For years, American freight railroads have attempted to eliminate freight train crew injuries when applying and releasing freight car hand brakes. Currently, a person has to crank a handle or turn a wheel while in ergonomically awkward positions to apply a hand brake. If the operator slips or the brake’s mechanisms slip, injuries occur. Also, there are inherent safety issues with the climbing of ladders or steps to operate the brake and the need for going in-between cars to access the brakes. Additionally, today’s hand brakes are applied manually to varying degrees because there is no indicator to tell the crew that the hand brake is fully applied. Many times the hand brake is over applied and becomes damaged. Moreover, a hand brake that is not released upon train movement leads to wheel flats that damage the car, lading, and the track. Wheel set replacement is one of the most costly remediation activities on the railroad and damaged track adversely affects equipment and operations. With the objective of reducing or completely eliminating the issues mentioned above, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has sponsored the development of an ‘Electrically Driven Set & Release Hand Brake’ (EDHB). Under this effort, Sharma & Associates, Inc. (SA) has conducted research into related concepts/products conceptualized and evaluated different arrangements selected a promising concept and developed a prototype. Functional laboratory demonstration tests have been conducted on the prototype. Future plans include working with the industry in developing and implementing performance and testing specifications for the EDHB, and validating the design through lab and field-testing.

Freight train switching operations involve significant manual operations creating a safety hazard for the train crew and resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities every year. There is a need to develop, test, and deploy advanced devices that enable automation and improve the safety and efficiency of freight train switching operations. With that goal in mind, the Federal Railroad Administration has funded multiple projects aimed at developing these advanced devices. This paper presents three advanced devices — Remote Controlled Cut Lever, Remote Controlled Angle Cock, and Hand Brake Release Sensor — that will bring the industry one step closer to safer, more efficient and automated freight train switching operations. These devices were tested extensively in a laboratory and in a rail-yard environment and work is under way for testing these devices in a mainline operation.

The current freight railroad operations are restricted to a maximum speed of 80 mph partly due to lateral instability of conventional freight trucks at higher speeds. The three-piece truck, a workhorse of the railroad industry for over 100 years, and its variations are susceptible to hunt at 50–55 mph when empty and 90–100 mph in loaded conditions. Design attempts to increase high-speed stability generally lead to diminished curving performance and increased risk of derailment. In this paper we describe a true pendulum suspension based freight truck that is designed to achieve stable operations up to 150 mph without compromising curving performance. The truck’s performance has been analyzed using an industry standard vehicle dynamics simulation tool. The AAR MSRP M-1001 Chapter 11 ‘Service-Worthiness Tests and Analyses For New Freight Cars’ were used to qualify the design where applicable. Traditional tread brakes are supplemented with axle-mounted disc brakes to provide safe braking capabilities beyond 110 mph. Two full-size 70-ton prototypes have been assembled using off-the-shelf and fabricated components. Yard tests have shown that the truck curves properly even under very tight curving conditions.

Limiting harmful locomotive exhaust emissions is important to the Nation’s health and safety. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has comprehensive gaseous exhaust emissions (or referred to as emissions hereto) testing requirements in place. All current tests are conducted on stationary locomotives. This paper discusses the development of an efficient stationary emissions measurement system that is compact, portable, easy to use, and applicable to onboard locomotives for in-use, over-the-road testing. More efficient locomotive emissions testing and better understanding of in-use emissions would be beneficial to all stakeholders. Sharma & Associates, Inc., (SA) adapted an off-the-shelf, portable, on-road, heavy-duty diesel truck emissions analyzer for locomotive use. This process included development of the necessary peripheral equipment and a computer program to take the raw emissions and report them as brake-specific emissions rates and duty cycle emissions. This paper describes the use of this system on a stationary locomotive. The system is currently being fitted and tested for over-the-road use. The measurement of particulate matter and smoke opacity were out of scope of the phase of the project that this paper is based on and not addressed hereto.

The Office of Research and Development of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is sponsoring a revenue service demonstration of Advanced Train Systems to demonstrate new technologies for improving safety and efficiency in freight train operations. The project, which commenced in 1999, is part of the Rolling Stock Program Element in FRA’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Railroad Research, Development and Demonstrations. The demonstration system, referred to as the On-Board Monitoring and Control System (OBMCS), features an integrated package of sensors and actuators for monitoring and controlling mechanical components on freight trains. The OBMCS includes sensors to monitor bearings, wheels, brakes and trucks and actuators (referred to as advanced components) for remotely controlling hand brakes, angle cocks, cut levers and a cushion unit lockout system to eliminate slack. The demonstration, scheduled to commence in 2005, will feature a locomotive equipped with an EMD FIRE computer system and five freight cars equipped with the OBMCS and a New York Air Brake ECP brake system. The cars will also be equipped with Sharma & Associates tri-couplers, which automatically couple the cars, the pneumatic line and the ECP brake power cable. An open system architecture based on Controller Area Network (CAN) technology provides the framework for integration and control of the advanced components. The CAN bus network is also employed to monitor bearing temperatures and the status of brake piston travel sensors. A communication protocol based on a subset of CANopen Draft Standard DS401 V2.1 [CiADS401] has been developed to facilitate integration of sensors and actuators into the OBMCS. Science Applications International Corporation and Wilcoxon Research developed the sensor and supervision platform to integrate the advanced components. The OBMCS is powered by a battery, which is recharged by a generator bearing developed by the Timken Company. Intra-train communication and control from the locomotive is over an 802.11b wireless LAN. The FIRE computer in the locomotive receives status information from the systems on each car and transmits commands to the cars to operate the advanced components. Hot bearing, derailed wheel and truck hunting events are immediately relayed to the locomotive engineer. The OBMCS is also equipped with a IXRTT cellular radio to transmit results to a central database and website. A GPS receiver provides time and location information necessary to track a car. On board sensing of mechanical defects enables car owners to track defects and pro actively schedule maintenance at an economical time and location.