ABSTRACT
Questions connected with all railway sub-systems, such as solutions adopted in infrastructure, dynamic safety of vehicle-track interaction, operation safety and reliability of power supply system and traffic control and communication system, that apart from specification of vehicles influence increase of adopted operation speed are identified and discussed.
Power output required for HS rolling stock (operation speed 190 ÷ 350 km/h) possible to achieve thanks to technical progress in propelling systems, with application of AC traction motors and semi-conductors based power transmition, streamlined design of vehicle bodies adopted in order to reduce aerodynamic drag coefficient Cx (aerodynamic drag makes the major part of total running resistance at HS) and problems connected with vehicle-track dynamic interaction are indicated as having principal importance in development of HS rolling stock.
Design of HS vehicles in commercial operation in Poland (PKP Intercity) i.e. EU44 6000 kW electric locomotives of maximum operation speed 200 km/h and ED250 electric multiple units of maximum operation speed 250 km/h, both featuring modern technical solutions, is described.
Investigation of dynamic interaction between vehicle and track at HS in case of ED250 electric multiple unit constitutes the main subject of the chapter.
Planning of the experiment, covering selection and analysis of the line section, detailed risk evaluation and organization of test runs is described in detail.
Test procedure and recorded parameters (total of 43 signals) is presented. The results of the investigation confirmed both good track quality and very good dynamic parameters of the vehicle that justified increase of operation speed on the line in question to 200 km/h.
