The analysis of the stages of development of industrial production by human society based on the well-known concept of four industrial revolutions has resulted in retrospection of technical and technological development of railways during the periods between the industrial revolutions in terms of core rail engineering systems (infrastructure, rolling stock, control and management system), as well as contributed to outline prospects for foreseeable period. It has allowed to identify main directions of technical and technological development of productive forces characteristic of the fourth industrial revolution.

The objective of the research was to identify those directions that are appropriate to be applied in relation to rail transport as well as to choose a few specific technical and technological solutions.

In the field of digitalisation, it is proposed to focus on development and implementation of intelligent management systems for each workplace or of intelligent workplaces (IWP), which ensure development of optimal solutions for numerous operational tasks fulfilled by the dispatchers on duty at railway facilities. It has been determined that for a case of a large rail company like JSC Russian Railways creation of managers’ IWPs should be based on the scale and generality of the tasks solved at numerous similar managed objects since, for example, the number of dispatching sections reaches more than 400, the number of stations and simultaneously moving trains is of several thousand, and of train sheds and infrastructure sections is of several hundred, etc. This allows creating standard systems that are further replicated for specific workplaces while considering local specifics.

Intelligent systems integrate as important elements fast-growing production of increasingly miniaturised, and to be underlined, constantly cheaper sensors, capable today of being built into almost any objects that in terms of railways comprise, for example, a wheel of a wagons or of a locomotive, engines, rails, any wagons or containers. This allows continuously monitoring the current state of any objects, as well as their nodes resulting in fundamentally new opportunities for reducing the cost of maintenance of rolling stock and infrastructure, as well as ensuring transport safety. Thus, for the first time ever, the task of achieving «absolute» rail traffic safety can be set.

The article includes a forecast of the approximate time of the advent of the fifth industrial revolution and the trajectories of development of technical systems of railways for the period before its start. The use of the results of the study is supposed to facilitate to concretise directions of the promising technical and technological development of rail transport.

In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) there are many winter roads for transportation of food and essential goods. As a rule, vehicles are running on a diesel fuel on such roads. Despite the difficulties in operating diesel vehicles under extremely low temperatures, diesel vehicles are much more powerful and economical than gasoline ones. Problems with start and operation of a diesel engine are associated with low-temperature properties of diesel fuel. The process involved in refining oil to create a winter class diesel fuel is expensive and complex because paraffinic hydrocarbons must be removed.

Therefore, today it is important to produce winter classes of diesel fuel by compounding a pour point depressant and a summer class of fuel. When using additives, problems arise with the choice of their concentration. Those limits that the manufacturer recommends in real life show a negative result.

There is no wide range of those additives in Yakutia so the authors chose for experiments Dewaxol additives that diminish sedimentation during fuel transportation. So, during the study of the impact of Dewaxol additive, that contained amides and imides of mono- and dicarboxylic acids on the diesel fuel, it was considered how, at various concentrations of the additive and the heating temperature of fuel, the cloud point decreases, and sedimentation stability improves. The least squares method has allowed describing optimal concentration of pour point depressant. The study resulted in the conclusion that the fuel with a high content of depressant-dispersant additive has the best sedimentation stability.

The article discusses proposals referring to a new way to control the state of a continuous welded rail.

The main factors that have the greatest impact on the state of a continuous welded rail are displacement of rail and the state of a continuous welded rail in plan. This group of factors describes the temperature-stressed nature of operation of a continuous welded rail. Evaluated factors determining the properties which prevent displacement include the state of rail fastenings, the width of the shoulder of the ballast prism, the presence of hanging and unsupported sleepers, and fulness of the ballast cribs, space between the sleepers.

The combination of these factors makes it possible to identify a complex coefficient with a high degree of reliability to assess the pre-failure state of a continuous welded rail associated with the risk of loss of stability of a continuous welded rail, the degree of danger of violation of train traffic safety.

In order to assess the state of a continuous welded rail and the degree of its deterioration, the paper presents evaluation criteria. They allow getting a comprehensive picture of the state of any section of a continuous welded rail based on the results of its inspection by diagnostic tools and creating a list of recommendations to eliminate the identified violations.

The paper highlights also the shortcomings of the existing methodology for assessing the state of a continuous welded rail in plan, which is based on the analysis of changes in the curvature of welded rails in plan in time. The retrospective analysis carried out by the author shows that there are cases of a sharp change in the state of a continuous welded rail in plan, which are currently not considered by the existing evaluation criteria. To increase detectability of such sections of a continuous welded rail, it is proposed to supplement the existing algorithm with additional evaluation criteria referring to changes in curvature of welded rails and in rail temperature, which allow timely identification of the places of a sharp change in the state in plan.

Subsequent studies are suggested to establish the relationship between the rail temperature and the sites of a sharp change in the state of a continuous welded rail in plan.

The increase in the service life of track superstructure has always been an important task since this allows reduction in the cost of repairs and current maintenance of the track.

The objective of the work is to determine the mutual influence of the rail cant and the track gauge based on the results of measurements carried out by track recording cars, as well as their impact on the stress-strain state of the rail. The analysis was based on statistical and the finite element methods. Using statistical methods, it was determined that the rail cant and track gauge values do not have a normal distribution and have a weak feedback. The reasons were explained in the conclusions.

To determine with the finite element method contact stresses in the rail head on the track sections available in the sample, with different combinations of rail cant and track gauge, a model with full geometric similarity was developed.

The results obtained from the calculations demonstrate that the deviation of the cant within the range from 1/15 to 1/30 leads to an increase in stresses by more than 20 %, while changing the track gauge has a weak effect on the stress-strain state of the rail head. The maximum increase in contact stresses, at the analysed section, was 97 %, with a cant of 1/990 and a track gauge of 1526 mm.

The growth of contact stresses leads to the formation of fatigue cracks and, as a consequence, to the defects and then to replacement of the rail. To increase the service life of the rails, it is recommended to monitor the condition of fasteners and compliance with the technology of current maintenance works, as well as to reconsider tolerance of the deviation of the cant both upward and downward.

The journal publishes a selection of materials based on the news reports of the press centre of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and dedicated to the events held during 16th Transport of Russia International Forum and Exhibition.

The Forum, which opened on November 15, 2022, during its first day hosted the Session of the Committee of the State Council of the Russian Federation, the panel discussion «Container Flow during the Era of Global Shocks. Current Trajectories for Market Development», the roundtable discussion «Life-Cycle-Long Maintenance of Motor Transport» and the industrial conference «Efficiency of State Support for Air Transport During Unprecedented Sanctions Pressure».

On the second day of the Forum, the participants discussed the role of science in providing technological stability of transport, water transport and assessment of compliance in the new conditions, the formula for cooperation in transport engineering, new digital tools, information services and technologies, transport safety and security and digital management ecosystems. Besides, were held the Session of the Council of Heads of Transport Authorities of the Eurasian Economic Union Member Countries and the presentation of the RZD Transport Accelerator.

The final day was devoted to international cooperation. It was opened by the plenary discussion «International Transport Cooperation in 2022. New Directions, Trends, Results», which focused on the actions of countries on the issues of building transport communications under sanctions, the law enforcement, and the coordination of work aimed at creating more competitive transport products within the EAEU. Then, the session «Sunrise on the East: Significance of Trade with Asian Countries for the Russian Economics and the Ability of Transport to Support the Trade» demonstrated the achieved results in rerouting of external trade communications to the East.

The business program was concluded with the plenary discussion. In the opinion of a Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Valentin Ivanov, «activity of the Forum was organised in a very productive manner. Many issues were discussed and many meeting points and solutions were found».

Winners of the «Formula of Movement» premium were awarded. The premium is designed to promote development of transport infrastructure, improve the quality of transport services, as well as stimulate government and commercial structures to solve significant problems in the transport sector. Only implemented projects or services that have received practical application in the field of transport were eligible to participate.

The topic of «Transport Week» is also highlighted on the second cover and on the pages of the central insert of the issue.

Non-destructive testing processes in the technological cycle of a wagon repair enterprise largely determine safety of railway transport facilities. The most effective ways to control such processes can only be determined through simulation which makes it possible to assess stability of the production system in a wide range of both external conditions and internal factors.

The objective of the work is to create a method for optimising the resources of distributed manufacturing processes for non-destructive testing of a wagon repair depot based on simulation to reduce the likelihood of stopping the production cycle and reducing unreasonable costs of the enterprise.

The features of non-destructive testing as a stage of the technological cycle of the enterprise are considered followed by the analysis of information on the qualifications of the specialists of the wagon repair company. The positions of non-destructive testing and controlled details are described and analysed within the framework of the queuing theory. To optimise the non-destructive testing division, simulation modelling is used, while mathematical statistics methods and correlation analysis are used to process the simulation results.

A built model of a non-destructive testing unit comprises posts at the units for repair of parts of the automatic coupling devices and the wagon bogie, wheel sets. A production personnel management scheme is proposed, which might be a basis for optimising the organisational structure of the non-destructive testing unit.

The simulation resulted in formulating requirements for qualification of non-destructive testing inspectors of the wagon repair depot. It is shown that the optimal strategy for development of a subdivision should be aimed at ensuring the universal qualification of employees, in which they have the necessary competencies to perform work at all testing positions. This will increase the average occupancy rate of NDT inspectors from 0,34 to 0,45 and reduce the average delay time of an item at the post from 650 % to 150 % of the standard time.

The use of economic and mathematical methods of forecasting the results of activities of civil aviation organisations, and in particular assessment of the volume of air passenger traffic is quite relevant due to the importance of operational planning of air transport processes, development of strategic directions, technological and technical renewal of air enterprises.

The objective of the study is to plan the traffic flow of air passengers using a regression model, considering the results of multifactorial selection of determinants, particularly distinguishing fundamental macro indicators are distinguished, as well as significant indicators of the aviation market.

The study of passenger air transportation was carried out using methods of system analysis, methods of mathematical statistics and econometrics. Modelling of the process of passenger transportation has identified the main determinants that positively or negatively affect the dynamics of air passenger traffic. The multiple regression of the study of the processes of connectivity and synchronicity of changes in development of passenger traffic and selected macro indicators in a generalised form is the sum of vectors of influencing variables adjusted for the calculated coefficients.

Six-, four- and three-factor regression models were developed. The three-factor model turned to be more reliable with values most close to actual data. Nevertheless, while applying regression model for forecasting air traffic it is necessary to consider not only theoretical aspects, data of official forecasts of macro indicators but expert opinions as well.

The transport industry is currently undergoing profound changes. They are related both to overcoming the consequences of the pandemic, and – in the longer term – to the fundamental transformation due to the ongoing process of digitalisation.

Services created for intelligent traffic flow management, monitoring of infrastructure facilities, rolling stock, customer relations, digital platforms will most probably remain drivers of the ongoing digital transformation of the transport industry in the near future. From the point of view of digital technologies, the main ones include artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of things, big data.

Considering the vastness of the topic, the paper highlights the key, from the point of view of the authors, issues of experience and tasks of creating systemic, end-to-end digital platform solutions in the Russian transport industry, as well as on the example of railway transport (including at the corporate level), classification of already implemented solutions and promising areas of digital change in the transport and logistics industry.

Our Journal publishes a selection of materials prepared based on news reports of the press centre of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and dedicated to several significant events of the past two months and some results of the entire 2022. The information refers to implementation of the national project «Safe High-Quality Roads», supply of new rolling stock for urban public passenger transport systems, modernisation, and safety of roads in general and on tourist routes, the impact of implementation of the national project on assessment of quality and accessibility of roads by public opinions. The information also covers issues of introducing new intelligent transport systems in cities, new legislative regulation of taxi services, the work of the CIS Transport Coordination Meeting, and reconstruction of the border crossing between Russia and Azerbaijan. In terms of the activities of the transport education system, attention is drawn to the past competitions of transport universities.

The objective of the study of issues related to participation of transport prosecutors in solving the problems of ensuring the rule of law in transport is to comprehend the role and significance of the transport prosecutor’s office in the history of Russia and at the present stage of its development, to identify the most significant areas of activity of transport prosecutors and effective means of its implementation in the interests of implementing national tasks of socio-economic development, implementation of the provisions of the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 with a forecast until 2035.

Based on the application of the historical and legal method, the stages of formation and development of the transport prosecutor’s office in Russia are identified, the regular relationships between development of the transport industry and the change in the role and legal status of transport prosecutors are identified, conclusions are drawn regarding the significance of development of the transport prosecutor’s office in the modern period and the possibility of using the historical experience of legal regulation of relations with participation of transport prosecutors to solve urgent problems of transport system development.

The formal dogmatic and statistical analysis made it possible to reveal the main areas of activity of transport prosecutors, to formulate, based on an analysis of the work of Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office, conclusions about the most promising forms, methods and means of exercising the powers of transport prosecutors to ensure the rule of law in transport sector.

The use of systemic legal analysis made it possible to analyse the state and prospects for further interaction between Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office and departments of Russian University of Transport for formation of a legal culture of future transport specialists, legal education of students and young people, to determine ways and means of solving the problems of civil law education of students using the potential and considering possible correlation of the efforts of the professors of legal disciplines of RUT University and transport prosecutors.

The implementation of individual proposals formulated by the authors can contribute to the increment of scientific knowledge about the role, directions, and forms of work of transport prosecutors, improve further interaction between Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office and departments of Russian University of Transport to ensure the rule of law in transport, the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement between Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office and Russian University of Transport.

Academician Ivan Gavrilovich Alexandrov is an outstanding hydropower engineer, the founder of the integrated design of large hydroelectric plants and irrigation systems, the developer of the GOELRO plan, the author of original innovative ideas, which then seriously influenced further development of hydropower engineering and are still of practical importance, the creator of DneproGES. The Angarsk HPP cascade was also designed according to the developments and proposals of Ivan G. Alexandrov. A brilliant researcher, designer, economist, teacher, manager, and administrator graduated from Moscow Engineering School (now Russian University of Transport).

Ivan Alexandrov was recognised worldwide as an outstanding scientist and engineer. His activities mainly fell on the most difficult years of formation of the national economy of the USSR, on the years of the first five-year plans…

For many years he taught at the higher educational institutions of Leningrad and Moscow and enjoyed great love and respect among students.  

Press Archives

The Journal presents a selection of two articles each of them first appeared in the journal «Railway Business» in 1912.

They demonstrate the interest that was paid more than a century ago towards electrified railways considering technical (choice of electric power supply system, traction current) and economic advantages compared to steam locomotive traction.

The material in some ways echoes the content of the article published in the issue on the development of transport science and the chronology of industrial revolutions.

When reproducing the publication, the style, punctuation, and vocabulary of that time are preserved as much as possible.

In this issue, instead of a review of new books or textbooks on transport and transportation, paying tribute to the oeuvres of our predecessors, the journal reproduces a bibliographic article first appeared more than a century ago in the journal «Zheleznodorozhnoe delo» [Rail Business]. The editors hope that it will help to get an idea of how concise, meaningful and, in modern terms, informative reviews of scientific literature were compiled at that time, as well as the range of scientific problems considered.

By tradition, the publication retains the vocabulary, punctuation and abbreviations adopted at the beginning of the 20^th century.