The kick-off meeting for the UIC DYNMEASURE (dynamic measurements) project took place online via Teams on 10 February, with nine participants from MÁV, MÁV Central Rail and Track Inspection, Infrabel, SBB, RFI and UIC.
DYNMEASURE is managed by the Interfaces and Interaction between Infrastructure and Rolling Stock (TTI) Sector under the Rail System Forum. This project involves mainly infrastructure managers (IMs) but may also be of interest to railway undertakings, vertically integrated railway companies and freight users.
The project deals with the different types of measurements (dynamics) that can be collected:
- Profile clearance gauge and aerial detection (safety)
- Hotbox and break-locking detection (safety)
- Uplift measurement (availability)
- Wheel/axle load check points (safety)
The kick-off meeting was opened by Marcos Conceição, UIC Senior Advisor in charge of the project. Mercedes Gutierrez, Head of Asset Management, Infrastructure and Interfaces with Rolling Stock, explained the structure of the RSD, Infrastructure Subsystem and TTI Sector. She highlighted the importance of these projects and their link with other ongoing projects, namely Harmotrack.
The results may prove very useful for both vertically integrated railway companies and infrastructure managers in terms of assigning the results to a specific element of the trainset or train composition (locomotive and coaches/wagons), especially when using RFID tagging in vehicles,. There is currently a lack of harmonised common thresholds and most of the existing ones are based only on national assessment and rules.
On the other hand, on-board detection devices that traditionally measure some of the above-mentioned aspects, such as axle box temperature, have evolved, especially in terms of derailment detection systems (DDS) or devices (DDD).
The planned structure for project execution is as follows: WP1: Railway dynamics benchmark studies; WP2: Infrastructure and vehicle requirements for common interaction assessment; WP3: Risk management, life cycle costs and maintenance strategies; WP4: Application guide for use for interaction measurement – UIC standard (IRS): workshop on railway dynamic measuring systems (dissemination).
During the meeting, the experts discussed the relevance of having a guideline for a harmonised threshold to avoid national assessments and rules, as well as the importance of increasing the exchange of safety-related information between IMs and RUs for operations.
The next meeting is scheduled for 14 April 2022.
