CENG 5412 – Railway Engineering

Anteneh Zewdu (MSc) wirelesant@[Link]

2016
 Chapter 1. Basics of Railway
Contents
 Railway Transport system
 Historic development of railway
 Components of railway
 General principle for railway construction and development
 Railway classification and items of Main Technical Standards
 Highlight on railway signaling, control, communication and OCS

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 1.1 Railway Transport System
“Rail transport refers to the land transport of people or goods along guided
paths called railways. A railway consists of two parallel rail tracks at a fixed
distance (gauge) apart, usually made of steel and mounted upon cross beams
called ties or sleepers”
The main characteristic of Rail transport is the guided movement of wheels on
tracks through a metal-to-metal contact.

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Advantages of Railway Transport Disadvantages of Railway Transport
 Ability to transport high volumes Not so profitable considering the initial investment
 Capability to join several units into trains and operation costs
 Most efficient energy consumer Cannot support steep gradient and sharp curves
 Minimum friction and minimum air resistance
Low flexibility in terms of network operations
 Environmentally friendly Door to door service is impossible due to one degree
 compared to other modes for same traffic of freedom
 Safest mode of land transport with the lowest Severity of accidents is high
accident rate
Security threat as it is prone to attacks
 Limited use of space compared to large transport
capacity
 High degree of automation and management

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 1.2 Historical development of Railway
Source: [Link]

600 BC - Ship Track way in Ancient Rome and Greek

1550’s – Hand propelled tubs in Germany

1630- Wagon roads for coal mines pulled by horse carts

in Beaumont, England

1776 – Fist cast iron rails on timber ties laid in tram

ways in England

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 th
The 19 century …
1807 – first passenger train ran from Swasea to
Mumbles and first railway station

1830 – The first railway in the US opens with hardwood

rail topped with iron

1857 – Steel rails first used in Britain

1863 – First underground railway opened in

London

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 th
20 century and onwards . . .
1906 – First use of concrete sleepers in Germany

1937-41 – Magnetic levitation (maglev) trains patent

awarded to a Germany inventor in US

1959 – Construction of the bullet train in Tokyo, Japan

Post WWII – Welded rail, heavier rail-profiles, slab track,

innovative elastic fastenings, mechanization of maintenance

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 Railway Transport in Ethiopia

2007-
1897- National
Cons Railway Dev
trn launched by
bega 1906- CoM
n firm went 1917- Regulation No.
from bankrupt and the line 141/2007 and
Djibo construction reached ERC
uti halted A.A established

1901- 1908- Compagnie 2006-

first de Chemin de Fer Agreement
commerci Franco-Ethiopien with Italian
al service de Jibuti à Addis Company
from Abeba took over Consta to
Djibouti to and began rehabilitate
Dire Dawa reconstruction the line

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 Characteristics of the Old railway line
 1000 mm gauge and diesel traction
 Owned and administered by the governments of Djibouti and
Ethiopia
 781km – 681 in Ethiopia and 100 in Djibouti)
 Suffers from old-age, lack of spares, high operating cost, worn out
track, no Locomotives, low capacity

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 The New National Network
5000 km of national railway line
Standard Gauge
 (1435 mm)

Electric Traction
High capacity
 25 ton/axle

High speed
 120 -160 km/hr for passenger and 80 -120
km/hr for freight

Concrete sleeper
 160cm X20.5cmX22cm

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Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit System
 34km of Fully electrified LRT
for Addis Ababa
 Standard Gauge (1.435
meters) and double track for
the whole route
 Capacity: 80,000 PPH
(Passenger/hr)
 Headway: 6min with a
potential of reducing to 90secs
 Passenger-km based fare
system
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 1.3 Components of Railway
Power Supply

Rolling Stock

Signal and Communication

Permanent Infrastructure

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 Components of Railway
 Railway is a permanent way composed of subway, bridge ,culvert, tunnel,
track, station, switches etc.
 In order to provide smooth and stable geometry state, earth structures
shall be built by cutting and filling the ground.
 For spanning rivers or gorges, bridges or culverts shall be built.
 For pass through mountains, mountains shall be excavated to construct
tunnels.
 For trains passing and overtaking, stations shall be built.
 As for unfavorable geologic body which is difficult to detour, engineering
improvement measures shall be taken in order to ensure operation
safety.

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 The Civil Works
Earthwork

Tunnel
Bridge

Station

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 1.4 General principle for railway construction and development
a) Based on the strategies of national economy  Actively adopting mature,
and social development and the demands of advanced, economic, practical
territorial development, & reliable technologies and
b) National defense emphasizing comprehensive
integration of technologies
c) Transport market
 Insisting on the principle of
d) Highlighting key areas and strengthening weak using optimized system to
links maximize comprehensive
e) Coordinated development with other traffic and benefit
transport modes and relevant industries such as  Design year
energy industry.
f) Oriented by market, centered with benefit and
on the premise of transport safety

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 1.5 Railway classification and items of Main Technical Standards
Depending on the traffic railway lines
Bases for railway classification include: are classified as
axle load of rolling stock, maximum
 Passenger line
running speed, volume of passenger
and goods traffic, designed speed, and  Mixed Line
significance of railway construction.  Freight Line
Even though classifications vary around
Maximum speed is the major technical the world, most commonly, new lines
parameter to determine the are classified into Class I to IV based on
 Radius of horizontal & vertical curves  The role in railway network
 Length of transition curves  Properties
 Design speed of passenger train and
 The type of track
 Volume of passenger and fright traffic

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 Items Of Main Technical Standards
Main technical standards includes the basic standards and types of railway facilities,
which shall give obvious influence on the traffic capacity, construction cost, operation
quality, and the selection of other equipment standards.
For a mixed traffic line For a passenger traffic line
o Ruling grade o Designed speed
o Minimum radius of curvature o Distance between centers of main line tracks
o Available length of arrival & departure o Minimum plane curve radius
o Kind of energy supply o Maximum gradient
o Types of locomotives o Available length of arrival and departure line
o Tonnage rating o Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) type
o Locomotive routing and o Train operation control and command
o Type of blocking. o Minimum head

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 1.6 Highlight on railway signaling, control, communication and OCS

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Railway Signaling Principles
The purpose of signaling is primarily to control and regulate the movement of trains safely and efficiently.
Signaling includes the use and working of signals, points, block instruments, and other allied equipment in
a predetermined manner for the safe and efficient running of trains.
Signaling enables the movement of trains to be controlled in such a way that the existing tracks are
utilized to the maximum.
The objectives of signaling are as follows
 To regulate the movement of trains so that they run safely at maximum permissible speeds.
 To maintain a safe distance between trains that are running on the same line in the same direction.
 To ensure the safety of two or more trains that have to cross or approach each other.
 To provide facilities for safe and efficient shunting.
 To regulate the arrival and departure of trains from the station yard.
 To guide the trains to run at restricted speeds during the maintenance and repair of tracks.
 To ensure the safety of the train when it comes in contact with road traffic at level crossings.

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Signaling … cont’d
Signals have aspects and indications
 Aspect is the visual appearance of the signal
 Indication is the meaning

 Signals are used to indicate one or more of the following:

 The line ahead is clear (free of any obstruction) or blocked
 The driver has permission to proceed
 Switches are set correctly
 Which way points are set
 The speed the train may travel
 The state of the next signal

Signals can be placed:

 At the start of a section of track
 On the approach to a movable item of infrastructure, such as switches
 In advance of other signals
 On the approach to a level crossing
 Ahead of platforms or other places that trains are likely to be stopped

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Classification of Signals
Audible
Signals Hand Signals
Caution
Visible
Indicators Colored
Fixed Signals
Light
Stop Signals
Semaphores

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 Control of movement of trains
• One of the basic objectives of signaling is to control the movement of trains with a
view to ensure safety by preventing accidents
• To achieve this goal, a particular system of working should be adopted keeping in
view three important aspects i.e. safety, speed and traffic density of operation

The various systems of controlling the movement of trains are:

i. One engine only system vi. Automatic block system

ii. Following train/time interval system [Link] Traffic Control (CTC)
iii. Pilot guard system system
iv. Train staff & ticket system [Link] Train Control (ATC)
v. Absolute block system system

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 End of Chapter 1

Acknowledgement
Course materials by Mequanint Mulgeta of AAiT has
been very helpful in preparing slides for this course.

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