Overview
ABSTRACT
The goal of tilting technology is to increase the speed of trains in curves and thus optimize the journey times of conventional lines. However, the system must be designed to have no impact on safety while ensuring a certain level of comfort for passengers. This article provides the basis principles of tilting and gives detail about the various configurations of tilting system embedded on Alstom products since the first Pendolinos. Faced with the development of Very High Speed throughout the world, the authors will give their vision of the market oftiltingtechnology.
Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.
Read the articleAUTHORS
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Alessandro ELIA : Director of Tilting Trains Department, Alstom - CEN TC256 participant, WG7 Chairman
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Gerald HAUSER : Tender Leader - Alstom Schweiz A6
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Naim KUKA : Master Expert in Railway Dynamics - Former Leader of the Core Competence Network on Railway - Dynamics & Mechatronics at Alstom Transport, retired July 2020
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Grégoire NICOLEAU : Project Engineering Manager – Hydrogen - Alstom RSC STO
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Riccardo VERARDI : Railway Dynamics Senior Expert and Bogie Expert - Alstom Ferroviaria
INTRODUCTION
This article was written by a multidisciplinary group of people who have succeeded each other over the last 30 years in the development of tilting trains for the railway manufacturer Alstom (resulting from the successive mergers up to 2007 of GEC Alsthom with Fiat Ferroviara and SIG).
This article deals with tilting for railways, but even if it mainly focuses on rolling stock, tilting technology must be considered as a whole system, including infrastructure (track, catenary) and signalling ; in fact the tilting system exploits the existence of a gap between the speed limit due to passenger comfort (the limit applied to conventional trains) and the limit for running safety in railway curves. The tilting system aims to take advantage of this gap, in a complex and clever way, allowing an increase of train speed on existing lines without the need for investment in new track.
In this context, this article first explains the main theoretical principles and some key concepts (such as active and passive tilting, the different types of system and the performances achieved). This will allow the reader to identify the various issues related to tilting technology.
The focus will be on passenger comfort, in particular on the physiological effects that tilting can produce.
The theoretical elements will be illustrated using the numerous applications of tilting technology made by Alstom from the 1970s to the present day :
first generation (SIG Neiko, ETR 401, ETR 450, VT 610) ;
second generation (ETR 460 Treno Zero, TGV Pendulaire, X-TER Pendulaire, ETR 460, ETR 470, ICT, S220, Slovenian and Spanish Pendolini) ;
third generation (WCML Class 390, ICN, WAKO, ETR 600/610) ;
and finally, the most recent developments (Avelia Liberty™).
Finally, the authors will present their vision of the future market for tilting technology in spite of ever stronger competition from very high-speed around the world.
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KEYWORDS
motion sickness | cinetose | cant deficiency | tilting technology | Alstom products
Tilting Trains: Principles, Performances, Applications and Perspectives
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