| Abstract | The push for increased efficiency is driving railways towards the use of longer trains. The benefits of long trains include reduced fuel consumption, capital maintenance and labour savings. While these advantages of long trains are considerable, they are not without added cost and risk. When long trains include distributed power, the improved air pressure in the braking lines reduces drag braking, while better distribution of in-train forces reduces curving resistance, both further improving fuel economy. With high trailing tonnage, the modern long trains generate much higher in-train draft and buff force. The risk to “jackknife” or “stringline” an empty car off the track is much higher for trains nowadays than 30 years ago. Since the publication of the Train Makeup Manual by the Association of America Railroads (AAR) in 1990s, the industry has developed many new rules to guide safe operation of longer trains. A successful example is the TrAM (Train Area Marshaling) system developed by Canadian Pacific Railway. However, the in-train force limit behind these rules has remained to be static or quasi-static similar to what is used in the AAR’s Train Makeup Manual, without including effects of curvature, speed, track perturbation and car types etc. |
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