Modern Technologies in Railway Transport
Syllabus
• Railway transport system (characteristics and role of modern railway transport systems in transport systems; European rail transport system; European network for competitive rail freight)
• Railway vehicles (classification of vehicles; technical, technological, energy and environmental characteristics of vehicles; driving dynamics)
• Railway transport technology (work technology and processes in passenger and freight transport; stations and transport technological characteristics of work in stations)
• Organisation and management of railway traffic (timetables, track capacity, train protection, signalling, safety and telecommunications equipment, operational traffic management, train movements in emergency situations)
• Interoperability of the railway system (interoperability of railway subsystems, ERTMS, railway information systems)
• Intermodal railway transport (modern intermodal transport technologies; modern handling technologies and means in intermodal transport; intermodal terminals; loading profiles)
• Railway safety (factors and characteristics of railway transport safety; ensuring safe train operation; safety at level crossings; security in railway transport; occupational safety)
• Impact of railway transport on the environment (ecology of railway transport; noise; transport of hazardous substances)
• Green and sustainable modern railway systems (approaches and tools for the design and management of modern railway transport (sub)systems - innovations, modern green transport technologies, digital technologies and automation in the field of railway vehicles, infrastructure, and technology and work organisation in railway transport; resilience of the railway system)
Goals and competencies
The subject-specific competences of the course relate to knowledge of the theoretical foundations:
• railway transport technology and its specific features,
• the organisation of work in rail transport,
• the characteristics of railway vehicles,
• interoperability of rail transport,
• safety of rail transport and its factors,
• the environmental impact of rail transport, and
• the characteristics of sustainable rail (sub)systems and their development trends,
with the aim to train students to solve practical problems of planning, implementation and evaluation of transport technological and organisational procedures in rail transport in such a way that they are carried out in a safe and efficient manner and in an environmentally and human friendly way.
Basic literature
- Pyrgidis, C. N., Railway Transportation Systems - Design, Construction and Operation, 2nd Edition, CRC Press, 2022, ISBN 9781003046073