The topical issues of science and technology. Хрестоматия для студентов-бакалавров направления «Лингвистика»

The rail-related challenges that the railway faces include rail wear, plastic flow, rolling contact fatigue (RCF) and corrosion. British Steel has solutions to assist in managing these issues. HP335 rail steel is designed to reduce wear and RCF, and reduce grinding requirements, plastic flow and corrugations, while Zinoco rail coating prevents corrosion and increases durability, and is itself resistant to damage.

Although Daniel considered that this may be the Golden Age, he stated that it is imperative the railway continues to improve in order to maintain competitiveness in the future, implying that tomorrow will be even better than now!

And finally…

It fell to Chris Eady, associate director of TWI and interim executive officer of the IoRW, to round off the day. While other speakers had looked back at the first 15 years of the IoRW, Chris looked to the next 15 years, speaking first of the proposed IoRW Strategic Action Plan 2017-25. This has four themes:

Support for Rail Infrastructure Controller decisionmaking;

Development/implementation of Rail Welding best practice;

Delivery of Rail Welding personal competence;

General education/awareness of rail welding.

He spoke of the challenge of success – if rail welding becomes so well managed that rail welds cease to be a problem, how

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does the railway ensure that funding, resources and attention continue to be given to it to make sure that it continues to be problem free?

Chris continued by looking in more detail at the strategic themes and how IoRW might take them forward in order to meet this challenge effectively. In his opinion, immediate action needs to be taken concerning application standards, research priorities and strengthening relationships with rail industry bodies like RDG, RSG, RIS, NSAR and PWI.

All of which will ensure that the Institute of Rail Welding will be around for at least the next 15 years. (17028)

"Rail News"

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll

Flexible safety processor

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll, the new generation of the bestselling vital logic controller Trackguard Westrace is a highly flexible, modular vital logic processing system that has already been proven in over 1,200 applications worldwide. With straightforward configuration using ladder logic to deliver almost any vital functionality, Trackguard Westrace offers real benefits to railway authorities in terms of cost of ownership, capability and flexibility. Trackguard Westrace Mk ll is the exciting new evolution of the system, bringing all the previous benefits but with even better processing power, I/O options, maintainability and availability than before.

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Versatile and dependable Trackguard Westrace Mk ll can be used as a stand-alone system or interface to a wide range of equipment – including existing interlockings. Typical applications include simple, medium-sized and complex interlockings, radio block systems, trackside control – and provision of vital functionality in centralized traffic control systems.

The system offers a unique flexibility of application, supporting both centralized and distributed architectures, as the I/O can be either located with the interlocking processor, or distributed around the railway as appropriate.

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll is designed to use standard Ethernet communications systems to provide conveniently scalable versatility, whilst maintaining safety and enhancing reliability.

Trackguard Westrace MK II's vital processors are built up from a range of compatible modules which communicate together over a fast serial bus. Using Siemens' computer-based data and configuration management systems, the system can be quickly programmed for its specific application. The range of modules available and the flexibility allowed by our programming approach are key reasons behind the success of Trackguard Westrace to date.

SIL 4 safety certification

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll fully complies with all the requirements of CENELEC SIL 4 certification, and uses a 2- out-of-2 safety architecture for all modules.

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Each module continually checks its own operation, and, in the event that an unexpected event occurs, it can shut itself down without affecting any other modules.

Flexile architectures

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll makes use of highly flexible network-based communications to allow a wide variety of architectures to be implemented. Simple “end of siding” controllers can be created using two or three modules, or complex station layouts can be signaled using an array of Trackguard Westrace Mk ll object controllers connected to a central interlocking processor. The decision to use centralized or distributed, direct-fed or object controlled-based systems is not limited by the interlocking, allowing the applications engineer to use the optimum solution for each installation.

Selectable hot-standby functionality

Trackguard Westrace already has an impressive record of availability in service. Mk II takes this success yet further by adopting an architecture that ensures that failure of one I/O module does not cause failure of the entire interlocking, and allowing fully selectable hot-standby functionality.

Processor modules (PM) may be duplicated if necessary, with both modules in the same rack, operating in true hot standby. If one PM fails, the system automatically switches to the control of the standby unit.

I/O modules may also be duplicated for key railway functions as required. Most I/O modules in the system can operate as a

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hot-standby pair with another module. No additional external circuitry is required; inputs and outputs of duplicated modules can be wired together without the need for external relays. An installation can contain both duplicated and non-duplicated modules as determined by the designer in order to meet the specific availability needs of railway authorities.

In the event that any module should fail, it can be “hotswapped” without needing the system to be powered down or re-started.

Increased performance – increased railway capacity

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll uses a range of modern techniques that allow key features of previous generations of Trackguard Westrace to be maintained, whilst adding benefits such as significantly increased performance. For example, the I/O modules make extensive use of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology to allow for faster processing than has previously been possible.

The new PM has in excess of four times the logic processing capacity of the previous vital logic module, which was already a class leader. It integrates full network communications and diagnostics capability on a single board, reducing the physical size of the system.

Up to 126 I/O modules may be used in each Trackguard Westrace Mk ll installation – an increase of around four times compared to the largest Trackguard Westrace systems already in use. This means that one Trackguard Westrace Mk ll system

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can control a large area of railway with processing power and I/O capacity to spare.

Protection and filtering functionality is provided within each I/O module; no external modules are required.

Connectivity – a key feature of Trackguard Westrace Mk ll

Each PM provides duplicated network links which use the industry-leading WNC protocol to support up to 128 communications sessions operating safely over standard Ethernet technology. This allows rapid interconnection with devices such as ATP processors and ETCS radio block centers. As with previous generations of Trackguard Westrace, Mk ll is ideally suited for connection to existing interlockings, allowing a rapid and low-risk migration path for railways needing to increase capacity and capability without affecting operational service.

Simple programming – ensuring safe, flexible and fast system configuration

Trackguard Westrace is programmed in ladder logic, using a PC-based graphical configuration subsystem (GCSS) and graphical simulator (GSIM) software, which allows engineers to easily configure, check and test each application in the office before installation on site.

The Trackguard Westrace template tool offers significant improvements in efficiency of data production. Application engineers can draw up “standard circuits” in ladder logic data and store them in a closely controlled template tool.

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Implementation of design then simply involves data production engineers “cutting and pasting” logic from the template and filling in geographical data. System configuration ensures that, once agreed by the customer's engineers, the template cannot be changed without reapproval.

Applications

The processing power and robust, reliable performance of Trackguard Westrace has been proven in extreme conditions and demanding situations, from Australia to Norway and from highintensity metros to long-distance, heavyhaul lines.

The system has been integrated with existing infrastructure without disruption, and designed with future expansion in mind. It has proved highly reliable with no downtime since its commissioning in 1998. Meanwhile, maintenance and operation costs have been reduced, and safety standards improved.

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll – evolution of a best seller

Trackguard Westrace Mk ll builds heavily on the hugely successful foundation of Trackguard Westrace vital processing, using latest techniques and technology to provide railway authorities with a highly flexible, economical and powerful solution to allow them to meet their customers' requirements. (7589)

Siemens AG, 2014, Mobility Division, siemens.com/mobility

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Transportation Industry Trends

Top 8 Transportation Industry Trends in 2020

Alla Kostrubska

July 23, 2020

With growing competition in the transportation sector, involved companies should deploy new existing technologies and extensively improve the quality of their services to remain in the business. In this article, we’ll find out what are the current trends in the transportation industry and which upcoming winning strategies will lead the entire transport sphere in 2020?

Shipping goods is a significant part of the economy in each country. According to Statista, truck transportation contributed more than $150 billion to the US nation’s gross domestic product in 2016. Solely FedEx, the leading freight transportation company, generated over $60 million of revenue in the same year. Logistics companies are mostly focused on servicing an E-commerce market. Fred Smith, a founder of FedEx, forecasted this market to reach the value of nearly $2.4 trillion by2018 with its 26% growth compared to 2016.

The key to the success in the transportation business is offering the most cost-effective, flexible, and efficient services. That’s why shipping companies should turn towards the most recent trends in transportation and follow the strategies that will help to outcompete the other market players. Let’s get started.

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Trend #1: Cloud-Based Systems Adoption

One of the biggest transport industry trends for 2020 is cloudbased systems adoption, since the platforms in the cloud force a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model which opens unlimited opportunities for companies scalability and innovative digital resources usage. It allows reaching higher profitability and exceeding the common returns of on-premise systems’ capabilities.

Trend #2: Integrated, Frictionless Travel

The necessity to make travel more smooth and hassle-free is mostly manifested through the rise of mobility-as-a-service (MaaS).

However, the number of new trends in the transportation industry, combined and aimed at minimal stoppages or checkpoints result in this one key drift to integrated travel and transportation. The minor tendencies are optimization of the infrastructure, creation of the mobility hubs for multimodal transportation, building platforms for ticketless travel, and introduction of the innovations in micromobility and last-mile connections.

Trend #3: Visibility and Anti-Theft GPS

Today E-Commerce, retail, and logistic companies are getting focused on the increased visibility, thus, tracking technologies adoption and adjustment for increased traceability are among the major driving trends in the transportation industry this year. Anti-Theft GPS, for instance, is a means to receive near realtime locations for entire fleets and separate items in transit. The

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extra security protocols will also help avoid losses across the board.

Trend #4: Self-Driving Trucks

The technology for self-driving trucks is still under perfecting and it has to overcome certain obstacles, such as improving driverless software to make it able to efficiently operate on urban roads with heavy traffic. However, it’s one of the transportation future trends. In the long-term perspective, transportation businesses should prepare for upcoming technology changes within the industry and start equipping their trucks with self-navigating management systems that can

«learn» from real drivers.

Due to artificial intelligence (AI) and myriad sensors, an AIenabled vehicle can correctly evaluate road conditions and learn from how truck drivers behave under «unusual» conditions on the road. Through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, trucks can share the learned information and make other vehicles smarter. Besides, the 5G technology spreading will catalyze the adoption of self-driving fleets. In the long-term, these vehicles can potentially become better drivers than human operators.

In fact, this future is even closer than it can seem. Tesla’s electric Semi truck have autopilot features which can greatly facilitate the driving process. Walmart, along with many other companies, such as Pepsi, Asko, and Loblaw confirmed having ordered Tesla Semi trucks for their commercial needs.

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