Derailment simulation on a passenger train at level crossing due to lateral collision with a heavy road vehicle

ABSTRACT: The derailment accident simulations of a passenger train due to the lateral collision of a road truck at a level crossing are conducted using the GENSYS multi-body dynamics software package. The train which is comprised of five passenger cars is modelled using a multibody dynamics approach which fully takes into account the wheel-rail contact. The road truck is considered as a rigid body with plastic crush elements on the front. Two scenarios with the road truck hitting the front and the middle passenger cars of the train at a constant speed are simulated respectively. The simulations show that it is easier to cause wheelset derailment when the front passenger car is laterally collided with the road truck rather than the middle car.