Text 2 New types of passenger rolling stock

During the last decades we can notice rapid development of all the spectrum of rolling stock – from freight to trailer cars of passenger trains; from motor cars, rapidly adapting to changing requirements in accordance with the design and level of comfort, to high speed trains.

Passenger transport is made a number of serious demands of the frequency of traffic and the accuracy of keeping to its schedule, safety, time of travel, comfort and the price of travel.

In order to increase trafficability of railways and the reduction of the cost of passenger transportation, many countries use double decked passenger cars. Double decked cars in the comparison with ordinary cars have 60% more seats and 30% less weight and total cost. Double decked cars are widely used in twelve European countries and also in the USA, India, Japan, China and Australia.

To attract long-distance passengers to travel by night trains on Japanese railways, a double decked night electric train “Sunrise Express” was put into operation. Its cars are 20 m. in length in 3 m. in width. The planning and the equipment of passenger saloons are made in such a way that passengers have a feeling of “home”. Armchairs, beds, lamps and other familiar elements of home atmosphere make comfort and cosiness due to wall panels, made of new composite materials of pleasant warm shadows, good soundproofing and thermal protection of compartments. The train has saloons and compartments of different levels, shower cabins, telephones.

Nowadays, having insignificant traffic flow, the increase of profitability and mobility of suburban passenger rolling stock is solved at the expense of a new kind of traffic usage – rail buses.

The first rail buses RS1 appeared on German railways in 1996 and at the end of 1999 more than 130 such buses were in the operation.

Rail buses of such model were bought by the railway companies of Poland, Slovakia and other countries.

Such kind of buses is intended for regional communication with relatively small traffic flow, but only in traffic connection of several units under general control.

Four-axle rail bus RS1 represents a sort of autonomous passenger rolling stock of a light-weight type. Two diesel engines, 257 kWt each, are used as a tractive drive. Maximum axle load doesn’t exceed 14 t, due to which the operation of the rail bus is possible on the lines with

relatively weak permanent way.

Fig. 3 – Planning of rail bus RS1

The bus is served by one person. It can transport 170 passengers. There are 76 seats inside. Comfortable armchairs, big windows and the system of information provide high level of comfort for passengers. There are two wide entrance doors at each side of a saloon, a toilet of closed type and a place for invalid carriages and many other developments.

By order of the Ministry of Railway Transport of Russia, in 1997 a pilot model of a rail bus, intended for transportation of passengers on non-electrified section of railways, was designed and produced at Mytishchi machine-building plant. Rail bus can be used for city, suburban and interregional communication. It represents a self-propelled transport unit with two operation cabins, produced on the base of a car body and a crew part of a new underground car “Yauza”. The control is made by one driver who is in one of the cabins.

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