The universities’ centre for railway systems research
Applying computational simulation to
control railway operational costs
Robert Watson, 2nd year of PhD, Imperial College London
(presented on behalf of Robert by Dr. Elias Kassa)
Supervisor: Professor Rod Smith
7th July 2010
Contents
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Funding of the UK railway
Funding increase from
£6bn in 2000-01 to over
£11bn in 2008-09.
Increase in the
proportion of funding
coming from the
government from approx.
25% in 2000-01 to almost
50% in 2008-09.
Source: ‘Rail Value for Money’, Department for Transport / Office of Rail
Regulation Scoping Study Report, Version 1.1, 31st March 2010.
Reason Consequence Preferred future
Since privatisation in the Costs per passenger Significantly reducing
early 1990s, costs have train-km are 40% higher the cost base to develop
been increasing faster than those at the time of services.
than revenues. privatisation.
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
Train energy simulator
Developed by the author in: Fuel / energy cons.
Train data
Control module Traction / braking Vehicle module
FT
FR θ
Route data
a; v a.dt; s v.dt
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies on routes
• An automated iterative scheme was developed within the Train Energy Simulator, whereby
the maximum speed and the coasting point between each station can be varied, so that the
train just arrives at the station according to the timetable.
• The scheme was used to locate coasting boards on First Great Western (FGW) and First
ScotRail routes.
Coast points Benefits
• Proposed coasting points were
put to trial on FGW routes and
shown to be viable.
• Fuel savings of up to 18% were
obtained with runs employing
coasting, when compared with ‘flat-
out’ runs.
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
Factors affecting the energy consumption of a future UK high-speed line
Intro Some outputs
The Train Energy Simulator was used to estimate the energy
consumption of a future UK high-speed rail line between
London and Birmingham. Sensitivity studies were carried out
to investigate the effect various parameters have on the energy
consumption of a journey.
The work was carried out with High Speed 2 Ltd and published
online at: http://www.hs2.org.uk/assets/x/56774
Analysis
Effect of the number of stops Effect of top speed and comparison with the car
Approx. 3-6% difference for an extra stop
5000
1 person per car
consumption (kWh)
Energy consumption per passenger-km
4800 0.6
Net energy
4600
0.5
4400
[kWh/passenger-km]
4200 0.4
4000 0.3 360 km/h 2 persons per car
Eus-Bir Eus-Bir Bir-Eus Bir-Eus
2 stops 3 stops 2 stops 3 stops 300 km/h 3 persons per car
Scenario 0.2
Performance against other trains – other train data from RSSB 200 km/h
4 persons per car
0.1 70% loading
Variation dependent 100 km/h for the train
HS2 train - low on max. speed and 0
HS2 train - high number of stops
Shinkansen 700 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Due to low mass, 270
TGV PBKA Journey time [mins]
km/h, and packed
TGV - Reseau 2N
seating
ICE 3
Energy drawn from the line including APS
Eurostar
Energy consumed at the wheel
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 Fuel energy consumed at power station
Energy consumption (kWh/seat-km)
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Computational simulation to reduce the
maintenance cost of S&C
Dynamic modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better understand the
resultant dynamic wheel rail forces
• In the UK there are about 21 000 S&Cs in the 31 115 km mainline railway infrastructure.
• In year 2009/10, Network Rail has used ca. 17 % of the £390M track maintenance budget and
ca. 25 % of the £700M track renewal budget on S&Cs.
• There have been several cases of premature failure of obtuse crossings on the rail network.
• Currently, for the design of crossings, the peak vertical forces in the transfer zone are
estimated using the P2 force criterion of a train travelling over a dipped rail joint.
• The MBS dynamics program SIMPACK is being used to better estimate the forces and
understand their effects.
Source: SIMPACK training – Rail Switches
• Funding of the UK railway
• Aspects of reducing the operational cost of the UK railway:
Computational simulation to reduce the energy cost
- Train energy simulator
- Formulation of energy-efficient driving strategies
- Factors affecting the energy consumption of future UK high-speed rail
Computational simulation to reduce the maintenance cost of S&C
- Modelling of a train passing over an obtuse crossing to better
understand the resultant dynamic wheel/rail forces
• Completion of the PhD
Completion of the PhD
• Review of costs incurred by the UK railway industry, and in particular where fuel /
energy and S&C sit within this.
• Further analysis of the potential for coasting as an energy-efficient driving strategy:
- The effects, which for example speed, gradient and timetabling have on the
ability to coast, will be investigated.
- How does such a driving strategy compare with other methods to reduce the
energy consumption, for example through reduced mass and hybrid
technology?
• Development of dynamic model in SIMPACK of train / track interaction at obtuse
crossings to:
- Better estimate the force, exerted on the crossing nose.
- Investigate how various conditions, for example voiding, may affect the size of
this force and the resultant stress in the crossing (using FEM).
• Writing up of thesis.
Thank you
Please feel free to get in touch with any comments:
Email: r.watson08@imperial.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7594 7091