The location of the railway infrastructure on permafrost increases risks of emergence of defects and deformation of the subgrade. In Russia permafrost occupies approximately 65 % of the country’s area. Consequently, defectiveness of subgrade in the Eastern part of railway network of Russia exceeds the network’s average.

The objective of the study was the increase in the efficiency of stabilisation of track subgrade’s foundation with injection method under the conditions of degradation of permafrost soils.

An improved algorithm for designing pressure injection of cement-soil grout, implementing an integrated approach, is proposed for railway subgrade operated under conditions of degradation of permafrost soils and formation of soft soils in foundations.

A laboratory experiment was set up and carried out to determine the amount of heat released by injected grout of various composition due to the exothermic reaction of hardening of cement, that allowed determining a linear dependence of the specific heat release of injection grout on the cement content.

A new calculation scheme with an equivalent layer of grout in the stabilisation area has been proposed to predict the amount of thawing of permafrost foundation soils when injecting materials with a cement binder, and an analytical solution to the problem under consideration has been proposed for preliminary calculations.

Overhead power lines with a voltage of 6–10 kV, intended for power supply of signalling, centralised traffic control and signalling block systems and of electrical equipment along the railways use as supporting structures metallic traverses with porcelain or glass insulators. According to available data, defects caused by mechanical stresses account for more than half of the total number of disruptions in the normal operation of overhead power lines. It is worth highlighting defects that are the most frequent: chip of the insulator, bend of the pin, fracture of the pin, destruction of the insulator, separation of the insulator from the pin, distortion of the traverse, destruction of the traverse, bending of the traverse, decay or corrosion of the traverse.

To increase the reliability of overhead power lines and reduce these damages, it is proposed to manufacture traverses from polymer composite electrical insulating material. Such traverses do not have insulators and are used as an electromechanical structure with the required mechanical and electrical strength.

The objective of this work is to assess the mechanical strength of traverses made of polymer composite electrical insulating materials. To solve the set tasks, the work considers a three-dimensional model of the traverse. Its mechanical strength is determined using applied software implementing the finite element method (FEM). Loads in horizontal and vertical planes are applied to the cross-arm, the most stress-strained state of the traverse’s arms and the pin bracket is determined.

In addition, the article compares the calculation results using the analytical method performed in the previous work with FEM calculation, verifies the assumed physical and geometric parameters, material properties and assumptions in calculations.

The analysis of international experience in development of autonomous locomotives with a hybrid power plant allowed to prove the possibility of increasing the operating efficiency of diesel locomotives using electric energy storage devices.

A proposed circuit diagram of the power system of a diesel locomotive implies as source of energy both a diesel engine and a traction battery with a DC pulse chopper. An algorithm has been developed to control the traction drive of a diesel locomotive with a hybrid power plant, which ensures an increase in the tractive force of the locomotive on sections with difficult track profile. Modernisation of the power system of a diesel locomotive using a hybrid power plant is considered for the diesel locomotive of 2TE116 series. A mathematical model of operation of a diesel locomotive traction drive powered by a hybrid energy source through a controlled voltage breaker has been developed using the energy balance equations of a traction electric motor. Respective traction properties of 2TE116 diesel locomotive with a standard power plant and a hybrid power plant were calculated using numerical modelling methods in MatLab and LabView software environments. It is shown that, over the entire range of operation speed, a diesel locomotive with a hybrid power plant allows obtaining a tractive effort 15 % higher than a diesel locomotive with a standard power plant. Calculations have proved that increasing the traction properties of the modernised 2TE116 diesel locomotive makes it possible to increase the designated weight of the train by 15 %, and, accordingly, the efficiency of using the locomotive as a traction unit on the railway network.

According to the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation, unprecedented volumes of transportation along BAM and Trans-Siberian Mainline are planned thanks to an increase in train weight standards, traffic speed along the sections, efficiency of traction capacity of diesel locomotives. Similar tasks were already set in the 1970s. Their solution was complicated by insufficient experience (in light of the present state of knowledge) in development and use of frame support and combined traction drives on cargo diesel locomotives, and the lack of an objective idea of operating conditions in which the designed diesel locomotives would have to work. In this regard, the design of wheel-motor units (WMU) of diesel locomotive bogies with axial-supported suspension of traction drives was carried out based on generalised results of empirical studies of the dynamics of various types and series of locomotives.

The objective of the work is to develop a model of mathematical analysis and an algorithm for calculating the categories of dynamic forces and the speed of interaction of wheels of a cargo diesel locomotive in contact with rails at the design stage of development of traction drives to ensure their high technical and economic performance indicators under operating conditions.

Long-term monitoring of dependability of diesel locomotives on the Eastern section of BAM has allowed to identify system failures of the equipment of the locomotive’s underframe, which confirm the bias of the calculated design solutions for traction drives of diesel locomotives of modern TE25A, 2TE25KM and 3TE25K2M series, created in 21st century. System failures of WMU equipment of modern series (TE25KM) are a consequence of direct «mechanistic» borrowing of unsuccessful design solutions of universal diesel locomotive underframes (TE10 and TE116).

The article proposes a clarification of theoretical provisions for modelling qualitative criteria for dynamics in the contact areas of wheels with rails of traction drives of diesel locomotives at the design stage. The mechanism of interaction «wheel – rail» is supported by the mathematical theory of cycloid, a circle motion. The algorithm for estimating forces in the contact areas of wheels with rails is built on the theorems of classical theoretical mechanics of non-free movement of a wheelset and the laws of dynamics as an unchangeable holonomic system.

Clarifications were obtained for kinematics characteristics (angular velocity, angular acceleration); real centres of speed and acceleration of wheels; moments of inertia of rotating unsprung mass of wheel-motor units with axial-supported suspension of traction drives. The new approach makes it possible to quantify the criteria for dynamics in wheel-rail contact areas at the design stage, which were previously not amenable to calculation.

Positioning equipment refers to devices for moving objects, namely lifting devices, and are used in various branches of mechanical engineering, including railway engineering. Devices of this type are relevant for use in measuring technology for positioning rotating parts. The positioning device is usually used as part of equipment for measuring and monitoring the dimensions of wheelsets.

The purpose of the study was to consider various methods and devices for positioning wheelsets, to identify their advantages, constraints and disadvantages.

The objective of the research was to develop a new positioning device intended to improve dependability of operations, expand the range of application and functionality. The article provides recommendations for creating a more universal positioning device suitable for use with various types of wheelsets.

The article presents the results of using machine learning methods to study data from a special questionnaire that considers the general characteristics of flights, the characteristics of passengers and their opinions on various aspects of the flight. The objective of the study is to identify in experimental data factors that negatively affect passengers’ attitudes towards airline services.

When conducting the study, well-known algorithms were used that are part of free WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) software for data analysis and machine learning by University of Waikato (New Zealand), distributed under the GNU GPL license: naïve Bayes classifier; multilayer perceptron using backpropagation algorithm; k-nearest neighbour method (KNN) with adaptive selection of parameters; decision trees – J48 is an open-source Java implementation of the C4.5 algorithm; random forest; logistic regression; adaptive boosting algorithm (AdaBoost); support vector machine – the SMO (Sequential Minimal Optimization) algorithm which is one of the possible implementations of the support vector machine algorithm.

It is shown that the best accurate models reflecting passenger satisfaction with airline services are obtained using random forest algorithms (error on the test sample is of 3,9 %) and a neural network approach (error on the test sample is of 3,7 %). At the same time, these algorithms do not allow us to explicitly identify factors characteristic of air passengers who are dissatisfied with the quality of service. This gap is filled by an algorithm based on the method of structural resonance in multidimensional data (SRMD), which made it possible to identify precise logical rules in the data with high completeness. The resulting logical rules are highly interpretable patterns of passengers who either negatively or neutrally evaluate the airline’s services in general.

The functioning of transport and all the relevant infrastructure gives rise to the phenomenon of a transport ecosystem. The nature of transport and other legal relations arising within the transport ecosystem is largely determined by the process of technological development of society.

The objective of the study was, based on the achievements of legal hermeneutics and the application of systemic legal analysis, to analyse the legal regime of transport ecosystems based on the principles of functioning of artificial intelligence. Application of comparative legal and formal dogmatic analysis methods allowed to achieve scientific results in the field of transport legal science, particularly, to substantiate a scientific hypothesis that the implementation of a high-tech element in the form of artificial intelligence entails fundamental changes in the methodological basis of functioning of transport ecosystems, transforms the concept of management influence on the processes occurring in them and entails a change in the nature and content of legal regulation of transport and related public relationships. The findings focus on shaping new scientific ideas on the legal regime of transport ecosystems based on the principles of functioning of artificial intelligence.

The article is devoted to consideration of issues of analysis of units and parts used in newly built rolling stock, their systematisation and formation of an accounting algorithm, as well as to the issues of their replacement with determination of problematic aspects and ways to level them. The service life of main elements and units used in passenger rolling stock has been studied, allowing to determine the terms of their periodic replacement, maintenance and repair, and to propose an algorithm for their control.

The study refers to the issues of replacement or maintenance of individual units, parts and elements of passenger cars with reference to the period of scheduled preventive maintenance, as well as to the need to consolidate individual requirements at the stage of designing the rolling stock and its elements in the regulatory and legal field to improve the efficiency of using rolling stock at the operational stage of its life cycle and minimise the transfer of rolling stock to the non-working fleet withdrawing it from transportation activity.

The studies of the regulatory documentation supplied during manufacture of a car are followed by the analysis and systematisation of the service life of the car itself, as well as of its main units and assemblies.

This study is intended to improve the efficiency of rolling stock operation, systematise and, in some cases, establish requirements for the service life of individual units, mechanisms and elements in manufacture and design of passenger cars, simplify and optimise assessment of the life cycle cost of a car, synchronise the stages of the life cycle of individual elements of the rolling stock with the life cycle (cyclic replacement) of units and parts used in the rolling stock.

The relevance of the research topic is determined by the process of the competitive and comprehensive development of regional resort agglomerations (RRA) in the Russian Federation, of the corresponding service areas and infrastructure.

The objective of the article is to substantiate the process of competitive and comprehensive development of the RRA service infrastructure by increasing the coordinated interaction of the «resort-tourist» and «road passenger transport» service areas, considering specificity of seasonality and cyclicity of volumes of customer activity of multi-segment personal and mass focused customer groups and the declared quality of service support.

The growth of the coordinated interaction of these service areas is conceptually ensured by the process of development and functioning of the integrative business system of road passenger transport services (RPTS), managed by the initiator, that motivationally involves business entities of the road transport business, owing their own resource capacity and within which the rational marketing interactions there-of are carried out in the strategic business areas of RRA, considering the mentioned seasonal-cyclical specificity and factors of the quality of service follow-up.

In accordance with the author’s proposals, development and functioning of the integrative business system of RPTS can be initiated by a regional economic entity with the status of a core system integrator, using various forms of marketing integration and strategies for running the road transport business in the context of coordinated interaction of the specified service spheres in the RRA to organise its business activity.

The effectiveness of the study are determined by its structural components: identification of seasonal and cyclical features of functioning of road passenger transport in the RRA as well as of a system-forming factor (initiator) influencing the increase in the competitiveness of the RRA service infrastructure due to development and effective functioning of the integrative business system of RPTS; construction of a structural diagram of business process management of the integrative road transport business of the initiator in the RRA marketing and communication environment; development of a categorically controlled service capacity; modelling of the coordinated interaction system of the «resort and tourist» and «road passenger transport» service areas within the RRA; a proposed economic and mathematical indicator of «integral economic effect» is composed by the sum of operational effects from the functioning of the RPTS integrated business system in the RRA.

The analysis carried out in the article gives ground for a conclusion that one of the effective ways to solve the problem of providing growing competitive and comprehensive development to the service infrastructure of regional resort agglomerations is introduction of the concept proposed by the author, which has an important socio-economic significance, since it makes a significant contribution to development of the behavioural economy of the region, ensures an increase in the efficiency of the passenger transportation management system and road transport services' quality management under the seasonal-cyclical conditions of the RRA.

The article examines the state of road traffic safety (RTS) in the Russian Federation for the 2012-2022 long-term period. The study has identified the main directions in the considered area, described the results of the on-going Safe High-Quality Roads national project, as well as analysed current federal projects, namely, the target indicators of the Road Traffic Safety federal project and the promising ways to achieve them.

To analyse regional road traffic accident rates, a necessity has been revealed to develop an approach based on a Big Data tool for processing large amounts of primary data. It has been also revealed that the available data presented in publicly available statistical databases do not allow us to fully assess the causes that result in road traffic accidents (RTA). Despite this, considering the available resources, namely the data presented in analytical information systems on the balance sheet of departmental organisations, it is possible to assess the RTA rate for an entire region, considering, rates of RTAs without casualties, which are determined by a significantly larger volume of data. In this case, it is possible to carry out detailed specification of the causes and conditions of accidents, which allows for implementation of an integrated approach in the considered area.

In this regard, the main objective of the study is to develop an approach to analysing RTA rates in a region. The main methods for achieving this objective are mathematical and statistical analysis. Public databases, as well as the resources of a specialised automated information management system (AIMS), were used as research materials. The research has resulted in proposing an intelligent method of data analysis, which will subsequently make it possible to more effectively make decisions to increase road traffic safety, including through implementation of control and supervisory activity of the relevant authorities.

The relevance of environmental safety problems in the process of reconstruction, repair, and maintenance of public roads is predetermined by the presence of many transport accidents, as well as dangerous events with extremely negative environmental and socio-economic consequences for safety and well-being of the population.

The objective of the study is to determine the parameters of environmentally safe operations during reconstruction, repair, and operation of roads. The main purposes of the work focused on a comprehensive survey of work sites on public roads; assessment of compliance with environmental safety requirements when carrying out various types of operations; analysis of violations of environmental laws, of causes, conditions for their occurrence, potential threats of occurrence of man-made emergency situations following violation of environmental compliance; development of a set of measures to ensure respect of environmental safety requirements, prevent emergency situations and their dangerous consequences for the environment and life safety of the population.

The study has resulted in a list of measures substantiated as a result of an analysis of the environmental situation and intended to ensure environmental safety requirements during repair, reconstruction, and maintenance of roads.

The results of the work were reported on August 29, 2023, in Vologda at the scientific section of the theoretical part of the annual Federal road agency's exercises to ensure transport safety and prevent emergency situations.

The article is devoted to identifying the most probable prospects for the use of intelligent systems in universities of the Russian system of transport education.

The methodological basis of the study is built within the framework of the system functional and program-targeted approaches using the postulates of the concept of the digital economy in its modern interpretations. The methodological apparatus of the study is represented by a set of general logical methods (analysis, synthesis, analogy), theoretical methods (classification and hypothetical method), empirical methods (observation, modelling, measurement, description) and specific methods (modern methods of analytics, interpretation and visualisation of data, including PowerBI).

The study systematises priority trends and tendencies in development of intelligent technologies in management of universities, and also shows that correct identification of the direction ofdevelopment should not be limited only to the analysis of megatrends, but also supplemented by taking into account the specifics of the material and technical support of the educational process in transport universities.

As a result of the study, the most significant prospects for intellectualisation of management systems in educational organisations of the transport industry were determined.

The objective of the research is to study the relationship between the predictive abilities of student air traffic controllers and their behaviour in a conflict. These personal characteristics were chosen due to their high professional significance in the field of air traffic control. The article substantiates the relevance of studying the relationship between the intellectual and communication abilities of air traffic controllers, the need to develop these abilities when obtaining higher professional education.

The results identify the relationship between the manifestation of the basic properties of thinking of air traffic controllers, characterising their ability to predict the situation, and the strategies of their behaviour in a conflict. The main research methods included theoretical analysis of literature, generalisation, testing, analysis, and statistical methods.

The provided study involved 64 second-year students at Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation Institute, studying within the speciality profile «Air Traffic Control».

Testing using the Thomas-Kilmann instrument (adapted by N.V. Grishina), aimed at identifying the behaviour strategies of respondents in a conflict situation, as well as testing using the «Forecasting Ability» testing method developed by L. A. Regush were used as empirical research methods. The diagnostics allowed to measure the following properties of thinking characterising the prognostic abilities of students: analytical thinking, consciousness, flexibility, perspective and evidence-based thinking.

Analysis of the test results allowed building a diagram of the group average manifestation of five main strategies of behaviour of respondents in a conflict, as well as a diagram of manifestation of five main components (according to L. A. Regush) of the predictive abilities of student air traffic controllers and considering the relationship between them. The analysis of the results obtained was carried out from the point of view of the requirements regarding the future occupation of the respondents.

To determine the degree of consistency of the series of values of behaviour strategies in conflict and the properties of predictive thinking in the group of respondents, the Pearson correlation coefficient (Pearson R) was used as a method of statistical data analysis.

The cites of Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Rtishchev have streets named after Obraztsov. Many are sure that these streets got their name in honour of the great puppeteer Sergey Obraztsov. But in fact, it was not the wonderful actor who was immortalised in the toponymy of Russian cities, but his father, Academician Vladimir Nikolaevich Obraztsov, an outstanding scientist in the field of transport, who proudly called himself a «Rtishchev railwayman».

The former Bakhmetyevskaya street in Moscow, where the Obraztsov family lived, still bears the name of the railway academician. It is impossible to imagine modern Moscow without this surname. Obraztsov Street still leads to knowledge, to introduction of new technologies in construction of railways and, ultimately, to progress. It is no coincidence that Russian University of Transport (MIIT), which has traditionally developed exemplary traditions laid by Obraztsov, has its campus located on Obraztsov Street.

Academician Obraztsov had an amazing gift - he knew how to talk simply about complex things - therefore he was considered a wonderful teacher, a favourite of students, and his scientific works have not yet lost their relevance.

The main scientific works of Vladimir Nikolaevich are devoted to railways, their history, their present and future. Obraztsov understood that over time the role of transport would only grow, and proposed solutions, considering the inevitable changes. The life of Professor Obraztsov is inextricably linked to his students, his ideas, his business trips...

He knew the railway very well and loved it. And he believed that it was train lines that would help Russia become an advanced country.

The article provides a bibliographic list of V.N. Obraztsov's works and a list of the largest projects he implemented.

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of Academician Vladimir Nikolaevich Obraztsov, who largely contributed to organisation of domestic transport science and founded a scientific school of designing railway stations and transport junctions, and who was a leading specialist in the field of railway operation, a prominent public figure, and a Professor at MIIT. The professional and creative activity of a talented educator and scientist is closely connected to the history of the country’s largest transport university - Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers (MIIT), now Russian University of Transport. The stages of a scientist's professional path are examined using materials from the institute's newspaper «Stalinets». V.N. Obraztsov had worked at MIIT for almost 50 years, created a scientific school, trained dozens of students and was the head of the country's first department of stations and junctions.

The purpose of the research described in the article is a long-term (from the last quarter of 19th century to the present) assessment, using methods of statistical and historical analysis, of the commodity structure of transportation on the domestic railway network, identifying the main trends in its transformation and drawing conclusions about development prospects of railway cargo transportation.

The analysis made it possible to identify the specifics of the commodity structure of railway transportation in the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation and its changes within the corresponding historical periods. General trends in changes in the commodity structure of railway transportation over the entire sesquicentennial period under consideration have also been identified.

It is noted that adaptation of railway transport to transformation of the commodity structure of transportation indicates the high adaptability of the capital goods of the industry, and therefore the prospects of investment in development of railways.

A methodological approach to the typology of the commodity structure of the railway transportation market is proposed, based on which its qualitative changes during the period under review are analysed. It has been established that at the end of 19th - beginning of 20th century the commodity structure of railway transportation was diversified, then mixed and concentrated structures alternated, and at the beginning of 21st century the concentrated structure predominated. This structure makes transport companies dependent on the situation in a small number of industries and vulnerable if it worsens, therefore, it was concluded that it is advisable to diversify the commodity structure of railway transportation based on implementation of both marketing, technical and technological innovations. The key to this is the customer-focused improvement of cargo transportation technology and introduction to the market of new transport products that are attractive to cargo owners and effective for transport companies.

Zemlin, A. I., Matveeva, M. A., Gots, E. V. Current problems of minimising risks arising from the use of unmanned vehicles in a metropolis: system and legal analysis: Monograph [Aktualnie problemy minimizatsii riskov, voznikayushchikh v svyazi s ispolzovaniem bespilotnykh avtomobilei v usloviyakh megapolisa: sistemno-pravovoi analiz: Monografiya]. Moscow, KnoRus publ., 2023, 190 p. ISBN 978-5-406-12803-9.

The article is a review of the monograph “Current problems of minimising risks arising from the use of unmanned vehicles in a metropolis: system and legal analysis”, prepared by academic staff of Russian University of Transport. The relevance of the topics included in the content of the monograph, the breadth of their coverage allows solving several tasks. In particular, the tools of historical-legal, comparative-legal and system-legal approaches facilitate the analysis and comprehension of the concepts of risk-based approach in the interests of monitoring, visualisation and development of management decisions to minimise threats in the context of various types of activities. The review especially emphasises the significance of the proposals formulated based on the results of the study, the implementation of which will minimise, through the integrated use of legal instruments, the risks of operating unmanned vehicles on public roads, which is important for ensuring the efficiency and safety of their operation, in the context of the development needs of the Russian economy, the achievement of national goals and strategic positioning of the Russian Federation in the modern world.