Modeling of a railway vehicle travelling through a turnout

Speed and safety are two key objectives in the operation of a railway. On double-line railways, such as the Estrada de Ferro Vitoria Minas (EFVM), a critical situation occurs when a train changes between lines, this should occur at the maximum allowed speed. However, the iron ore trains consisting of GDE-type wagons that operate on the EFVM perform this operation at 60 km/h, which is 5 km/h less than the maximum speed allowed under normal operating conditions. Thus, the brakes need to be applied over a long distance before the turnout in order to reduce the speed. A number of field tests were conducted in order to determine the actual maximum safe speed for traffic on a crossover (or turnout). This paper presents the results of computer simulations using NUCARS®. The GDE wagons and the characteristics of the track geometry were modeled. Several cases were simulated, with variations of parameters of the wagons, such as side bearing clearance and wheel profile. The results of the computer simulations were compared to the results from the field tests. Good correlation was found between them, indicating that the maximum speed of the GDE wagons running on the turnout might be open to review.