In December 2016 at the Test Loop of JSC “VNI-IZhT” comparative testing of four types of ballastless track designs (BVSP) - LVT (RZDstroy, Russia), FFB (MaxBögl, Germany), NBT (Alstom, France), EBS (Tines, Poland) - have been completed. The passed tonnage for the pilot section of the four structures was 600 million tonnes gross. The article analyzes the intensity of settlement of the ballastless track and in transitional sections under the train load. Conducted tests of four types of ballastless track designs LVT (RZhDstroy, Russia), FFB (MaxBögl, Germany), NBT (Alstom, France), EBS (Tines, Poland) and earlier tests of the Rheda (RailOne, Germany) design showed that for the ballastless track on the subgrade, the most critical are not the stresses in the structural elements, but the values of the vertical settlements. In the places of maximum values of the settlement of the upper bearing concrete (reinforced concrete) slab, the underlying layer of the hydraulically linked bearing layer of lean concrete is subsequently destroyed. Tests on the Test Loop of the train with an axial load of 23.5 tons showed that the BVSP design can be used for freight traffic. It is impractical to arrange ballastless track on one of the track of a two-track section. It is necessary to exclude the ingress of water between the bearing concrete slab and the hydraulically linked bearing layer (HLBL). The significant risks are that the ballastless track is more demanding for maintain the construction technology, the composition of the concrete mixes and the quality of the substrate preparation, as evidenced by splashes from the concrete bearing slabs. The probability of a malfunction on the ballastless track is much smaller, but the risk of a sharp increase in the costs of its elimination is much higher. Tests made it possible to confirm the working capacity of the ballastless railway track for the conditions of the Russian railways, to reveal the features of the current maintenance of each design and to give recommendations on its improvement. The tests carried out at JSC “VNIIZhT” test site showed that the ballastless track can be used not only for express and high-speed traffic, but also for combined and freight traffic.

The purpose of the study was a reasonable choice of the wear coefficient for the strong and weak stages in the Archard's abrasive wear model and the coefficient of friction on the flange and the rolling surface of the wheel for calculating the wear of the wheel profiles using dynamic models. 12-9853 universal gondola car with unloading hatches on three-element bogies of model 18-9855 was chosen as an object of research. At the first stage, the car wheels were measured (the thickness of the flange, quality of rolling) before and after the endurance running tests of the gondola car at the Test Loop of the JSC “VNIIZhT”. At the second stage in the “MEDYNA” software complex, a dynamic model of the car motion was developed, supplemented by the Archard model of wear. The effect of irregularities of the track on wear is determined under the conditions of the Test Loop and the value of the frictional force attributed to the contact area of the wheel with the rail is determined from the results of modeling the motion in tangent and curved sections of the track at which the transition from a weak wear stage to a strong one occurs. In the third part of the work, the hardness of the various areas of the surface of the worn wheel (4 samples) was measured in order to establish the ratio of the coefficient of friction on the flange and the surface of the wheel. In the final part, a multivariate calculation of the wear of the gondola wheels were carried out based on the results of which the wear curves of the rolling surface and the flange of the wheel were plotted on the coefficients of wear and friction between the wheel and the rail. This allowed choosing a pair of values ensuring the best convergence of the calculation results to the experimental results and, thus, to establish parameters of the Archard wear abrasive model for wheels with a hardened rolling surface. The specified parameters of the wear model can be used to develop new freight car bogies that provide a reduced wear of the wheel profiles, as well as to evaluate the influence of various factors on wheel wear in existing structures.

The article describes the mechanism for evaluating the efficiency of operating freight cars with improved technical characteristics on the infrastructure of railways on the basis of complex tests. It allows determining the impact of the operation of such cars on the costs of JSC “Russian Railways”, including the costs of fuel and energy resources for traction of trains, the maintenance of the railway track, the maintenance and operation of freight locomotives and the maintenance of freight cars along the route. An important feature of the assessment is that it is based on data obtained as a result of testing in real-world conditions. Technical and economic assessment of the change in costs of JSC “Russian Railways” in the case of the operation of innovative freight cars should be used in the development of budgets in conjunction with the plans to purchase new cars, to prepare proposals for the development of tariff mechanisms that stimulate the purchase of cars with improved technical characteristics that provide additional economic benefits, associated with a decrease in the costs of the owner of the infrastructure. The purpose of such mechanisms is, on the one hand, to stimulate the renewal of rolling stock through innovative carriages, on the other hand, to improve the efficiency of rail transport. Based on JSC “VNIIZhT” assessment of the effect for JSC “Russian Railways”, the expert commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation approved the application of the tariff scheme 25 (4) with a reduced fee for the empty run of cars for 12-2143 gondola cars produced by JSC “AltaiZavod”. According to the current price list for freight transportation, the effect of operating a number of models of innovative cars on the infrastructure of JSC “Russian Railways” is fully included in tariff preferences. However, to increase the interest of Russian Railways in the operation of innovative cars, it seems advisable to leave the owner of the infrastructure between 30 and 50% of the economic effect.

Double-deck cars of the models 61-44465, 61-4442, 61-4473, 61-4442 were designed and manufactured at the Tver Car Building Plant. Tests of dimensions of double-deck cars of T_пр dimension standard carried out on the Test Loop of JSC “VNIIZhT” confirmed their full compliance with the requirements of GOST 9238-2013 and currently they are operated on the railways of the Russian Federation. The article deals with the application of increased dimensions of the rolling stock developed by JSC “VNIIZhT” to create an innovative rolling stock. The main attention is paid to the creation of a double-deck passenger car at Tver Car Plant using the T_б dimension standard - the world's largest overall size of rolling stock. The structure clearance gauge of infrastructure facilities on the railway network provides insufficiently safe passage of cars of T_б dimensions. The article highlights activities carried out by the Central Directorate of Infrastructure of JSC “Russian Railways” to check the actual dimensions of structures and devices on the routes of trains with double-deck cars of T_б dimension, as well as to expand the range of double-deck cars of T_пр standard being already in operation. Identified in the operation of double-deck cars of model 614465 (72, 73, 92) passenger discomfort on the upper berth of the second deck compartment of car with T_пр dimension standard the Tver Car Plant decided to eliminate due to application of dimensions T_б. It should be separately noted that the use of this dimension creates conditions for solving the problem of providing temperature control in the car. The requirements developed by JSC “VNIIZhT” for the actual structure clearance gauge for the passage of cars of T_б dimensions have been accepted by JSC “Russian Railways” for the preparation of circulation of double-deck trains of T_б dimension standard.

To ensure the strategic competitiveness of the rail-development of rail transport should be based on an adequate way industry, its long-term development must be innovative-ori-economic methodology, the development of which is an urgent ented. The economic toolkit for managing innovation-oriented scientific task. The article considers methodological approaches to the management of innovation-oriented development. Based on the synthesis of these approaches, a methodology is proposed for selecting promising innovative projects and solutions, taking into account both socio-economic and sectoral measurements. It is noted that for the success of innovative developments it is necessary that they meet the social and economic challenges. It is explained that the presented methodology contains exclusively qualitative approaches to assessing the prospects of innovation, according to the principle of subjective value evaluation. The article gives examples and considers four variants of the results of the assessment of innovation prospects from socio-economic and industry positions. The necessity of proactive management of innovation-oriented development of railway transport is substantiated. The paper underlines the importance of analyzing the trends of innovative development of other sectors of the economics (first of all - other modes of transport) under the proactive management of innovation-oriented development. The possibility of using the proposed methodology for selecting promising innovative projects and solutions can be noted in the context of proactive management of innovation-oriented development of rail transport, taking into account the necessary “tuning”.

From the practice of engineering design it is known that in the development of mechanical systems, the operation of which is certainly not based on the phenomena of resonance, self-synchronization, etc., one should be wary of the proximity of the frequencies of free oscillations in such mechanical systems in different forms. Transient processes are dangerous due to the excitation of significant quantities of mechanical stresses and their damage to structures before destruction. This effect can also be appeared in wheel pairs (WS) of locomotives during operation. On the finite element model (FE) of the electric locomotive wheelset, calculations of natural frequencies and vibration modes are performed, the case of torsional oscillation frequencies with the participation of the electric drive gear and bending (saddle-shaped) oscillations of the running wheels is demonstrated, which can accelerate the processes of origin and development in its fatigue cracks. Paper discusses methodical issues of performing such calculations, problems of assessing the degree of danger of proximity of vibration frequencies of structural elements. The prototype of the finite-element model considered in the article was the WS of a locomotive with an asynchronous transmission, a one-way reducer and a composite retaining wheel. Methodical issues of performing such calculations, problems of assessing the degree of danger of proximity of vibration frequencies of structural elements are discussed. The results of calculations in combination with their visualization give a fairly complete idea of the behavior of the wheelset in the traction drive, while allowing studying the stress-strain state of its parts, and also providing an opportunity to identify the damaged elements and zones. It is highly advisable to carry out similar studies on virtual models when analyzing the operation of locomotive structures and assemblies under extreme operating conditions (for example, in case of boxing), which is not practicable or dangerous by experimental methods. It is possible, as shown, and it is necessary at the design stage of the WS to conduct its frequency analysis in the manner described in the article and, based on its results, perform a resonant detuning in a constructive or software way in the frequency range of the modulation of the operation of an asynchronous drive. To this end, by analogy with the AAR S-669 standard (USA), it is necessary to develop a domestic regulatory document for the projected locomotives with an asynchronous drive.

The work of the railway track in the conditions of operating cars with increased axial loads was constantly in the sphere of attention of domestic scientists. The increase in the carrying capacity of the railway network entails an increase in the axle loads and masses of trains. This requires upgrade of railway lines, because the traffic of heavy haul trains is carried out on the subgrade designed in the end of XIX - beginning of the XX century for quite other loads that can cause a deformation of track. In 2014-2016 complex tests of cars with an axial load of 27 tons were carried out by the task of the JSC “RZD” on the Kovdor - Murmansk section of the Oktyabrskaya Railway. During 2016 (spring and autumn) a geodetic survey of the pilot site was performed, the information obtained was compared with the results of a numerical calculation. In view of the complexity of geodetic work, a method of numeric calculating the parameters of extended irregularities using Fourier transforms, obtained from track data, was appraised in the tests, which makes it possible to monitor sections with an unstable subgrade without using complex geodetic work. This method has shown that the information obtained in geodetic work (leveling) and the transformed data of the track measuring car are well correlated. The obtained data on the calculation of the parameters of extended irregularities indicate the depression of the subgrade, showing that it is necessary to examine in detail the areas where cars with increased axial loads are to be put into circulation, as well as the areas of handling of heavy haul trains in satisfactory and unsatisfactory condition based on integrated assessment of track condition. The process of track deformation, recorded during the tests, is confirmed by the data of the world experience of heavy haul traffic. Application of the method of numerical analysis of the parameters of extended irregularities with the help of the Fourier transform allows identifying places with significant changes in the parameters of extended irregularities in the analyzed period.

The article describes the approach of smoothing previous interpolation interval. Authors studied the influence of track irregularities in alignments between fixed points, realigned the length of the spline function on the distribution of bend values by calculation, for reduction of indicators of the track and rol-of irregularities on circular curves based on the data obtained by ling stock dynamic interaction. This approach is based on spline measurement on one of the of tracks of the Eastern operating interpolation methods, which were used to construct geometric area by track measuring car, and modelling results as well. The models of the track in alignments. The article provides the defini-article presents a comparative analysis of frame forces to assess tion of ”track irregularities in alignments” and substantiates the the impact of the track irregularities in alignments and grades of relevance of the study. The article focuses on the question of the different lengths, which performed using the software package smoothness and the continuity of the geometric model of rail-”Universal mechanism”; the analysis of the calculation was carried way track in alignments and proposes a condition, which allows and it provided the results of research of the dependence of values obtaining the dependence of the position of a point belonging of the frame forces on the loading efficiency of the car in motion to the interpolation interval and the position of the points of the on the length of track with the track irregularities in alignment which were modeled directly according to the measurement of track measuring car and with models of the track irregularities in alignments, developed with different lengths of the spline function. The article outlines the area of practical application of the developed railway track model in alignments and considered the possibility of using the geometrical model of the track in a horizontal plane for problem of maintenance and repair, in particular when setting the track between two fixed points and plotting the step of realigning of three - or four-point system for track lining.

2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oleg Petrovich Ershkov - one of the leading scientists of VNIIZhT (currently JSC “VNIIZhT”), Doctor of Technical Sciences. All his scientific work was devoted to the problems of the interaction of rolling stock and the track in curves. The generalized analytical method developed by him to determine the transverse forces in curves and the graphs of the lateral effect of locomotives on the track constructed by this method made it possible to find the values of these forces practically at any radius of the curves, the elevations of the outer rail and the speeds of motion. And today the direction of the scientific activity of O. P. Ershkov is in demand taking into account changing operating conditions. On the basis of experimental studies and generalization of foreign experience, Cand. Tech. Sci. V. Ya. Kartsev was able to determine, under the conditions of traffic safety and comfortable driving of passengers, the propagation to a speed of 250 km/h of the rate of increment of the unprecedented acceleration of 0.6 m/s³ and an increase in the rate of lifting of the wheel along the elevation to 50 mm/s. The new “Guidelines for determining the elevation of the outer rail and the speed of movement in curves” was approved. O. P. Ershkov is the author of more than 100 publications. At the present time, the order of the structure of curves is being developed taking into account the specialization of the lines. The modern generation of scientists and young researchers of VNIIZhT, based on the experience and knowledge of the older generation, adequately continues the scientific traditions of VNIIZhT in this field of knowledge.