Development of onboard friction control

Onboard friction control system has been developed for vehicles of Tokyo Subway (TRTA). In subway lines, there are many tight curves that may cause squeal noise, excessive wear of rail and also rail corrugation. To solve these various problems, onboard friction control system has been developed and has been equipped to commercial trains. The effect of friction control has been confirmed by the field running test with measuring wheelset. After that, under the service running condition of the equipped trains, the long-term observation proved the effect of the friction control by reducing L/V value (the ratio of lateral (L) and vertical (V) force between wheel and rail), lateral acceleration of inner rail and also sound level beside rail. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.