Overview
The PINTA Project (IP1 Traction TD1 and Brakes TD5 – Phase 1) will address the two key topics highlighted in the first Shift2Rail Call topic S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2016 – Development of concepts towards the next generation of traction systems and management of wheel/rail adhesion, namely Traction and Adhesion Management.
Traction subproject will focus on the improvement of seven technical and economical performances of the Traction system that have been agreed and defined in Roll2Rail. These performances have to be improved on five different train applications having different constraints, needs and specificities, from tramway to HST, including metro, sub-urban, regional trains. In particular, traction sub-project will address the following:
- Line capacity increase through weight, volume and noise savings of Traction equipment
- Operational reliability increase via higher reliability/availability
- Railway system LCC reduction
As far as Adhesion management is concerned, the work will lead to the achievement of a number of important objectives linked to Brakes, such as:
- Improvement of braking degradation limit in poor adhesion condition
- Management of all adhesion conditions in a way that brake distances are optimized
- Improvement of the overall train safety, which relies substantially on the management of the wheel/rail contact
- Reduction of wheel Life-Cycle-Costs (LCCs) through optimized wheel/rail contact in braking
The activities should contribute in formulating new performance specifications for Adhesion Recovery Systems. Moreover, improved requirements for Wheel Slide Protection test procedures should be developed, followed by new specifications for Automatic Test benches.