Can a maglev go off the rails? The train went off the rails

The cause of the train accident in the Moscow region was the so-called “track blowout.” A source in Russian Railways told the Interfax agency about this. Track blowout is when, due to temperature changes, the rails become deformed and the sleepers split.

The accident occurred at half past twelve in the Naro-Fominsk region. A freight train and a passenger train, which had just left for Chisinau from Moscow, collided. As a result of the disaster, 6 people were killed, another 30 were injured of varying degrees of severity. These are mostly citizens of Moldova.

Vladimir Putin, who is now in China, promised to help all the victims and their families. News of the disaster came during a meeting between Putin and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Now train traffic in the area of ​​the accident has been partially restored. Trains are already running along the railway track. But representatives of the Investigative Committee continue to work at the scene of the disaster.

Since the beginning of this year, more than a dozen train accidents have occurred in Russia. The geography is very diverse: Moscow region, Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk region, Khabarovsk Territory. And the main participant in all these accidents is the same - the freight train. From the beginning of 2014 until today, until the train accident in Naro-Fominsk, these incidents did not claim human lives.

On February 5, 19 freight cars derailed near Kirov - 8 with coal and 11 with gas condensate. The fire could not be put out for several days. Residents of nearby houses were evacuated, and dozens of “spectacular” videos from the scene appeared on the Internet. The commission of the Gorky Railway came to the conclusion that the electric locomotive and the railway track were in good working order, and the cause of the accident was called a violation of the geometry of the wheel pair.

Less than a week later, on February 12, a freight train crash occurs near Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region. 30 wagons loaded with coal left the tracks. About a kilometer of rails were seriously damaged. The preliminary cause of the accident is the poor condition of the tracks. On the same day, in the Amur region, the carriages of one freight train caught another while moving. The cars derailed, apparently due to a break in the side frame - part of the bogie on which the car is mounted.

Another accident in February in Primorye, four in March (Jewish Autonomous Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Bashkortostan, Trans-Baikal Territory).

On April 25, in the Mendeleevsky district of Tatarstan, a train with empty tanks collides with a passenger car. 20 carriages derailed, some of them even overturned. Each of these incidents led to the delay of almost dozens of trains, which were sent on a detour or their passengers simply had to wait for a very long time.

The cause of the current disaster in Naro-Fominsk, as the press reports, could have been a broken rail or a breakdown of the axle of the freight train or the side frame of the bogie. That is, the operator of the transportation of railway cargo, who owned the train, may ultimately be called guilty.

Olga Lukyanova, Chairman of the Non-Profit Partnership of Railway Rolling Stock Operators, agrees that recently accidents with freight trains have begun to happen more often than before. She explained to Dozhd why this happens.

Olga Lukyanova, Chairman of the Non-Profit Partnership of Railway Rolling Stock Operators: When this is a remote section, Russian Railways specialists quickly left and can attribute it to a broken side frame, but in fact it is a poor condition of the track. Commission of Russian Railways representatives themselves. This is what we observed. We communicate with ordinary employees of Russian Railways. And very often the true cause of transport accidents is kept silent. Now there is again an attempt to transfer the cause to the fracture of the side frame. Russian Railways initially existed as an infrastructure company. Now they have begun to rebuild and work in a different area. We began to engage in logistics and transportation. We believe that we need to first put the infrastructure in order, and then move on to other areas of work.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Valery Melnikov

In the Moscow metro between the stations "Park Pobedy" and "Slavyansky Boulevard". According to the latest data, three people died as a result of the accident.

AiF.ru explains what to do in the event of a train accident in the metro.

What to do in case of emergency braking?

In case of emergency braking or an accident, try to grab the handrails. If you fall, try to group yourself, protect your head with your hands, and try to take off your glasses.

Under no circumstances should you jump out of the carriage until the train has come to a complete stop. If a train derails on a subway line, remember that high voltage (over 800 volts) is applied to the rail.

When leaving the carriage due to a fire or other danger, jump over the conductive rail and leave the scene of the accident through the tunnel to the nearest metro station.

What to do after the train has come to a complete stop?

If the train stops in a subway tunnel, do not leave it without instructions from the driver.

When permission is received to leave the carriage, open the doors, if possible, or break out the windows with a heavy object.

After getting out of the car, join in the rescue efforts. Break window glass, pull out the victims, and, if necessary, provide them with emergency assistance and psychological support. Avoid any wires lying on the ground: they may remain live and pose a deadly danger. Walk in the direction of the train towards the station in single file along the track between the rails, without approaching the live busbars located on the side of the rails to avoid electric shock. In the tunnel you should only exit on the right side of the train in the direction of travel, since a contact rail runs along the left side.

What to do in case of fire?

If, as a result of an accident, a fire breaks out outside the train and you find yourself locked in the carriage, do not open the vestibule doors and windows, as the flow of air can lead to an intensification and even faster spread of the fire.

If there is a fire outside the door, you should look for another way out. Close all the doors that can separate you and the fire, break out the window with a hard object and get out through it, but be careful when you jump down from the carriage - remember the high voltage.

If the train continues to move and a fire breaks out in the carriage, you must begin to extinguish the fire:

With improvised means,

Using a fire extinguisher, which is located under the seat at the end of the car.

If possible, move to a fire-free part of the car and suppress the spread of fire by knocking it down with clothing and filling it with available non-flammable liquids, such as juice, milk, water.

When boarding a train, give preference to the central cars, which in the event of an accident suffer less than the head and tail cars.

Trains are not immune from disasters, and tragedies happen even in the most seemingly safe places. Even in Japan, a country where technology, including transport technology, is at the highest level, all sorts of transport disasters occur. For example, on May 3, 1962, three trains collided in Tokyo, killing 163 people.

If a person wants to protect himself during a train journey, he first of all needs to remain calm. It is not for nothing that popular wisdom says that what a person fears most, as a rule, happens to him. Therefore, the passenger needs to throw out any thought from his head regarding the possible occurrence of any tragedy. If a person constantly thinks about troubles and frightens himself about an accident, nothing will change, and the journey will be overshadowed by groundless fears and doubts. Well, if the train goes off the rails, then it is important to act according to the situation.

If the incident occurs near a city or town, then, most likely, help will come quite quickly, but even in this case, the surviving passengers who did not receive serious injuries must, of course, make their feasible contribution to the rescue of others people who were less fortunate in this disaster. Very often, as a result of railway accidents, a fire occurs, which is also desirable to put out quickly.

Even in difficult situations, passengers must remain calm and not panic. Chaotic actions on the verge of hysteria will only prevent rescuers from doing their job. If a person feels that he is gripped by fear that he is unable to cope with, he needs to immediately switch to the problems of other passengers. If he looks around, he will surely see people who are in a more pitiful state than himself. Of course, at this moment many will need help, because even if doctors arrive at the scene, they will not be able to serve everyone at once. First of all, doctors will begin to save the seriously injured, and the rest can be helped by the passengers who survived the disaster.

If a tragedy occurs far from populated areas, then the role of rescuers will have to be taken on by the surviving uninjured or lightly injured passengers. In this case, someone will need to take on the role of leader, which usually happens spontaneously, and direct the entire operation to rescue the passengers. Of course, all participants in the tragedy must maintain self-control and, if they are unable to help, then at least not prevent others from doing so. Don’t rush to pull out your things and throw yourself into the fire after them. Indeed, in this case, a person who survived the disaster itself can easily die because of some things. Everything can be acquired again, except human life, so you shouldn’t risk it for the sake of some things or papers, even important ones.

First of all, children and seriously wounded people should be evacuated from the scene of the tragedy, then old people and women. When boarding the buses that will take everyone away from the scene of the tragedy, passengers must also remain calm. After all, everything has already happened, and the fact that someone gets into the city a few minutes earlier will hardly change anything. Usually, major road accidents are immediately reported in the media, so if several hours have already passed since the tragedy began, then when you get to the city, be sure to call your relatives and reassure them that you are okay. This is very important, because, as a rule, people worry about their loved ones, it is at such moments that older people experience heart attacks and strokes, so the sooner they are warned that the danger has passed, the better.

The profession > is not as ancient as many others, and is associated with the advent of railways. The prototype of the railway appeared in ancient times. These were rail (wooden or stone) tracks along which heavy loads were dragged. In 1825, the world's first steam-powered railway was built. This date can be considered the date of the emergence of the profession >.

Why don't trains derail?

The wheels of wagons or locomotives are tightly mounted on axles and rotate with them (they are called wheel pairs). On the rim of each wheel there is a steel ring that tightly grips it - a bandage. On the inside of the bandage along its entire circumference there is a protrusion - a ridge. It prevents the wheel from moving outward from the rail. The wheel is prevented from leaving the rail inside the track by the crest of another wheel of the same wheel pair.

The weight of the locomotive or carriage creates a load on the wheel, and through it on the rail. Therefore, when moving between the wheel and the rail, a frictional force (adhesion) arises, and the wheel does not slide, but rolls along the rail. The traction force of the locomotive also depends on the force pressing the wheel to the rail. The heavier the locomotive and the tighter its wheels are pressed against the rail, the heavier the train it can pull. Of course, locomotive engines must be powerful enough to move the train at the required speed. But if the locomotive is too light, then it will not be able to pull a heavy train, no matter how powerful its engines are. The wheels of such a locomotive will not be pressed tightly enough against the rails and will begin to slide.

A diesel locomotive is a self-contained locomotive whose prime mover is an internal combustion engine (ICE), usually a diesel engine.

The diesel locomotive, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, became an economically viable replacement for both low-efficiency outdated steam locomotives and electric locomotives that appeared at the same time, profitable only on highways with a relatively large cargo and passenger traffic.

Currently, diesel locomotives have almost completely replaced steam locomotives on maneuvers and carry out approximately 40% of the network's freight turnover. The continuously growing demands for increasing the weight of trains and their speeds determine the need to create more and more powerful locomotives. Already now, autonomous locomotives with sectional power of 6000 - 7350 kW (8000 - 10000 hp) are needed. An equally important task is the transition of autonomous locomotives to alternative fuels, such as gas. These problems are successfully solved by using gas turbine engines in locomotive construction. Gas turbine locomotives have been created and are in operation - autonomous locomotives in which the gas turbine is the main power engine.

A diesel locomotive is an autonomous locomotive with an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The diesel locomotive converts the energy of liquid fuel into mechanical work of rotation of the crankshaft, from which the wheels receive movement through the transmission. Diesel is poorly adapted to variable operating conditions. Power is directly proportional to the crankshaft speed (with a constant fuel supply), so it is more profitable to operate it in constant mode, at the maximum crankshaft speed. To ensure that the diesel engine can operate at a constant shaft speed and transfer energy to the driving wheel pairs, a traction transmission is used that matches the operating conditions of the locomotive and the diesel engine.

HOW IS AN ELECTRIC LOGO SIGNED AND WORKS?

In diesel electric locomotives, the electrical energy that moves the wheels is generated by the operation of diesel engines. The turbopump constantly pumps air into the engine, increasing its power.

An electric locomotive is a locomotive driven by electric motors that receive electrical energy through a pantograph from the contact network. The contact network receives electricity from the traction substation.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ELECTRIFIED RAILWAYS

AC or DC?

Electric power stations generate electrical energy from three-phase alternating current, which is transmitted over long distances through three wires. The frequency of alternating current powering industrial installations varies from country to country. It ranges from 25 to 60 cycles per second (hertz). In Russia, as in most countries, the industrial frequency is taken to be 50 Hz.

A little from the theory of train movement

The theory of train motion is an integral part of the applied science of train traction, studying the issues of train movement and the operation of locomotives. For a clearer understanding of the operating process of an electric locomotive, it is necessary to know the basic provisions of this theory. First of all, the main forces acting on the train when moving are traction, resistance to movement, and braking force. The driver can change the traction and braking force; the force of resistance to movement cannot be controlled.

It is impossible for a driver to do without measuring instruments. You need to know their operating principle, be able to understand electrical circuits and the regulation of high and low frequency amplifiers.

Light signaling in transport has a long history. In Russia, its beginning can be considered the introduction of green signal lights on steam locomotives by Nicholas I himself. His highest command came after one night on the only Tsarskoye Selo railway in Russia at that time, a train crushed a sentry.

Nowadays, the transmission of light signaling to railways. etc. is carried out using various signal lights, traffic lights, information boards, television screens, monitors, etc. d.

You can combat the glare of floodlights with the help of polarizers. Polarizers are, for example, films, plates of substances that transmit light in only one direction. So, passing through two polaroids located at an angle of 90°, the intensity is zero. This property of polaroids can be used in practice, if, for example, the first polarizer is installed in the outlet of the locomotive, the second, rotated 90°, on the windshield of the locomotive driver's cabin: the direct light of the oncoming train's spotlight in the driver's cabin will be greatly weakened.

White paint reflects all radiation visible to the eye, black paint, on the contrary, absorbs all this radiation. That is why on the southern roads of our country the roofs of the cars are painted in light colors, and in the north, on the contrary, dark colors are desirable, which means it will be warmer in the car.

Our eyes perceive different colors differently. The color red is recognized quickly and at the same time has an exciting effect on us. Yellow and orange promote concentration, while light green has a calming effect. Color even evokes a feeling of temperature: red-yellow colors are said to be warm, and bluish-blue colors are said to be cool. The eye reacts differently to a combination of colors: it best distinguishes between red and green, yellow and black. That is why the colors used for signaling in transport are: red (danger), yellow (warning), and green (safety). It is no coincidence that the orange color of the workers on the road was chosen - it is immediately >. Another example: it was found that it is the orange-red stripes on the front of the locomotive that have the greatest visibility range. They are often applied with fluorescent paints that fluoresce under the influence of daylight, which increases the visibility range by 1.5-2 times. To highlight color and reduce its intensity, filters are used (to darken too bright light).

Magnetoplane or Maglev (from the English magnetic levitation) is a train on a magnetic suspension, driven and controlled by magnetic forces. Such a train, unlike traditional trains, does not touch the rail surface during movement. Since there is a gap between the train and the moving surface, friction is eliminated, and the only braking force is the force of aerodynamic drag.

The speed achievable by Maglev is comparable to the speed of an airplane and allows it to compete with air communications at short (for aviation) distances (up to 1000 km). Although the idea of ​​such transport is not new, economic and technical limitations have prevented it from being fully developed: the technology has only been implemented for public use a few times. Currently, Maglev cannot use the existing transport infrastructure, although there are projects with the location of magnetic road elements between the rails of a conventional railway or under the highway.

General information

Drive - electric motor;

Period - since 1989;

Speed ​​- up to 600 km/h;

Scope of application: intercity public transport;

Infrastructure - magnetic rail track.

Technology

At the moment, there are 3 main technologies for magnetic suspension of trains:

1. On superconducting magnets (electrodynamic suspension, EDS).

A superconducting magnet is a solenoid or electromagnet with a winding made of superconducting material. The winding in the superconducting state has zero ohmic resistance. If such a winding is short-circuited, then the electric current induced in it is maintained almost indefinitely. The magnetic field of continuous current circulating through the winding of a superconducting magnet is extremely stable and ripple-free, which is important for a number of applications in scientific research and technology. The winding of a superconducting magnet loses its superconductivity property when the temperature rises above the critical temperature of the superconductor, when a critical current or critical magnetic field is reached in the winding.

2. On electromagnets (electromagnetic suspension).

3. Permanent magnets; this is a new and potentially most cost-effective system.

Advantages

* Theoretically the highest speed that can be achieved in a production (non-sport) ground vehicle.

* Low noise.

Flaws

* High cost of creating and maintaining tracks.

* Weight of magnets, electricity consumption.

* The electromagnetic field generated by maglev may be harmful to train crews and surrounding residents. Even traction transformers used on railways electrified by alternating current are harmful to drivers, but in this case the field strength is an order of magnitude greater. It is also possible that Maglev lines will not be available to people using pacemakers.

* It will be necessary to control the gap between the road and the train (several centimeters) at high speed (hundreds of km/h). This requires ultra-fast control systems.

* Requires complex track infrastructure. For example, an arrow for a Maglev represents two sections of road that alternate depending on the direction of the turn. Therefore, it is unlikely that maglev lines will form more or less branched networks with forks and intersections.

Implementation

The first public maglev system was built in Berlin in the 1980s.

The 1.6 km long road connected 3 metro stations. After much testing, the road was opened to passenger traffic on August 28, 1989. Travel was free, the carriages were controlled automatically without a driver, and the road was open only on weekends. On July 18, 1991, the line went into commercial operation and was included in the Berlin metro system.

After the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the population of Berlin actually doubled and it was necessary to connect the transport networks of East and West. The new road interrupted an important metro line, and the city needed to ensure high passenger flow. 13 days after putting it into commercial operation, on July 31, 1991, the municipality decided to dismantle the magnetic road and restore the metro. On September 17, the road was dismantled, and later the metro was restored.

Birmingham

A low-speed maglev shuttle operated from Birmingham Airport to the nearest railway station between 1984 and 1995. The track was 600 m long and had a suspension clearance of 1.5 cm. The road, after operating for 10 years, was closed due to passenger complaints of inconvenience and was replaced by a traditional monorail.

The failure of the first maglev road in Berlin did not deter the German company Transrapid from continuing its research, and the company later received an order from the Chinese government to build a high-speed (450 km/h) maglev route from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Shanghai. The road was opened in 2002, its length is 30 km. In the future, it is planned to extend it to the other end of the city to the old Hongqiao Airport and further southwest to the city of Hangzhou, after which its total length should be 175 km.

In Japan, a road is being tested in the vicinity of Yamanashi Prefecture. The speed achieved during testing with passengers on December 2, 2003 was 581 km/h.

There, in Japan, for the opening of the Expo 2005 exhibition in March 2005, a new route was put into commercial operation. The 9 km Linimo (Nagoya) line consists of 9 stations. The minimum radius is 75 m, the maximum slope is 6%. The linear motor allows the train to accelerate to 100 km/h in a matter of seconds.

There is information that Japanese companies are building a similar line in South Korea.

Japan to launch magnetic levitation train

Japan plans to launch a magnetic levitation bullet train in fiscal 2025. Construction of the line and trains will cost approximately $45 billion.

The Chinese are against the "road of the future"

The population of Shanghai staged mass protests against local pride - a unique magnetic levitation railway, the trains of which seem to fly through the air.

“We feel as if we are living in a microwave oven, our houses have depreciated in value, realtors refuse to do business with us when they find out that our houses are located next to a train route,” complain the Chinese, whose homes are in close proximity to the “road of the future.” ". According to them, the highway emits strong electromagnetic radiation.