Introduction to transportation engineering

Assignment # 01
Subject: Intro to Transportation Engineering
Section: 4A
Submitted To: Mr.Waqas Rafiq
Submitted by: Abdul Bais
Reg# CIIT/FA15/CVE-025/WAH
Dated 3/3/2017

Q.1. what are Transportation modes their typical function
along with approximate range of capacities?
Transportations Modes
Transportmodes are the means by which people and freight achieve mobility.
They fall into one of three basic types, depending on over whatsurfacethey
travel – land (road, railand pipelines), water (shipping), and air.
The most dominant modes of transportare air, water, and land transport, which
includes rail, road and off-road transport. Other modes also exist, including
pipelines, cable transport, and spacetransport. Human-powered transportand
animal-powered transportare sometimes regarded as their own mode, but these
normally also fall into the other categories. In general, transportation is used for

the movement of people, animals, and other things. Each mode of transporthas a
fundamentally differenttechnological solution, and some requirea separate
environment. Each mode has its own infrastructure, vehicles, and operations, and
often has unique regulations. Each mode also has separatesubsystems.
Transportis important because it enables trade between people, which is
essential for the development of civilizations.
Modes of Transportation
1) Land transport 2) Air Transport
3) Water Transport 3) Space Transport.
1) Land transport:
Land transport covers all land-based transportation systems that provide for the
movement of people, goods and services. Land transport plays a vital role in linking
communities to each other. Land transport is a key factor in urban planning.
a)Road transportation:
A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places.
Roads are typically smoothed,paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy

travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply
recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance. In
urban areas, roads may pass through a city or village and be named as
streets,serving a dual function as urban space easement and route.
The most commonroad vehicle is the automobile;a wheeled passenger
vehicle that carries its own motor. Other users of roads include buses,
trucks, motorcycles,bicycles and pedestrians.As of 2002,there were 590
million automobiles worldwide. Road transport offers a complete freedomto
road users to transfer the vehicle from one lane to the other and from one
road to another according to the need and convenience.This flexibility of
changes in location, direction, speed,and timings of travel is not available
to other modes of transport. It is possible to provide doorto door service
only by road transport. Automobiles offerhigh flexibility and with low
capacity, but are deemed with high energy and area use, and the main
source of noise and air pollution in cities; buses allow for more efficient
travel at the costof reduced flexibility. Road transport by truck is oftenthe
initial and final stage of freight transport.
Functions:
Relocation of travelers and cargo are the most common uses of transport.
However, other uses exist, such as the strategic and tactical relocation of armed
forces during warfare, or the civilian mobility construction or emergency
equipment.
Passenger
Passenger transport, or travel, is divided into public and privatetransport. Public
transportis scheduled services on fixed routes, while private is vehicles that
providead hoc services at the rider’s desire. The latter offers better flexibility, but
has lower capacity, and a higher environmental impact. Travelmay be as part of
daily commuting, for business, leisureor migration.
Short-haultransportis dominated by the automobile and mass transit. The latter
consists of buses in ruraland small cities, supplemented with commuter rail,
trams and rapid transitin larger cities. Long-haultransportinvolves the use of the
automobile, trains, coaches and aircraft, the last of which have become
predominantly used for the longest, including intercontinental, travel. Intermodal

passenger transportis wherea journey is performed through the use of several
modes of transport; sinceall human transportnormally starts and ends with
walking, all passenger transportcan be considered intermodal. Public transport
may also involve the intermediate changeof vehicle, within or across modes, ata
transporthub, such as a bus or railway station.
Taxis and buses can be found on both ends of the public transportspectrum.
Buses are the cheaper mode of transportbut are not necessarily flexible, and taxis
are very flexible but more expensive. In the middle is demand-responsive
transport, offering flexibility whilstremaining affordable.
Internationaltravel may be restricted for someindividuals due to legislation and
visa requirements.
Freight:
Transportation creates place utility by moving the goods fromthe place of
production to the place of consumption. While all modes of transportare used for
cargo transport, there is high differentiation between the nature of the cargo
transport, in which mode is chosen. Logistics refers to the entire process of
transferring products fromproducer to consumer, including storage, transport,
transshipment, warehousing, material-handling and packaging, with associated
exchange of information.
Bulk transportis common with cargo that can be handled roughly without
deterioration; typical examples are ore, coal, cereals and petroleum. Because of
the uniformity of the product, mechanical handling can allow enormous
quantities to be handled quickly and efficiently. The low value of the cargo
combined with high volume also means that economies of scale become essential
in transport, and gigantic ships and whole trains are commonly used to transport
bulk. Liquid products with sufficientvolume may also be transported by pipeline.
Range of capacities:
Capacity is defined as the maximum number of vehicles, passengers, or thelike,
per unit time, which can be accommodated under given conditions with a
reasonableexpectation of occurrence. Some of the observations thatare found
fromthis definition can be now discussed. Capacity is independent of the
demand. Itspeaks aboutthe physicalamountof vehicles and passengers a road
can afford.

Capacity of roads plays a vital role in assuming better network characteristics and
in providing good performanceof roads. Capacity values play an important role
for further modifications of roads. Various geometric measures like carriageway
width, sidewalks, and serviceroads.
Highway capacity
Highway capacity is defined by the Highway Capacity Manual as the maximum
hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can be reasonably expected to traversea
point or a uniformsegment of a lane or roadway during a given time period under
prevailing roadway, traffic and controlconditions. The highway capacity depends
on certain conditions as listed below;
1. Traffic conditions: Itrefers to the traffic composition in the road such as the
mix of cars, trucks, buses etc. in the stream. Italso include peaking characteristics,
proportions of turning movements at intersections and the like.
2. Road way characteristics: This points out to the geometric characteristics of the
road. These include lane width, shoulder width, lane configuration, horizontal
alignment and vertical alignment.
3. Control conditions: This primarily applies to surfacefacilities and often refer to
the signals at intersections etc.
b) Rail Transport:
Rail transportis a means of conveyanceof passengers and goods on wheeled
vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. Itis also commonly referred to as
train transport. In contrastto road transport, wherevehicles run on a prepared
flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) aredirectionally guided by the tracks on
which they run. Tracks usually consistof steel rails, installed on ties (sleepers) and
ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other
variations are also possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a
concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.
Rolling stock in a rail transportsystemgenerally encounters lower frictional
resistancethan road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and
wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a
railway company, providing transportbetween train stations or freight customer
facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from
a railway electrification systemor producetheir own power, usually by diesel

engines. Mosttracks are accompanied by a signaling system. Railways area safe
land transportsystemwhen compared to other forms of transport.
Passenger trains:
A passenger train travels between stations where passengers may embark and
disembark. The oversightof the train is the duty of a guard/train
manager/conductor. Passenger trains arepartof public transportand often make
up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains
providelong-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit
services. They even include a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way
requirements, and servicefrequency. Passenger trains usually can be divided into
two operations: intercity railway and intercity transit. Whereas as intercity railway
involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled),
intercity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency
(especially during peak hours).
Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities.
Trains typically have amenities such as a dining car. Some lines also provideover-
night services with sleeping cars. Somelong-haul trains have been given a specific
name. Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with
outlying, surrounding areas, or providea regional service, making more stops and
having lower speeds. Commuter trains servesuburbs of urban areas, providing a
daily commuting service. Airportrail links providequick access fromcity centers
to airports.
High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds
than conventional railways, thelimit being regarded at 200 to 320 kilometers per
hour (120 to 200 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haulservice
and mostsystems arein Western Europe and East Asia. The speed record is 574.8
km/h (357.2 mph), setby a modified French TGV.[32][33] Magnetic levitation
trains such as the Shanghai airporttrain use under-riding magnets which attract
themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has
achieved somewhathigher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than
conventional high-speed railways, although only over shortdistances. Dueto their
heightened speeds, routealignments for high-speed rail tend to haveshallower
grades and broader curves than conventional railways.
Their high kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20
horsepower per shortton or 16 kilowatts per ton); this allows trains to accelerate

and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up
and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut, fill, and tunneling requirements).
Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures aredesigned with the highest
possibleradius. All these features are dramatically different fromfreight
operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically
feasible. Higher-speed rail services areintercity rail services that have top speeds
higher than conventional intercity trains but the speeds are not as high as those in
the high-speed rail services. Theseservices are provided after improvements to
the conventionalrail infrastructurein order to supporttrains that can operate
safely at higher speeds.
High speed railway (High Speed Railroad/Railway & Railroad/Railway high speed)
commonly referred to as the High-speed Rail, is a kind of operating speed of at
least 80% more than in the wholeoperation process of distance over 200 km/h
(120 mph). As of 2014, theoperating speed of High-speed Rail systems in the
world are running about all set at 300 km/h (190 mph), a few systems have
relatively high speed. For High-speed Rail speed can be considered:
High-speed Rail lines after transformation fromcommon railroad, such High-
speed Rail maximum speed of approximately 250 km/h (160 mph).
Construction standards for the ballasted bed (stoneballast) high-speed railway
was built, such High-speed Rail maximum speed of approximately 320 km/h (200
mph).
Ballast less track technology standards lay the rail on the reinforced concrete
pavement directly, such as China High-speed Rail mostly built in high-speed bridge
(overhead bridge), so called air railway (air railroad), maximumspeed of
approximately 400 km/h (250 mph).High speed railway is a high-tech integrated
system, including 6 aspects:
Infrastructure, also including the station construction.
High speed train.
Electricity and telecommunications, including electrical and contact network, safe
and reliable communication, signal, dispatching center console.
Safety control part, including meteorological conditions monitoring, line
monitoring, automatic train controland retrieval, road, vehicle automatic
monitoring and responsesystem.

Maintenance and maintenance section, including the line maintenance, high
speed train maintenance and repair, involving a variety of instrumentation
maintenance and repair, and maintenance of equipment and monitoring
instruments. The other parts, including passenger safety assessmentsent, High-
speed Rail prospectivestudy, the new High-speed Rail line and the new high
speed train or high speed train test, High-speed Rail financial, High-speed Rail
operational data storageand analysis, etc.
Rapid transit is an intercity systembuilt in large cities and has the highest capacity
of any passenger transportsystem. Itis usually grade-separated and commonly
built underground or elevated. At street level, smaller trams can be used. Light
rails are upgraded trams that have step-freeaccess, their own right-of-way and
sometimes sections underground. Monorailsystems areelevated, medium-
capacity systems. A people mover is a driverless, grade-separated train that
serves only a few stations, as a shuttle. Due to the lack of uniformity of rapid
transit systems, routealignment varies, with diverse rights-of-way (privateland,
side of road, street median) and geometric characteristics.
Freight trains:
Bulk cargo of minerals
A freight train hauls cargo using freight cars specialized for the type of goods.
Freight trains are very efficient, with economy of scale and high energy efficiency.
However, their usecan be reduced by lack of flexibility, if there is need of
transshipmentat both ends of the trip due to lack of tracks to the points of pick-
up and delivery. Authorities often encouragethe useof cargo rail transportdueto
its environmental profile.
Container trains have become the dominant type in the US for non-bulk haulage.
Containers can easily be transshipped to other modes, such as ships and trucks,
using cranes. This has succeeded the boxcar (wagon-load), wherethe cargo had to
be loaded and unloaded into the train manually. The intermodal containerization
of cargo has revolutionized the supply chain logistics industry, reducing ship costs
significantly. In Europe, the sliding wall wagon has largely superseded the
ordinary covered wagons. Other types of cars include refrigerator cars, stock cars
for livestock and auto racks for road vehicles. When rail is combined with road
transport, a roadrailer will allow trailers to be driven onto the train, allowing for
easy transition between road and rail.

Bulk handling represents a key advantagefor rail transport. Low or even zero
transshipmentcosts combined with energy efficiency and low inventory costs
allow trains to handle bulk much cheaper than by road. Typical bulk cargo
includes coal, ore, grains and liquids. Bulk is transported in open-topped cars,
hopper cars and tank cars.
2) Air Transport: Air travelis a form of travel in vehicles such as helicopters,
hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting, airplanes, jets, or
anything else that can sustain flight.[1] Use of air travel has greatly increased in
recent decades - worldwideit doubled between the mid-1980s and the year 2000.
Air transportis an important enabler to achieving economic growth and
development. Air transportfacilitates integration into the global economy and
provides vital connectivity on a national, regional, and international scale. Ithelps
generate trade, promote tourism, and create employment opportunities. The
World Bank has financed aviation-related projects for over sixty years.
Functions:
Emergency Services:
Itcan operate even when all other means of transportcannotbe operated due to
the floods or other natural calamities. Thus, at that time, it is the only mode of
transportwhich can be employed to do the relief work and providethe essential
commodities of life.
Most Suitable for Carrying Light Goods of High Value:

Itis most suitable for carrying goods of perishable naturewhich require quick
delivery and light goods of high value such as diamonds, bullion etc. over long
distances.
National Defense:
Air transportplays a very important role in the defense of a country. Modern wars
have been fought mainly by aero planes. Ithas upper hand in destroying the
enemy in a very shortperiod of time. Italso supports over wings of defense of a
country.
Small Carrying Capacity: Its carrying capacity is very small and hence it is not
suitable to carry cheap and bulky goods.
Capacity of different planes:
Airbus A340 300 –295 seats
Boeing 777 200 – 440 seats
3) Water Transport:
Water transportis the process of moving people, goods, etc. by barge, boat, ship
or sailboatover a sea, ocean, lake, canal, river, etc.

This category does not include articles on the transportof water for the purpose
of consuming the water.
Itis the intentional movement by water over large distances. Methods of
transportation fall into three categories:
Aqueducts, which include pipelines, canals, and tunnels,
Container shipment, which includes transportby tank truck, tank car, and tank
ship, and
Towing, where a tugboat is used to pull an iceberg or a large water bag along
behind it.
Due to its weight, the transportation of water is very energy intensive. Unless it
has the assistanceof gravity, a canal or long-distancepipeline will need pumping
stations at regular intervals. In this regard, the lower friction levels of the canal
make it a more economical solution than the pipeline. Water transportation is
also very common along rivers and oceans.
Q2. Modern day techniques involved in railway systems by
different countries. Choose one country of your choice and

illustrate with pictures the modern day techniquesthey are
using.
Rail transportis a means of conveyanceof passengers and goods on wheeled
vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. Itis also commonly referred to as
train transport. In contrastto road transport, wherevehicles run on a prepared
flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) aredirectionally guided by the tracks on
which they run. Tracks usually consistof steel rails, installed on ties (sleepers) and
ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other
variations are also possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a
concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.
Japanese trains Technology:
A modern railway systemrelies on sophisticated monitoring systems for
maintenance and renewal activities. Some of the existing conditions monitoring
techniques performfault detection using advanced filtering, systemidentification
and signalanalysis methods. These theoretical approaches do not require
complex mathematical models of the systemand can overcome potential
difficulties associated with nonlinearities and parameter variations in the system.
Practical applications of condition monitoring tools usesensors which are
mounted either on the track or rolling stock. For instance, monitoring wheelset
dynamics could be done through the use of track-mounted sensors, whilevehicle-
based sensors arepreferred for monitoring the train infrastructure. This paper
attempts to collate and critically appraisethe modern techniques used for
condition monitoring of railway vehicle dynamics by analyzing the advantages and
shortcomings of these methods

The Japan Railways Group, morecommonly known as JR Group consists of seven
for-profitcompanies that took over most of the assets and operations of the
government-owned JapaneseNational Railways on April 1, 1987. Mostof the
liability of the JNR was assumed by the JNR Settlement Corporation.
Progress of construction technology
Japan has a relatively small proportion of lowland, consisting mainly of alluvial
coastal plains. Railway construction started in the early Meiji Era (1868–1912) and
since the construction technology was still immature, the firstlines were built in
level coastal areas. The rails were laid mostly on earth structures such as
embankments and cuttings. Many railway bridges over rivers werealso built at
that time. Gradually, with progress in tunneling technology, railways were
constructed connecting towns and cities previously isolated by mountains. The
post-war period of rapid economic growth in the 1950s and 1960ssaw problems
in securing urban land for new railway construction. Moreover, the rapid spread
of automobiles gaverise to severe city planning problems with more traffic
congestion resulting in railway crossing accidents. To solvethese problems, more
urban railways werebuilt on elevated sections.
With advances in construction technology, especially shield tunneling, many new
railways arebeing constructed underground. In recentyears it has become

completely impossibleto secure new land for railway construction in big cities,
although railway demand is still increasing. Furthermore, it is even getting harder
to plan construction of new railways underground becausethereare already so
many buried structures, including underground railways. Therefore, thefuture
will see a good deal of effortin developing new technologies for using deep
underground space, as well as spaceabove existing railways.
Comparison of Shinkansen lines by structure
First, this article looks at changes in Japanese railway technology by comparing
past and current Shinkansen structures
The Tokaido Shinkansen—theworld's firsthigh-speed railway—is built with a
large proportion of earth structures, such as embankments. This method was
chosen to shorten the work term and cut construction costs. Itwas possible
because maintenance costs were not so high in those days and no one expected
that the shinkansen would operate on the tight scheduleof today (about5
minutes headway).
The Sanyo Shinkansen, completed about 10 years later, runs mostly through
mountainous districts. Consequently, morethan 80% of its length is tunnels and
bridges (including viaducts).
Rising track maintenance costs due to labor costs, resulted in more use of
concrete slab tracks. However, sinceconcreteslab track laid on earth structures
requires strict controlof track bed deformation, the Tohoku Shinkansen and
Joetsu Shinkansen, both completed in 1982, havefew such sections.
To minimize railway construction and maintenance costs, the Nagano-bound
shinkansen, which opened on 1 October this year, uses severalnew techniques
for laying concrete slab track on an earth structurethat is not deformed under
the train load.
The MechanismRailway Operation in Japan

The history of railways in Japan dates back to September 1872 when commercial
operation started over a 29-kmtrack between Shimbashi(Tokyo) and Yokohama.
Japan has achieved a tremendous development, both social and economic, over
the following 125 years, and railways havebeen no exception. The railway
networks in this relatively small land total over 27,000 km, and up to 2.2 million
people ride trains each day. The five shinkansen lines stretch 2200 kmwith
operating speeds of 260 to 300 km/h. Shinkansen cover the 515-kmstretch
between the two largestcities, Tokyo and Osaka, in 2 hours and 30 minutes. The
high efficiency of railway transportation puts railways ahead of air transportin
Japan, where the dense population is scattered along the Pacific coastal plain.
The progress of railways and their role in society is supported by new
technological achievements in many areas. Safety, speed, and ride comforthave
always been major concerns for Japaneserailway companies. The other major
concerns today are reducing noisepollution for people living near tracks, and
preserving the natural environment. More recently, easier maintenance has

become an important issuedue to labor shortages and the need for higher
efficiency.
Track is one of the mostimportant technical elements in railway operations. Track
technology has developed in parallel with the railway itself. Current concerns of
railways arealso technical issuefor tracks. This article discusses thepresent
status of tracks in Japan, and the futureoutlook.
Structural Analysisof Tracks
Basic structure
Japan is a mountainous archipelago with narrow coastalplains. Consequently,
Japanese railways havemany sharp curves, tunnels, embankments, and steep
grades. The firstrailway in Japan was built using a narrow gauge(1067 mm) to
meet these geographical conditions and the need for economy; the narrow gauge
became the standard for all state-owned railways until the first shinkansen in
1964.
Railway track consists essentially of rails and sleepers, laid in and fixed by ballast
on a road bed. This economic design, which was chosen on the basis of
experience, has remained virtually unchanged irrespectiveof other subsequent
technical progress. Tracksarelong, large structures stretching hundreds or
thousands of kilometers. In addition to economy, the design is a rational structure
for supporting heavy fasttrains on softground. Itis easy to maintain and offers
outstanding vibration and noise performance. Many attempts have been made
over the past100 years to develop other designs but none have been good
enough to replace the conventional design.
As discussed later, slab track is a recent preferencefor high-speed operations,
requiring less maintenance. However, conventionalballasted track is still found
on more than 90% of railways in Japan.
Rails
Japan's firstline used vertically-symmetrical, wrought-iron double-headed rails.
They were soon replaced around 1880 by asymmetricalsteel flat-bottom rails of
greater toughness. Thesefirstrails weighed 29.8 kilograms per meter (kg/m) and

were 7.3-mlong. The weight and length werelater increased to carry more trains
at faster speeds. Today, Japanesetrains run on 50- or 60-kg rails. The 60-kg rails
have the largest cross-sectionalarea and are used on all shinkansen tracks and
other major sections.
The standard rail length is 25 m, but continuous-welded rails (CWR), or long rails,
are used on main sections to improveride quality and reduce noise and vibration.
The CWR is subjectto compression loads dueto temperature changes, which can
causebuckling, or sharp lateral displacement. These phenomena are prevented
using reinforced fastenings, sleepers and ballast.
Welding
Continuous-welded rails are being promoted in Japan to cut noise, vibration, and
maintenance costs. Rails can be welded end-to-end using any of four processes:
flash butt, thermite, gas pressure, and enclosed arc. Japan is unique in using the
gas pressureprocess and the enclosed arc in addition to the other two, commonly
used in other countries.
In 1996, theJR group completed about 79,000 welds; 40% wereby thermite
welding, 26% by gas pressure, 25% by flash butt, and 9% by enclosed arc. The gas
pressureprocess is less efficient than the flash butt process, butit is widely used
for both factory and track-sidewelding because the equipment is easily portable
and the joint quality is as good as that of the flash butt process.

Sleepers
The sleepers binding the rails wereusually made of hardwood timber. Concrete
sleepers, introduced in early 1950s, areused on mosttrunk lines today because of
their longer servicelife and greater track stability. Although timber sleepers have
good elasticity and are lighter and easier to handle than concrete sleepers, their
main drawback is shortservicelife due to deterioration. Synthetic sleepers made
of hard polyurethanefoam and glass fiber are a recent unique development in
Japan. They are designed for long servicelife (more than 60 years) while
maintaining the physicalproperties of wood sleepers. They are being used
increasingly over steel girder bridges, switches, and other sections where
maintenance or replacement is difficult.
‘Ladder sleepers’ are another on-going development. They consistof 12-mlong
pre-stressed longitudinalconcrete members bound by lateral steel tubes like a
ladder. The rails are supported continuously on the concrete members, which
distribute the load lengthwise, reducing the need for ballast maintenance.
Rail fastenings

In the early days, dog spikes or other simple devices were used to fasten the rail
to timber sleepers. With the introduction of concrete sleepers, the spikes were
replaced by double elastic fastenings in which the rail is fastened by a spring using
rubber pads or other cushioning materials inserted between the rail and sleeper.
Rail fastenings distributeload and dampen vibration and are an essential
component in high-speed train operation. Leaf springs areused in Japan primarily
because of cost and adjustability, and in Francebecauseof fastening forceand
bearing ability. Wire springs arepreferred in Germany because of fastening force
and adjustability hands of Railway Tracks.

Introduction to transportation engineering

Introduction to transportation engineering

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