Impact Load Detector (WILD) sites to control axle loads and impactsp
• 286,000 pound freight axle loads permitted
Th t ti l d i t i h h i•The static load environment is much heavier than HSR abroad
•Higher speeds result in shock damage to IJs, joints and other special track work
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 9
Average Vertical LoadsE INEC WILD Sites
60
40
50
34 MPH 114 MPH 140 MPH 74 MPH
30
40
DynamicWheel Load
Statich l d
10
20 Wheel Load
0
Empty Freight Loaded Freight Acela Acela Comm
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 10
Peak Vertical Loads NEC WILD Sites
140
100
120 34 MPH 200 MPH 114 MPH 140 MPH 74 MPH
60
80PeakWheel Load
St ti
20
40
StaticWheel Load
0
EmptyFreight
LoadedFreight
Europeanlimit
Acela Acela Comm
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 11
g g
VTI IssuesVTI Issues
•How Rolling Stock Behaves on a Segment of•How Rolling Stock Behaves on a Segment of Tracko Ride QualityQ yo Wheel & Rail Maintenanceo Truck Hunting
•Defectso Combination of Profile and Alignmento Combination of Profile and Alignmento Short & Long Warps
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 12
Raw Geometry Car Data from VTI blProblem Site
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 13
Filtered Data from VTI Problem SiteHarmonics
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 14
North American Highspeed RailNorth American Highspeed Rail
•Regulatory Environment = Adaptation•Regulatory Environment Adaptation
• Impact Loads = Greater Maintenance
•VTI Issues = Greater concern for mixed traffic/operating characteristics/passenger ride
fcomfort
•NEC = Complexity in meeting everyone’s expectations for rail
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 15
Thank You
Engineering THE TRAVEL SOLUTION FOR OUR TIME: COMMUNITY ~ MOBILITY ~ ENVIRONMENT 16
