Analisi e valutazione delle strategie di guida ecologica dei treni per la formazione del personale di condotta

Nell’ambito della crescente attenzione, a livello europeo, per la salvaguardia ambientale ed il risparmio energetico, ad esempio con gli obiettivi del Pacchetto 20-20-20, parte della Direttiva Europea 2009/29 [1], assume importanza lo studio dell’efficienza energetica nella condotta dei treni, nel quale confluiscono l’interesse per i temi ambientali e quello economico per l’ottimizzazione delle risorse. Il presente studio, svolto in collaborazione tra il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile Edile e Ambientale (DICEA) della Sapienza e Trenitalia, si articola in 2 macro attività: 1) analisi e valutazione dei profili di guida autonomamente adottati del personale di condotta, sulla base di cicli di guida reali e simulati; 2) analisi e valutazione dei profili di guida adottati in risposta ad un generico input di guida “energeticamente efficiente”.In the framework of increasing attention, at European level, for environmental protection and energy saving, represented by the objectives of the 20-20-20 Package, part of the European Directive 2009/29 [1], the study of energy efficiency in trains driving increase its relevance, whereas the interest in environmental and economic issues converge with resource optimization. This study, carried out in collaboration between the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering (DICEA) of Sapienza University of Rome and Trenitalia, is divided into two macro activities: 1) analysis and assessment of the independently drivers’ driving profiles based on real and simulated driving cycles; 2) analysis and assessment of driving profiles adopted in response to a generic “energy-efficient” driving input

Discrete events simulation of Intermodal terminals operation. Modelling techniques and achievable results

A freight intermodal terminal represents one of the most significant bottleneck in logistic chains. The discrete event simulation is suitable to represent the terminal operations, enabling the identification of strengths and weaknesses. It also permits the evaluation ahead of time the changes that modify organizations or the workability of terminals. In this paper the modelling process is described for a railroad terminal based on the simulation platform Planimate©. This platform is suitable to deal with systems articulated with plenty of data and sub-processes, to be managed in parallel and for synchronized cycles controlled according to a time run. The model is organised according to a hierarchical structure composed by various subsystems: the highest level represents the layout of the terminal; the lower levels represent the operational areas, where the models manage integrated flows and elementary operations. Once the model has been built and is able to work, the achievable results are both in the field of operational management of the terminal (short-term application) and in the field of perspective analysis to check the feasibility and effectiveness of new scenarios, built by combining innovative technologies and operational measures (long-term application). The assessment of present and future scenarios is based on key performance indicators, which the model is able to calculate

Measuring Performances of Multi-mode Marshalling Yards

The chapter deals with the wagon-load freight transport. This kind of transport used to be the core business of railways during the last century, while in last decades it began to see its market share reduced in favor of other transport typologies (e.g. intermodal transport). Today wagon-load transport seems no longer economically viable and the smaller and medium volumes used majorly road vehicles and sometimes combined transport. One of many possible ways to try reversing the trend is to convert the old and increasingly frequent abandoned marshalling yards in technological terminals able to receive different kinds of trains equipped with different technologies. These terminals are the Multi-Mode marshalling yards (MMM). This definition refers mainly to the mode of transport and the different railway operation. In this paper are presented the most relevant results obtained through the modelling the operation of a real marshalling yard sited in Hallsberg, Sweden. There are under introduction some innovative technologies and operative measures to quantify the improvements in operations that could contribute to a recovery of the wagon-load transport, reducing the wagons mean transit time through the yards while increasing reliabilit

Metodi analitici e modelli simulativi per la valutazione di misure operative e tecnologie innovative per i terminali ferroviari portuali: il caso del terminale di Valencia Principe Felipe

La ricerca descritta in questo articolo (sviluppata all’interno del progetto Europeo Ca-pacity4Rail) si focalizza sulla valutazione degli effetti che alcune innovazioni (ad esempio, movimentazione e immagazzinamento automatico orizzontale e parallelo, varchi automatici, sensori per lo scambio di dati e sistemi di tracciamento) possono portare nei terminali intermodali merci. La struttura metodologica utilizzata per valu-tare queste innovazioni si fonda sulla combinazione di metodi analitici basati su algo-ritmi sequenziali e modelli di simulazione ad eventi discreti. Il prodotto di questo me-todo di valutazione sono una serie di indicatori (KPIs) selezionati in base alla tipologia di terminale e relativi a differenti aspetti (ad esempio gestione, operazioni e organiz-zazione). Questo articolo illustra l’applicazione della struttura metodologica, rivolta alle operazioni di vari terminali intermodali, per la validazione delle operazioni odierne e la valutazione di possibili futuri scenari riferiti al caso di studio del terminale ferroviario portuale Principe Felipe di Valencia.The research work described in this paper (developed within the Capacity4Rail EU project) focusses on the assessment of effects that some innovations (e.g. automatic horizontal and parallel storage and handling, automated gate and sensors for data ex-change and tracking systems) can have in the intermodal freight terminals combined in various alternative scenarios. The methodological framework setup to assess these innovations is based on a combination of analytical methods based on sequential al-gorithms and discrete events simulation models. The output of this assessment method are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) selected according to terminal typologies and related to different aspects (e.g. management, operations and organization). This pa-per illustrates the application of the methodological framework, tuned on the opera-tions of various intermodal terminals, for the validation on today operations and the assessment of possible future scenarios to the case study of the Principe Felipe sea-rail terminal in Valencia

Present and future operation of rail freight terminals

Rail freight has not progressed coherently to economy: during the last century, the wagonload was the core business of railways, later declining in favor of combined transport, which include the notion of transshipment in an intermediate terminal. Terminals are a key element of transport services and, in this study, the main goal are methods suitable to evaluate the performances of different types of rail freight terminals: Rail to road for long distance and shorter range units transfer, Rail to rail for shunting and/or gauge interchange, Rail to waterways (sea and inland). The evaluation of the performances of terminals and the influence on them of innovative operational measures and technologies is based on a selected combination of tested analytical methods based on sequential application of algorithms and discrete events simulation models, capable to quantify different Key Performance Indicators

Analytical and simulation based methods for assessing measures and technologies capable to improve operation in railway freight terminals

The topic of freight transport by rail is a complex theme and, in recent years, a main issue of European policy. The legislation evolution, the White Paper 2011 and many research projects promoted by EU Commission, e.g. Capacity4Rail (C4R), have demonstrated the European intention to re-launch this sector. One of the main objectives of C4R Project is to improve the performances of railway freight transport to reduce the market share of road freight transport. In this context railway freight terminals play a primary role for the supply chain: they are the connection among the various transport modes and the nodal points where the freight are handled, stored and transferred or shunted to final customer. Objects of this paper are methods and main results achieved by the research group of DICEA within the C4R Project. The main objective is to contribute to the increase of rail freight traffic through the development of future freight terminals, based both on innovative operational measures (e.g. horizontal and parallel handling, faster and fully direct handling) and on innovative technologies (e.g. automatic system for horizontal and parallel handling, automated gate for data exchange, driverless locomotives). The research work focusses on the assessment of potential effects of these innovations in railway freight terminals. Operational measures and technologies compose different scenarios, to evaluate by a methodological approach including both analytical methods and simulation models. The output of this assessment methods are key performance indicators (KPIs), e.g. total/partial transit time, setup according to analysed terminal typologies and related to different aspects (e.g. management, operation and organization). Finally, in addition to illustrated methodological framework, some results on selected case studies include the intermodal Munich-Riem rail to road freight terminal (Germany), the Hallsberg marshalling yard (Sweden) and the intermodal Principe Felipe rail-sea freight terminal in Valencia port (Spain)

Metodi analitici e modelli di simulazione per la valutazione d’innovazioni tecnologiche e operative dei terminali ferroviari merci

Il tema del trasporto merci su ferro è un argomento complesso e negli ultimi anni è, sempre più spesso, centrale nelle politiche Europee. L'evoluzione normativa in ambito comunitario e nazionale, il Libro bianco del 2011 e molti progetti promossi dalla Commissione europea come Capacity4Rail (C4R), hanno mostrato la volontà di rilanciare questo settore con la finalità di migliorarne le prestazioni con la conseguente riduzione della quota di mercato relativa al trasporto stradale. Inoltre, con una futura previsione di crescita della domanda di trasporto delle merci si evidenzia sempre più la necessità di sfruttare i vantaggi tecnico-economici derivanti dall’interazione di differenti modalità di trasporto (intermodalità). Si creano così i presupposti perché la promozione dell’intermodalità svolga un ruolo chiave per il raggiungimento dei suddetti obiettivi. In questo contesto i terminali ferroviari merci giocano un ruolo primario nella catena logistica; essi sono i punti di connessione tra le diverse modalità di trasporto dove le merci vengono trasferite, manipolate, stoccate e riordinate/smistate verso il cliente finale. In questo contributo vengono presentati i principali risultati che il gruppo di ricerca del DICEA ha conseguito nell’ambito del progetto Capacity4Rail il cui principale obiettivo è di contribuire all’incremento del trasporto merci su ferro attraverso l’implementazione dei terminali tramite l’adozione di nuove tecnologie (es. moduli automatici per il trasferimento diretto e parallelo, gate automatici per lo scambio documentale) e di soluzioni operative innovative (es. trasferimento parallelo e trasferimento diretto) valutandone gli effetti sull’operatività e la gestione dei terminali stessi. Misure e tecnologie operative sono state combinate in diversi scenari per essere valutati con un approccio metodologico che include metodi analitici e modelli di simulazione. Gli output sono rappresentati da alcuni indicatori di prestazione (KPIs) opportunamente elaborati rispetto a diverse tipologie di terminali analizzati e relativi a differenti aspetti (operativo, organizzativo e gestionale) relativamente ai seguenti casi di studio: il terminale intermodale ferro-gomma di Monaco-Riem (Germania), la stazione di smistamento di Hallsberg (Svezia) e il terminale intermodale ferro-mare Prìncipe Felipe nel porto di Valencia (Spagna). L’articolo è organizzato nelle seguenti parti: review delle misure operative innovative e delle nuove tecnologie per I terminali ferroviari merci e stazioni di smistamento; descrizione degli scenari elaborati integrando una selezione delle misure operative innovative e nuove tecnologie; illustrazione sintetica dei metodi e modelli utilizzati per la valutazione; definizione degli indicatori di performance; applicazione del quadro metodologico ai casi di studio identificati; Illustrazione dei risultati includendo il confronto con gli attuali scenari.In this paper are presented the main results of the research group of DICEA achieved within the project Capacity4Rail. The main aim is to contribute to increasing of the market share of the railway freight transport, through proposals to improve efficiency of the terminals adopting innovations measurements and new techonologies. The DICEA has evaluated the effects of these innovations. For three case studies have been analyzed technologies and operational measures, combined in different scenarios to be evaluated by analytical methods and simulation models. The outputs are represented by performance indicators (KPIs) about to different aspects: operational, organizational and management, properly processed according to the different types of terminals analyzed: the intermodal terminal of Munich-Riem, Hallsberg marshalling yard and Principe Felipe intermodal terminal in the port of Valencia

The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission

This White Paper, submitted to the recent ESA call for science themes to define its future large missions, advocates the need for a transformational leap in our understanding of two key questions in astrophysics: 1) How does ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures that we see today? 2) How do black holes grow and shape the Universe? Hot gas in clusters, groups and the intergalactic medium dominates the baryonic content of the local Universe. To understand the astrophysical processes responsible for the formation and assembly of these large structures, it is necessary to measure their physical properties and evolution. This requires spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy with a factor 10 increase in both telescope throughput and spatial resolving power compared to currently planned facilities. Feedback from supermassive black holes is an essential ingredient in this process and in most galaxy evolution models, but it is not well understood. X-ray observations can uniquely reveal the mechanisms launching winds close to black holes and determine the coupling of the energy and matter flows on larger scales. Due to the effects of feedback, a complete understanding of galaxy evolution requires knowledge of the obscured growth of supermassive black holes through cosmic time, out to the redshifts where the first galaxies form. X-ray emission is the most reliable way to reveal accreting black holes, but deep survey speed must improve by a factor ~100 over current facilities to perform a full census into the early Universe. The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena+) mission provides the necessary performance (e.g. angular resolution, spectral resolution, survey grasp) to address these questions and revolutionize our understanding of the Hot and Energetic Universe. These capabilities will also provide a powerful observatory to be used in all areas of astrophysics

The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission

This White Paper, submitted to the recent ESA call for science themes to define its future large missions, advocates the need for a transformational leap in our understanding of two key questions in astrophysics: 1) How does ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures that we see today? 2) How do black holes grow and shape the Universe? Hot gas in clusters, groups and the intergalactic medium dominates the baryonic content of the local Universe. To understand the astrophysical processes responsible for the formation and assembly of these large structures, it is necessary to measure their physical properties and evolution. This requires spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy with a factor 10 increase in both telescope throughput and spatial resolving power compared to currently planned facilities. Feedback from supermassive black holes is an essential ingredient in this process and in most galaxy evolution models, but it is not well understood. X-ray observations can uniquely reveal the mechanisms launching winds close to black holes and determine the coupling of the energy and matter flows on larger scales. Due to the effects of feedback, a complete understanding of galaxy evolution requires knowledge of the obscured growth of supermassive black holes through cosmic time, out to the redshifts where the first galaxies form. X-ray emission is the most reliable way to reveal accreting black holes, but deep survey speed must improve by a factor ~100 over current facilities to perform a full census into the early Universe. The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena+) mission provides the necessary performance (e.g. angular resolution, spectral resolution, survey grasp) to address these questions and revolutionize our understanding of the Hot and Energetic Universe. These capabilities will also provide a powerful observatory to be used in all areas of astrophysics