RSSB2741 - T1159- Evaluating variability in train driving under different adhesion conditions and Supplier Details

RSSB is holding a supplier day for this tender on Monday 22nd October at 16:30 at RSSB's offices in London.

Should you wish to attend please email the following email address by COP Friday 19th:

Shareditt@rssb.co.uk

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Low adhesion in the wheel/rail interface is a persistent problem that is faced by the GB railway. The GB rail industry invests considerable resource to manage adhesion but, despite these efforts, low adhesion issues have a significant impact on industry and wider society.

A previous RSSB research project Trial of Sander Configurations and Sand Laying Rates (T1107) delivered conclusive findings of the relative performance of different sander configurations in low adhesion conditions. This was achieved using a new method to evaluate the underlying wheel/rail adhesion level experienced by the train.

RSSB is now working with West Midlands Trains and a consortium of suppliers on a follow-on project (Piloting Double Variable Rate Sanders on the GB Main Line (IMP-T1107)) to use these findings on in-service trains. It will use the same approach to measure the effectiveness of enhanced sanders on Class 323 units running along the Birmingham Cross-City Line. The Cross-City Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for 32 miles (51 km) from Redditch, and Bromsgrove to Lichfield, via Birmingham New Street. It carries an intense metro-type service operated by 26 Class 323 Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) with over 20 station stops. The leafy nature of the line means it suffers from a number of low adhesion high risk sites and it is well documented that the service performance suffers during the autumn leaf-fall season.

The data gathered on six Class 323 control units over autumn 2018 to autumn 2019 on the Cross-City Line offers the opportunity to also analyse:

This project directly supports the 'Driver Behaviours' workstream, which constitutes part of the ADHEsion REsearch challenge (ADHERE), which sets out to achieve 'adhesion conditions that are unaffected by and independent of the weather and climate'.

ADHERE was developed by RSSB with the Adhesion Research Group (ARG ) and focuses on five key workstreams:

3. Premises and hypotheses

This project aims to test the following premises and hypotheses:

• Driving under low adhesion conditions during the autumn leaf fall period is believed to lead to more driving variability in drivers taking power, permissible line speed/maximum attainable train speed and braking applications than driving under 'good' adhesion conditions on a dry day outside of the autumn period