Railway vehicles are being exposed with increasing frequency to conditions of severe heat and cold because of changes in the climate. Trains departing from Asia travel to Europe through the Eurasian continent and vice versa. Given these circumstances, the mechanical properties and performance of vehicle components must therefore be evaluated at lower and higher temperatures than those in current standards. In this study, specimens were produced from a commercial freight train axle made of manganese steel and subjected to high-cycle fatigue tests at −60, −30, and 20 °C. The tests were conducted using an ultrasonic fatigue tester developed to study fatigue at low temperatures. Charpy impact testing was performed over the temperature range of −60 to 60 °C to measure the impact absorption energy of the axle material. The material showed a fatigue limit above 2 million cycles at each temperature; the lower the test temperature, the greater the fatigue limit cycles. The impact absorption energy at −60 °C was 81% less compared to the value at 20 °C. The axle material became completely brittle in the temperature range of −30 to −40 °C.
Rack & pinion traction system on mountain tram for climbing steep gradient tracks makes worse the comfortability of cabin because of the vibration generated by gear contact. That is the main reason for complaint of tourists. In this study, to reduce the vibration level of the previous rack&pinion traction system, a low vibration rack&pinion traction system was developed and test models were made so that it could be verified by a wheel-rail contact testing machine. The vibration level induced by the low vibration rack&pinion traction system was 20 times less than that by the conventional rack&pinion traction system. This low vibration rack&pinion traction system can be maintained easily because simple replacement of resilient body is possible. If this resilient rack&pinion traction system is applied to a mountain tram, the vibration and noise level in cabins is reduced drastically so that the comfortability of tourists can be increased.
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