railway technology

Ghent University

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics

Academic Year 2019-2020

prof. H. Bonne

chapter 1 - introduction page 1

1 Introduction
1.1 foreword

Railway engineering is a nice utilisation of technology in the broad sense of the word.
Electromechanics, civil engineering, electronics and other branches of technology are
necessary in order to guarantee a safe and efficient operation of trains.

This course will elaborate on the technology behind this operation. Occasionally, a sidestep
will be taken to related means of transport, such as tram, metro, etc.

Safety is an important aspect of railway exploitation. Throughout the course, safety will be
discussed in all its facets.

Occasionally, history will be consulted. The reader only needs to consider this as an
illustration.

This written account is merely meant as a support of the lectures to the subject Railway
engineering at Ghent University. Any other use is not allowed.

1.2 a short history of the train

Since the sixteenth century horses drew carriages with wooden wheels on wooden rails. In
comparison with sandy or muddy roads, the rolling resistance was significantly lower.

In 1776 cast iron rails and wheels were introduced. In 1789 William Jessup used flanged
wheels in order to improve conduction on the rails.

The steam engine was crucial to the development of the railways. It delivered the power to
move heavy loads.

In 1804 the first tram drove on steam in Wales for the transport of iron ore. Cast iron rails
frequently led to breaks. Therefore rolled iron was introduced.

George Stephenson developed the first steam locomotive that transported goods on a
railway on a frequent schedule. The demand for passenger transport was large as well.
Stephenson’s locomotive hauled six coal waggons and twenty-one coaches for 450
passengers over a distance of a little more than 14 kilometres in approximately one hour.

After Belgium separated from the Netherlands in 1830, Antwerp no longer had a guaranteed
water connection. Leopold I decided to construct a large railway network in order to fill up this
void. On May the 5th 1835, the first train on the Belgian mainland drove with ‘De Pijl’ (‘The
Arrow’) as the first locomotive: from Mechelen to Brussels. The concept as it had been
developed in the United Kingdom, was adopted, including driving on the left. The location of
the first milestone of the Belgian network is still present in Mechelen station. In Belgium,
there is a total of 3,595 km of railways with a track gauge of 1,435 mm, of which 2,934 km is
electrified. 2,563 kilometres are double track railways. The railways in Belgium are operated
by Infrabel. The operation is mainly in the hands of NMBS (the national railway company of
Belgium).

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1.3 the train as a means of transport

1.3.1 infrastructure

table 1 shows the evolution of the transport infrastructure in Belgium since 1970 (in km). This
infrastructure is shared for goods as well as passengers.

Transport infrastructure (km) 1970 1980 1990 2000 2008

Roads 93,950 124,148 139,076 147,121 153,595
Railways 4,165 3,971 3,479 3,471 3,513
Waterways 1,553 1,510 1,515 1,534 1,516
table 1: evolution of available transport infrastructure

In 1970 the railways accounted for a little more than 4% of the road network. In 2008 this
was a little over 2%.

Since the end of the 80’s, much money has been invested in high speed lines (figure 1).
Today, the intended high speed network in Belgium has been realised with an axis to London
and Paris, an axis to Cologne and an axis to Amsterdam.

figure 1: evolution of investments in railway infrastructure (in million euros)

1.3.2 passenger transport

109 passengerkm/year per means of

transportation 1995 2000 2006 2007 2008
Road 99.15 106.54 111.05 113.38 112.23
Motorways 31.32 35.18 37.86 39.61 39.49
Provincial roads 43.71 46.34 47.66 48.04 47.09
Municipal roads 24.12 25.02 25.53 25.73 25.65
Train 6.74 7.73 9.61 9.93 10.40
Bus, tram and metro 13.92 14.17 19.03 21.19 21.37
Total 119.81 128.44 139.69 144.50 144.00
table 2: evolution of the passengers transport in Belgium for the different means of
transportation

It can be deducted from table 2 that the train can account for 7 % of the total passenger
transport (2008), despite the fact that only 2 % of the road infrastructure is meant for train

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traffic. For commuter traffic alone, the train can account for 16.6% of all passenger traffic
(2008).

Furthermore, the passenger transport in

Belgium has increased, and the train has
taken up a larger part as well compared to
other means of transport (period 1995-2008).

figure 2 shows the distribution of passenger-

kilometre per means of transportation in 2008.

figure 2: distribution over the different

means of transportations

For a passenger, these are the

most important factors he takes into
account when opting for a public
means of transport: price, duration
of the ride from one point to another
and the travelling comfort.

For short distances, the duration

time from one point to another by
train is favourable (figure 3). For
intermediate distances, the HST
offers a faster alternative. In France
there’s a commercial battle between
the HST and the airplane for
customers that take a journey of 4
hours.
figure 3: travelling time from one point to another per
means of transportation

The increasing use of

the train is a European
phenomenon (figure 4),
with Belgium on top.

figure 4: evolution of passenger-kilometre in Europe (1999 = 100%)

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figure 5: primary energy consumption passenger transport

The primary energy consumption to transport one person one kilometre is the lowest for
trains (figure 5). The primary energy consumption is the quantity of energy that is needed in
its unmodified fossil form in order to perform the transport. Each time a largely populated
train and a less largely populated train are considered. In literature, diverse figures can be
found. The energy performance of the different modes in general is the same. The train also
is significantly better in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, fine particles, NOx and SOx.

Generally spoken, the current traction systems are much more economical compared to
steam traction, which produced 3 times more primary energy per passenger-kilometre and
even 9 times more for goods trains.

When trains are used by a

large number of people,
governments help bear the
costs. The last few years the
number of trains has increased
and also, more importantly, the
number of people using these
trains (figure 6). This explains
why the subsidy per driven
passenger-kilometre
decreases.

In 2008 government’s
subsidies accounted for 46%
of the NMBS group’s turnover.
figure 6: evolution of government subsidies in Belgium
The train is a relatively safe means of transport. table 3 shows average figures of the number
of dead per billion passenger-kilometres per means of transportation. The figures tell us
something about the individual risk. The collective risk is larger for each means of
transportation. The airplane has proven to be the safest means of transport, followed by the
train and the car. Per kilometre, probability to die in a car is 5 times higher than in a train.
One of the largest causes of death in trains are the collisions, especially at railway crossings.

Means of transport Number of dead per billion passenger-

kilometres
airplane 0.05
train 0.2
car 10
table 3: dead per billion passenger-kilometres

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Most dead are a result of accidents at railway crossings or accidents on the rails. Only a
small amount of dead (9%) are passengers in the train.

1.3.3 Goods transport

figure 7 shows that the

goods transport has
increased significantly the
last few years, but also that
the use of the train
accounts for only a small
percentage of the used
means of transportation
(Belgium, tkm).

In 2007 the goods transport

per train accounted for 10%
of the total goods transport.
figure 7: relative evolution goods transport per mode

The goods transport in

Europe has slightly
increased over the last
years (figure 8). Belgium
more or less follows the
average European trend.

figure 8: evolution of tkm in Europe (1999 = 100%)

The primary energy consumption needed to transport one tonne one kilometre over land, is
very low for trains compared to other means of transport (figure 9).

figure 9: energy consumption of different means of transportations for goods (log-scale)

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1.3.4 the train worldwide

Worldwide, there is approximately 1.4 Mkm

of railway.

60% of all railways use the standard gauge

with a width of 1,435 mm (figure 10). A
number of countries still use broad gauge:
Russia, amongst others (especially 1,520
mm), and, partially, India (1,676 mm). A
minority of the railways consist of narrow
gauge (1,067 mm or less), especially in
South-Africa and also in India. The
construction of narrow gauge in mountainous
areas is less expensive.

figure 10: distribution of track gauge

The largest railway

network is located in the
USA, with 300,000 km
(figure 11). It is largely
used for goods
transport. As a result
less than 1% of the
network is electrified.
The entire network is
managed by more than
200 different operators,
which is the largest
number of operators in
one country.

In length of the
networks, the USA,
China, India, Russia
and Canada own in
total more than half of
the world’s railways.

figure 11: distribution of the length of the network

Russia also is the country with the largest operator: Rossiiskie Zheleznie Dorogni (RZD),
which owns 87,157 km.

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A little more than 20% of all
railways is electrified.

The country with the largest

electrified network is Russia,
with 40,000 km (figure 12). A
little more than half runs on AC
25 kV 50 Hz, the other half on
DC 3 kV. After Russia, we find
India and China.

figure 12: distribution of the electrified networks

The most commonly used

electrical traction system is AC
25 kV 50Hz (figure 13). It can be
found worldwide.

The DC 3 kV traction system can

be found especially in European
countries that electrified their
networks in an early stage of the
technological evolution.

The third largest system is AC 15

kV 16,7 Hz, mainly used in
German-speaking countries and
in Scandinavia.

figure 13: distribution of the electrical traction systems

Switzerland (5,580 km) and Germany (43,881 km) have the largest number of railways in
kilometres per square kilometre of land area. In Switzerland, 85% of the network is
electrified. In Germany only 46% is electrified, which is a result of the GDR.

1.4 the future

On different locations in the world, new railways are constructed, especially in China, the
Middle East and South-America. There are also a number of very ambitious projects. One of
them is the plan to construct an intercontinental railway connection between the USA and
Asia by the year 2030. The course would be 6,000 km long and run from the USA through
Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait to Siberia. The crossing of the Bering Strait is still unsure:
a dam, bridge or tunnel …

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