Preliminary studies concerning the application of different braking arrangements on Italian freight trains

Freight wagons are usually equipped with the standard Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer pneumatic brake. On long trains, the propagation of the pneumatic signals along the pipe and different braking/loading conditions may produce delays and/or differences in the application of the braking effort along the train. This phenomenon may cause heavy longitudinal forces exchanged between wagons through buffers and draw gear. In particular, the workgroup n.6 (freight trains composition) of the Italcertifer committee has performed some preliminary studies concerning the application of LL braking operative conditions on freight wagons trains travelling on Italian lines. Partners have cooperated in this workgroup; however, in this paper, the attention is focused on methodologies and results concerning the contribution of University of Florence. The results of this activity, coordinated by RFI-CESIFER have been used to emanate the 20/07 rule of the RFI ('Modifiche alla Prefazione Generale all'Orario di Servizio') which modify the composition criterion rules of freight trains on the Italian Railways in order to introduce and discipline the application of the LL braking operative condition.