Railway Administration is testing the Břeclav – Vranovice line for the speed of 200 kph13/1/2020|Press releasesSince December last year, testing of railway vehicles at speeds of 200 kph has been under way in part of the line between Břeclav and Vranovice. The aim of the tests is to prepare selected sections of the Czech railway network for the planned speed increase and to check the behaviour of load-bearing structures and other parts of railway structures under significantly higher dynamic load. The acoustic load of the line surroundings is also being measured when the vehicle is passing at a higher speed than today's 160 kph. The section Vranovice – Břeclav is a part of the planned high-speed rail line network. In future, the high-speed rail line from Brno, which will be the branch of the main high-speed rail line Prague – Brno – Ostrava, should end in Šakvice. The trains will go further on to Břeclav along the current modernized conventional line, where the line speed will increase to 200 kph after necessary modifications. “We promised to gradually increase speed on the Czech railways. We are moving on to specific actions. The existing infrastructure does not make it possible to increase the speed of trains without necessary modifications, such as the removal of all level crossings and crossings. The ongoing tests will provide background information for the projects under preparation,” says Jiří Svoboda, CEO of the Railway Administration. As regards the modernization of the line between Vranovice and Břeclav to a higher speed, the preparation of the project should start this year, it will be followed by the building permit design and the actual implementation of the construction so that everything is completed by the end of 2025. As part of the construction work, it will be necessary to reconstruct the railway stations Podivín and Zaječí (building platforms), remove the pedestrian crossing in Podivín and crossing in Starovičky in the section Zaječí – Šakvice, restore the railway substructure and superstructure and traction lines or repair bridges. The current speed tests examine the current state of bridges and their durability at higher speeds. As the last speed tests at 200 kph were performed on this line in 2004, preparations for the implementation of speed tests started in September last year. The condition of the line in the test section was first technically examined by a measuring rail flaw detection vehicle and at the same time by running a measuring wagon of the traction line of the Railway Administration. In addition to bridges and other artificial structures, crossings, platforms, polycarbonate shelters, etc. were also examined. Other technical components and track equipment were checked in detail. Modifications and adjustments of the individual elements of infrastructure were then made for speed tests at 200 kph. The required condition of the line in the test section was checked again by measuring wagons. On Monday, 9 December 2019, trial and test runs at 200 kph were carried out in the section Břeclav – Vranovice. The Siemens Vectron locomotive was used in them, which is fully equipped with the on-board part of the European Train Control System (ETCS). The tests focused on the behaviour of the ETCS at speeds above 160 kph. Furthermore, the dynamic behaviour of load-bearing structures of selected bridges was tested at 160–200 kph. Two bridge structures (from 1933 and 1946) with load-bearing structures, which are (according to a prepared study) susceptible to excessive dynamic response (oscillation), were selected for testing. The measurements were provided by the Czech Technical University in Prague – Faculty of Civil Engineering and by the employees of the Technical Centre of Infrastructure. The measurement results will be used to optimally design new bridge structures and repair the existing ones while upgrading the track for higher speeds. In cooperation with the Department of Railway Structures of the Czech Technical University in Prague, acoustic measurements were also made when the vehicle was passing at 200 kph. In addition to the classic accurate measurement of the acoustic burden level by a calibrated instrument, a so-called “acoustic camera” was used (for the first time on the railway in the Czech Republic) to identify the location and the cause of noise. Using this technology it is possible to graphically determine the location and intensity of the noise burden (e.g. contact of the rail wheel, subsoil, contact of the trolley with the pantograph, etc.). For the prediction of noise burden at speeds higher than 160 kph, theoretical calculation models are used on the railway. The measurements and the calculation model will be used to determine the noise burden and to lay down measures to comply with the mandatory noise limits.