Work Plan

Governance Structure of the project

WP1 Derailment impact

This work package will provide a comprehensive review of existing freight derailments including combined causal effects. Existing derailment data will be used as the benchmark position and analysed to provide valuable information on the root causes of freight derailments and subsequent severity of impacts. As part of the initial benchmarking the work previously undertaken by the European Rail Agency (ERA/2010/SAF/OP/01), which examines some of the existing technical and operational measures will also be included. Current monitoring technologies and techniques in relation to both freight vehicles and infrastructure (wayside) will also be included to determine what causal effects are currently being monitored and the effectiveness of these technologies in relation to freight operation and safety. The impact of derailment on railway operation will also be assessed to understand the financial implications for damage to vehicles/infrastructure, disruption and delays.

WP2: Freight Demand & Operation

This work package will evaluate trends for the railway freight system of the future towards the freight target system of 2050. This will embrace future European rail policy and strategy for freight and the likely impact on forward operation and technologies. Future trends for movement and loading of freight, logistics and sector economic aspects will be assessed as part of the review to support forward derailment scenarios based on the impact analysis from WP1, and to ensure that the approach embraces the forward freight vision. Freight vehicles and fleet operation including loading aspects will also be examined for existing and forward requirements. A future oriented analysis of costs and benefits of reducing or even mitigating derailments or reducing its impacts is only possible if it is known, how the future rail freight market (commodities, types of wagons, operational patterns, etc.) will develop, this is the context of this Work Package.

WP3: Derailment Analysis

This work package will identify and evaluate through simulation and analysis the key contributory factors associated with derailment including combined causal effects for the freight vehicle and track system. The study will evaluate these factors to provide cost effective solutions to reduce or eliminate the propensity for derailment and provide improved levels of safety. Reductions in derailments will be quantified in relation to current incidents and consequences and will seek to demonstrate a step change in prevention. Derailment scenarios will be assessed based on existing benchmark analysis to determine the extent of causal effects to support future improvements. A number of derailment mechanisms and influencing factors will be evaluated, undertaken for both vehicle and track based on an understanding of the ‘total’ integrated freight system.

WP4: Inspection & Monitoring Techniques

This work package will provide a detailed review and critical assessment of current inspecting and monitoring techniques related to derailment prevention and mitigation. Inspection and monitoring will be considered for both the freight vehicle and track aspects and the interaction, the ‘freight system’. The technology assessment will also include the existing technical solutions currently available for train ID capturing and consequent association to the inspecting/monitoring tasks. Based on the findings in previous work packages relevant cost effective solutions to improve the existing inspection and monitoring systems will be developed including functional and operational requirements.

WP5: Integration of Monitoring Techniques

This work package will develop and integrate different wayside and onboard monitoring concepts (including vehicle identification) related to derailment prevention and mitigation purposes into railway operation. Monitoring concepts includes the description how to integrate various monitoring systems and techniques into the wider railway system. The monitoring concepts contain aspects such as interfaces, SIL definitions, protocols, data transfer, data base concepts, alerts and action plans etc. Suitable concepts are to be developed and selected on the basis of RAMS and LCC-analysis. This leads to information about normalized costs in connection with purchasing, operating and maintaining of monitoring devices in correlation with assessment of safety enhancement. On this basis different business cases are developed in order to support information for wider industrial implementation.

WP6: Field Testing & Evaluation

This work package will validate through testing on selected test sites that the proposed changes to the freight system reduce the propensity for derailment and improve safety. To validate the freight system improvements, suitable test location(s) will be instrumented for both track and freight vehicle(s) and to support measurement of the combined interactions. During the tests both existing and new technologies including telemetry and monitoring outputs will be evaluated to determine the step changes in safety performance required for derailment prevention. The results of the test will where relevant provide feedback to the derailment analysis to validate the initial improvements and modelling. This will ensure that the forward recommendations have been effectively delivered.

WP7: Operational Assessment & Recommendations

This work package will provide a summary of the key derailment findings and use RAMS analysis for best and worst case scenarios to identify the impact of vehicle monitoring on the reliability, availability and safety of the railway system. Economical assessment of monitoring concepts including migration with regard to LCC and social economic effects and risk assessment for relevant vehicle states and monitoring scenarios will be undertaken. An estimation of derailment reduction and impact for the various monitoring concepts is provided. The work package will derive input guideline for using future monitoring concepts for detection of derailment risks and identify of maintenance needs.

WP8: Dissemination & Exploitation

This work package will ensure that the findings of the research are widely disseminated to various stakeholders, and that new products and technologies are fully exploited by the industry. This will be undertaken by the consortium members who already form a wide geographical, demographic and industrial spread across Europe. UIC are also part of the consortium and will be able to provide assistance in promoting and disseminating the findings of the research on a pan European and International basis. Outreach and marketing of the research findings will occur throughout the project to a wide variety of stakeholders and engineers to ensure industry awareness.

In concluding the research findings recommendation for improvements to existing European standards for freight operation will be assessed and provided. The research will also be reported in relation to the forward freight target system for 2050 and how the findings of the research will benefit economic and technological developments in future freight operation.

WP9: Project Co-ordination

The main objectives of this work package are to implement and maintain the administrative management infrastructure of the project and to provide the financial and contractual management of the consortium, including the maintenance of the Consortium Agreement.