2023-10-17 22:00:00
“Pay attention to the feel-good factor.”
What is particularly important today and in the future is that train stations become mobility hubs that are equipped with bicycle parking spaces, e-car charging options and/or a good bus connection and, in the best case, a car sharing station. “Changing must be easy and smooth and there must be consistent tickets,” says Matthias Landgraf, a researcher at the institute, explaining the requirements of the future. “In addition, we have to pay particular attention to safety and the feel-good factor in order to get people excited about the railway.”
Energy-efficient maintenance of the railway network is being researched
In addition to evaluating and calculating railway lines, the institute also deals with energy-efficient maintenance of the railway network. Under the title “Fossil-free Track Work” we are investigating how the drives of heavy track construction machines, which are used to maintain and renew rails and tracks, could be operated in an environmentally friendly manner and without fossil fuels in the future. The construction and maintenance machines for railway networks are of their own caliber: a track construction machine can be several hundred meters long, work continuously and carry out several work steps simultaneously – for example, renewing the track substructure. And diesel powered.
Such highly specialized construction machines are very resource-intensive in operation and maintenance and at the same time – like everything in the railway sector – designed for a long service life. “You can’t just throw in an innovation here. It’s all the more important to use the existing vehicles as efficiently and resource-savingly as possible, as long as we don’t have alternatively powered construction vehicles. Sending diesel-guzzling track construction vehicles around the country in an uncoordinated manner is expensive in several respects fits badly into the overall picture of environmentally friendly railways,” says Matthias Landgraf.
The topic of lightweight construction is also an important future field in the railway sector.
“Even if the railway is not traditionally the first thing associated with the topic,” says Peter Brunnhofer. At the Institute for Structural Durability and Rail Vehicle Technology, he heads the so-called vibration test hall. There, train components and entire chassis are tested for their resilience and longevity. “Of course, we still focus on steel – carbon and other lightweight materials are comparatively less suitable for safety-critical components that can withstand the 30 to 40 years of tough daily operation that a train set is in operation,” says Brunnhofer. Nevertheless, it is crucial to make the chassis ever lighter. Because: The less weight the vehicle itself has, the less strain it places on the railway infrastructure and the more cargo can be transported at the same time.
“In addition to lightweight construction, it is particularly important to automate the monitoring of components and thereby optimize maintenance intervals,” explains institute director Martin Leitner. For example, as part of the long-term cooperation with the industrial company Siemens Mobility, a particularly light wheelset shaft was designed that integrated a monitoring system. There is overpressure inside the wheelset shaft – if a crack occurs, the pressure drops due to the air outlet and the system sounds an alarm. “A crack itself does not have to be immediately critical for failure, but it must be monitored so that if necessary it can be remedied immediately or as part of routine maintenance,” says Leitner. “The goal is to move from predetermined maintenance intervals to event-related repairs or targeted maintenance planning.”
Charge electric cars on motorail trains with electricity from the overhead line
Railway research even has a particularly innovative solution to the range problem of electric cars and the increasing load on the power grid due to the increasing need for charging: electric cars on car trains could be charged with electricity from the overhead line during the train journey. After arriving at the destination station you could continue driving with a full battery. This would save you long car journeys with multiple charging breaks, travel more energy-efficiently and require a smaller battery. This would bring significant improvements both in terms of vehicle pricing and in terms of the environment. If the railway’s power grid or the braking energy of a train is used to charge electric cars, this also reduces the load on the public power grid, which can currently use any relief due to the expansion of volatile sources. The project team is currently evaluating, together with the traffic planning company verkehrplus, which use cases RailCharge really makes sense for. Due to the journey to the train station and the loading and unloading times with current options, there is likely to be little interest in replacing a 45-minute commuter route with a train with a charging function. There is already a lot of potential for holiday trains, generally longer routes with a journey time of around three hours or a works railway.
Research projects related to railways
In the research network “Research Cluster Railway Systems” brings together railway-relevant institutes at Graz University of Technology, railway operators and industry as well as research companies. Those taking part include Voestalpine, ÖBB, Siemens Mobility Austria and Virtual Vehicle.
In the centre The topics covered are rail vehicle technology, rail infrastructure and rail operations. More efficient trains, resource-saving new rail construction using digitalization and virtual twins, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions are the main goals.
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