The largest sorting hill in the world. The coolest railway station in Russia. The most beautiful railway station in Russia

In November, I went north, to Ust-Luga, where one of the largest railway stations in our country (they tell me that it is already the largest) and Europe is located. This station serves the port of Ust-Luga. The station consists of three parks (five in the future) and one state-of-the-art marshalling hump, where trains are pushed and unloaded automatically.

1. A marshalling yard is needed to handle cargo that comes into or out of a port. Initially, a huge potential for the development of the station was laid, and it was gradually completed to a gigantic size. Now the piedmont park contains 44 paths, which makes it the largest in the territory of the former USSR.

2. We will still have to touch on the history of the port and the station itself, since without this it is difficult to assess the scale of the construction. For the first time, talks about a new port started in the early 90s. Russia has lost the four largest ports in the north, which went to small, but very proud and independent countries. Initially, the development of the port was very mediocre, but in 2008 the global crisis suddenly attacked and ... tens of billions of rubles were invested in the port and infrastructure. As a result, our country received its own modern port, a huge railway station and related infrastructure. And all this with an almost unlimited development prospect. The picture shows the state of the area in 2005. The port is in its infancy.

3. 2009 The finest hour of the port has already struck and continues. Development began in leaps and bounds. A noticeable flow of traffic from the Baltic ports began and transit money began to remain in our country.

4. 2013 There is still a year before the second high point. In 2014, sanctions spurred on, “our Crimean” and the Ukrainian crisis - Ust-Luga became the main hub for Kaliningrad, providing a stable cargo connection with the Russian enclave in the Baltic (including for defense needs), and, despite the general economic recession, cargo turnover continues to grow rapidly.

5. Modern shot from space.

Growth of cargo turnover in the port. A colossal leap into the 2010s that continues.
2003 - 0.44 million tons
2005 - 0.71 million tons
2008 - 6.76 million tons
2011 - 22.7 million tons
2013 - 62.6 million tons
2015 - 84 million tons
2016 - 93.4 million tons.

6. Scheme of location of station parks. It, of course, gives only an approximate understanding of the scale.

7. The total building area of ​​the Ust-Luga railway junction is 930 hectares, of which 270 hectares are occupied by the sorting system of the Luzhskaya station. The total length of the tracks of the Ust-Luga railway junction for full development will be more than 300 km. Today, the Ust-Luga railway junction is a single railway station Luzhskaya, three parks have been built within its borders to service cargo terminals: Luzhskaya-Northern, Luzhskaya-South and Luzhskaya-Neftyanaya.

8. - Luzhskaya-Severnaya Park serves the coal transshipment complex, the universal transshipment complex, as well as the transshipment complex
technical sulfur.
- Luzhskaya-Yuzhnaya Park serves the Yug-2 transshipment complex, the automobile and railway ferry complex, and the container terminal.
- The Luzhskaya-Neftyanaya Park serves the bulk oil cargo complex.

To serve promising cargo terminals: metallurgical and mineral fertilizers, the construction of the Luzhskaya-Generalnaya park is envisaged, in addition, the project includes the construction of the Luzhskaya-Vostochnaya park in the northern part of the port of Ust-Luga.

9. And, of course, the grandiose Luga sorting.

10. I will put here also this diagram, taken from periskop.su a - here the boundaries of the zone where Siemens equipment is used are marked. We will talk about this in more detail below, I just had questions on Instagram, they say, how much foreign equipment is there. In the total volume of the station, it occupies 20%.

11. Let's go to the control room and see how it's all managed. The control post of the duty officer on the hill. The screen shows the status of tracks, retarders and other equipment. It is this workstation that is integrated with Siemens equipment.

12. Other workplaces (posts on duty at the reception park, transit park, departure park and station attendant) are equipped with standard RZD technologies and are located in the back of the hall. All control comes only from the screen.

13. Podgorochny park. And the composition is fed to the hill for further sorting.

14. Duty officer at Luzhskaya station - Ainura Aliyeva.

15. Now let's look at the work of the slide itself. After the dissolution of the wagons, under the influence of gravity, the wagons begin to roll down. By the way, this slide allows you to disband two trains at the same time! Next, the car passes through special retarders, which set the interval for the cars, slow them down and provide the desired speed on the marshalling tracks.

16. The second (middle) braking position, in addition to intervals, provides joint regulation of the cut rolling speed, the third braking position provides targeted braking of the cut, depending on the occupancy of the hump path.

17. The most important difference between this slide and all others that work in our country is that it is silent. Unlike pneumatic retarder drives, hydraulic ones are used here.

18. The carriages are already rolling on their way.

19. Wheelset counter.

20. Retarder drive. Everything is electrically heated.

21. The operation of the slide is fully automated. The system knows the weight of the wagon, the state of the weather, the rails, the strength of the wind and its direction. All this, the control system takes into account and sets the braking force in all areas of deceleration.

22. In front of the tracks of the park there is a third stage of deceleration and, on some tracks, additional compensators-retarders.

23. They serve for the dissolution of dangerous goods of category II (piston retarger - in English terminology). Yes, the slide can, for the first time in Russia, sort oil and other dangerous goods of the second category

24. Radar for determining the speed of cars at the dissolution.

25. The third stage of braking and additional compensators-retarders.

26. Another innovation is this cable-drawn mini locomotive. It serves to push the wagons to their place. They replace shunting locomotives in the piedmont park and reduce the time for compiling a train by two or three times.

27. With these tendrils with rollers, the trolley pushes the wagons by the wheelset. It operates throughout the fleet of 106 cars.

28. And the station lives its own life - here comes the track equipment.

29. And it's time for me to get acquainted with the automatic mode of operation of the locomotive. Now he is in manual control following me to the foothill park.

30. Diesel locomotive driver Denis Mundinger explains how automatic control takes place.

31. In 2015, for the first time in Russia, at the Luzhskaya station of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, the technology of thrusting and dismantling of trains by a hump locomotive was introduced without the participation of a driver (in a fully automatic mode). In September 2017, the share of work in this mode was 97.6%.

32. Under automatic control, the train is thrust and disbanded from the hill. Change of path and hitching to a new composition for sorting. In the photo we are climbing up the hill. After passing the traffic light MG2, the driver switched the locomotive to automatic mode and then he went on his own.

33. The diesel locomotive left for the beginning of the tracks, waited until the route was assembled, made a coupling with the train, pushed up the hill and disbanded the cars.

34. According to the rules, the driver must be in the cab. But, he can leave his workplace. Although usually he sits and watches the process. Now, when the technology is debugged, intervention is required very rarely.

35. While work is in progress, a second diesel locomotive drove past us. He goes to help the electric locomotive, which stalled on the rise with a heavy train. The rails are wet, the electric locomotive is light, the train is heavy, it drove uphill at low speed. The result was predictable. But, it's okay, the locomotive will pull everyone out now.

36. Machinist Denis Mundinger oversees the dissolution.

37. It is very unusual to see how a diesel locomotive drives by itself. Sets the speed, brakes with pneumatics, regulates the speed and so on.

38. When the port of Ust-Luga reaches its full capacity, unloading at the Luzhskaya station will amount to more than 3,500 wagons per day.

39. Control center. By the way, in many of the photographs you could see the contact network. On October 18, 2017, the commercial operation of the Weimarn-Luzhskaya electrified section was launched as part of the Kuzbass-North-West test site.

40. Releaser. Here, his work cannot be automated while there is an SA-3 automatic coupler.

41. On the scoreboard, he is shown the number of wagons that need to be unhooked. With a long poker, he uncoupled, and the cars rolled further down the hill themselves.

42. A new sorting train has arrived on the hill.

43. Podgorochny park. A colossal amount of work done in a short time, where there was nothing.

44. And our locomotive went for the next train.

45. General view of sorting in early autumn. From the ground, this scale is not visible at all.

Many thanks to the press service of Russian Railways and the Oktyabrskaya Railway for organizing the shooting.

Traveling by train will probably never lose popularity.

It doesn't matter whether you are riding an old steam locomotive through the British villages, or rushing through the snow and blizzard along the Trans-Siberian Railway - there is always an interesting and exciting route.

For those who like to travel by rail, the topic is:

10. Jakarta Kota (Indonesia).
The largest railway station in Southeast Asia - located in the capital of Indonesia, the Jakarta Kota station - was built in 1870. After a major reconstruction at the beginning in 1926, the number of boarding platforms at the station was increased to 12. The huge building houses many shops, several food courts (food courts), toilets, ATMs and even a mosque. Jakarta Kota has an important historical and cultural significance in Indonesia, and since 1993 it has been officially recognized as a historical and cultural landmark of Jakarta, which caused an additional influx of tourists to this city.

Jakarta Kota serves passenger routes on the island of Java, through Gambir, Jantinegara, Pasar Senen stations and three routes of the KRL Jabotabek electric train network.

9. Berlin Central Station (Germany).
Berlin Central Station was built on the site of the Lertsky Station, which was destroyed during the Second World War. After opening in 2006, Berlin Central Station has become the largest station in Europe with a multi-level layout of platforms, 6 of which are located on the top and 8 on the lower level. The paths intersect with each other through a system of tunnels and bridges, while the main building is made of glass and steel. 44,000 square meters of the station area is allocated for the commercial zone, most of which is occupied by a shopping center with 80 stores. In addition, the station building houses: a baggage sorting center, luggage storage, parking and several points with free Wi-Fi. The station serves about 300,000 passengers daily.





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8. Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (India).
Chhatrapati Shivaji Station is not only one of the largest, but also one of the most beautiful stations in the world, and in combination - one of the historical sights of Mumbai. The station was built during the era of British colonialism in 1888, and was originally named after Queen Victoria - Victoria Terminus. In 1996, the station was renamed in honor of the national hero of India, Chhatrapati Shivaji. In 2004, this beautiful building was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which increased the already considerable flow of tourists. Chhatrapati Shivaji includes commuter train platforms giving a total of 18 boarding platforms and making it the 8th largest station.

7. Leipzig Central Station (Germany).
The Leipzig station is the largest in Europe in terms of occupied area - 83,460 sq.m., and the length of its facade is almost 300 m. The station is multi-level and serves about 120,000 passengers a day. The original project was put into operation in 1915, but during the Second World War the building was badly damaged and was completely rebuilt in the 50s. The second reconstruction - this time in the 90s brought the total number of landing platforms to 24 pieces, which puts it in 7th place in the world in this indicator.





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6. Zurich Central Station (Switzerland).
Zurich Central Station is the largest and busiest railway station in Switzerland. It was opened in 1847, rebuilt and expanded several times, and now serves about 400,000 passengers daily. The station has 16 platforms for long-distance trains and 10 for high-speed trains EuroCity, Cisalpino, TGV, Intercity-Express and CityNightLine. In total, these 26 platforms make it possible to send about a thousand trains from the station per day. In addition to passenger records, the Zurich station also holds the record for the size of the covered shopping area - 55,000 sq.m. There is a shopping center Shop-Ville HB, a cinema and other entertainment facilities.





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5. Termini (Italy).
The Roman Termini station, opened in 1862, still holds the second place in terms of area among all European stations, second only to Leipzig in this indicator. Trains to Paris, Vienna, Munich, Geneva and Basel depart from the station's 29 platforms, as well as local passenger trains and numerous suburban electric trains. The total daily passenger flow of Termini exceeds 400,000, which gives a total of 150 million passengers per year.





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4. Munich Main Station (Germany).
Munich Station is the 4th in the world and the 2nd in Europe in terms of the number of platforms, of which there are 32. The original building was built in 1839, but, like most transport hubs in Germany, it was badly damaged during the war. A major reconstruction took place in 1960, after which the station was able to receive several hundred thousand passengers daily, and today its daily capacity has been increased to 450,000 passengers. The station building houses a huge number of shops, an underground shopping arcade, a children's museum and a hotel. In addition to 32 ground platforms, two underground high-speed transport systems pass through Munich Main Station - S-Bahn (2 boarding platforms) and U-Bahn (6 more platforms).





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3. Shinjuku (Japan).
Built in 1885, Shinjuku Station today is the absolute champion in passenger traffic - 3.6 million people daily, and thanks to this it even got into the Guinness Book of Records. Moreover, the data is already outdated - for 2007, now it is quite possible that there were even more passengers. In order to serve such a mind-boggling number of passengers, the station is equipped with a total of more than 200 entrances and exits. Most of the 36 platforms are occupied by trains of local public transport systems, there are not so many long-distance trains to Shinjuku.





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2. North station (France).
The Paris North Station holds the record in Europe for the number of platforms - 44, two of which are not available for public use and are reserved for special needs. Built in 1846, Gare du Nord is still one of the most beautiful and majestic buildings in Paris and one of the symbols of Europe. Inside the station are dozens of cafes, souvenir shops, newsstands, ticket machines and toilets (including toilets with baby changing rooms). Projects for the subsequent expansion of the station include its expansion to 77 boarding platforms, which will make it the absolute world champion in this indicator.

On the UK railways in the 1960s a lot of work has been done on the reconstruction and construction of nine large marshalling yards, including two new bilateral yards. Since then, due to the development of road and container transportation, several stations have been closed, and the remaining ones have been reduced, all marshalling yards have been closed.

At the new one-way stations in the reception parks (at that time) 12-14 tracks were laid, in the departure parks - 8-12, and in the marshalling stations - 40-50 tracks. The track capacity was 60-80 wagons. The processing capacity of one-way stations ranged from 3,000 to 4,500 wagons per day.

The two-way Carlisle station (see Figure 21.3), which replaced 9 low-capacity marshalling yards, had an odd system of 10 tracks in the incoming and outgoing parks and 37 tracks in the marshalling yard. In the even system, the reception park included 8 tracks, sorting - 48 and the departure park 10 tracks. Another two-way station Tees, which replaced 6 existing stations, had 12 tracks in the reception parks, 40 tracks in the sorting stations, and 12 and 8 tracks in the departure parks. The first high-speed slope at these stations had a steepness of 62.5 %about.

Tinsley's one-way automated marshalling yard was built on a combined scheme. In order to pick up local wagons, which traveled mainly to the industrial area, a local marshalling yard of 25 tracks with a slide was placed in series with the outer tracks of the main marshalling yard of 53 tracks. At this station, for the first time, a new system for regulating the speed of sorted wagons was applied, based on the use of hydraulic accelerators-retarders of the Doughty system, which made it possible to automate the sorting process and, in addition, reduce the estimated height of the hump from 6.3 to 3.3 m.

Many marshalling yards at new and reconstructed stations were equipped with braking automation systems, which ensured the speed of exit from the second braking position, depending on the weight and running properties of the cuts, as well as on the degree of filling of the underhill tracks.

Railways of France also implement the concept of concentrating marshalling operations in a smaller number of well-equipped new and refurbished stations. At the same time, the desire to reduce the number of marshalling yards was aimed not only at reducing operating costs, but also at electrifying railways, reducing capital costs for the contact network and lengthening the tracks to 800-900 m.

By the beginning of the 1980s. many marshalling yards were built and reconstructed, including 12 large ones (Vuappy, Gervey, Siblen, Hourcade, etc.). Bourget station during the reconstruction was

Rice. 21.3. The layout of the Carlisle (UK) marshalling yard has been changed from two-way to one-way. At large one-way stations, the number of tracks in the reception parks was 13-14, in marshalling yards - from 32 to 48, in departure parks - from 8 to 20. The useful length of tracks in the reception and departure parks is 700-800 m, and in sorting yards - 800-900 m.

Many major marshalling yards in France have overpass interchanges for receiving and departing trains and intra-station crossings. One of these stations is the one-way marshalling yard Gervais (see Fig. 21.4), built according to the classical scheme with a sequential arrangement of parks and having 14 tracks each in the receiving and departure parks and 59 tracks in the marshalling yard. To receive trains from Lyon during the disbandment, two overpass junctions were built: at the intersection of the main tracks of the Dijon-Lyon line and for receiving trains into the inlet of the reception park along the loop track.

A characteristic feature of the organization of sorting work on French railways is the presence of separate sorting devices for accelerated freight trains, which deliver food cargo to Paris and other major cities of the country at night. For this, in some cases, separate stations are intended (Lille-Saint-Sauveur, Bordeaux-Saint-Jean, etc.), in other cases, at the stations, one sorting system is used for ordinary, and the other for accelerated trains (station Sotville, Trapp, etc. .).

At sorting yards in French railways, as in other countries, in addition to the main mechanized slides in the tail mouths of marshalling yards or in additional parks with short paths, low-power slides are arranged to facilitate the selection of formed trains into groups.

For most marshalling yards German railways characterized by a large capacity of reception parks, sorting and dispatching and grouping. Since the beginning of the 1950s of the last century, several marshalling yards have been reconstructed (Braunschweig, Bebra, Gremberg, Mannheim, etc.), and some two-way stations (Braunschweig, Saute) were converted into one-way yards during the reconstruction. At the two-way station Mannheim, the east-west sorting system was reconstructed, increasing the number of sorting lanes to 42 in

Rice. 21.4. Scheme of the marshalling yard of Gervey (France) account of the auxiliary marshalling system available at the station. In the Hamburg junction, in 1979, instead of five previously existing low-power stations, a new two-way marshalling yard Maschen was built - the most powerful marshalling yard in Europe (see Fig. 21.5). The number of subhill tracks on the main slides of this station is 48 in each system. Some of the subhill tracks are sorting and departure tracks, and some are sorting tracks, in series with which there is an auxiliary hill and a grouping park for a more detailed sorting of wagons. The length of station tracks at Mashen station is 300 km. It laid about 1000 turnouts, installed 2100 signals, 325 beam retarders, 112 devices for upsetting cars, built 2 posts of hump centralization, 2 posts of train trains, a car and locomotive depot, as well as 47 overpasses, 54 buildings and 11 km of intra-station highways. Hump ​​yards at the station are automated using a system developed by Siemens for controlling the speed of rolling cars down and moving them along the tracks of the marshalling yard with special rope precipitators.

There are marshalling yards on the railways of Europe, where the system of sequentially located receiving-sorting-departure parks is fully or partially located on a slope that ensures the movement of cars in the direction of sorting under the influence of gravity without the participation of shunting locomotives (Nuremberg and Duisburg-Hochveld in Germany, Muttenz II in Switzerland, Vrsovice in the Czech Republic, etc.)

In the reception park, to keep the trains in place until the beginning of the dissolution, there are holding retarders in the output part of the tracks, and a regulating car retarder in front of the section with a high-speed slope. Further, on the route of the cuts, there are brake positions to hold, if necessary, groups of cars or to control the speed of their rolling.

An example of the profile and layout of a marshalling yard on a solid slope, adopted in Germany, is shown in fig. 21.6. The plan and profile of the sorting system is conditionally divided into 7 zones, indicated by numbers (see Fig. 21.6). The reception park profile (zone 1) has a convex parabolic shape with slopes from 5 to 14 %about

Rice. 21.5.

Rice. 21.6.

/ - reception park; 2 - descending part; 3 - collection area; 4 - sorting park; 5 - exit to the grouping park; 6 - group parks; 7- departure parks; 8 - moderators

(average slope 7 %about). When the holding retarder is released, the cars standing on a large slope begin to move, dragging the rest of the train, located on smaller slopes, with them. A retarder is located in front of the high-speed slope, which regulates the flow of cars to the lower part. The descending part (zone 2) has a concave profile with decreasing slopes from 50 to 2.5 %about, similar to the profile of the downhill part of the slides. Behind the switch zone of the marshalling yard head there is a gathering zone 3 approximately 150 m long and with a slope of 10 %about, where the cars are combined into groups in front of the collecting decelerators, which regulate the speed of the approach of the cars to each other and their stop. Then the groups are allowed into the marshalling yard (zone 4) and stop before leaving it until the train has accumulated. From the upper part of the tracks of the marshalling park, you can direct the train to the departure park or, by supplying a train locomotive, send the train to the main track. The lower part of the sorting park, consisting of two sections, has access to the departure park 7 through grouping parks 6 for the formation of multi-group trains. The tail of this part of the marshalling yard has a slope of 25 %about and forms the downhill part of the slides of low power. The slope of the paths of grouping parks is 7 %about, necks between them and the departure park - 17 %about, entrance neck of this park 7 %about, ways - 5 %about.

New stations on a continuous slope have not been built in full recently. There is only a case of placing on the slope of the reception park during the construction of the second sorting system at the Muttenz station in Switzerland, called the Muttenz II station. This was due to the peculiarities of the terrain - a significant difference in ground elevations in the areas of the entrance part of the reception park and sorting park. The longitudinal profile of the reception park also has a parabolic shape with an average slope of 7.2 %about. Three braking positions are provided on the inlet part of the slide: holding on the paths of the receiving park, auxiliary immediately after the exit neck of the park and foothill on a 14% slope in front of the hill neck. For the first time, electromagnetic retarders were used on the downhill part of the hill and at the beginning of the underhill tracks, and sorting tracks for a distance of 300 m were equipped with accelerators-precipitators to move bad runners into the middle of the park.

It should be noted that sorting stations on a continuous slope were built on those roads where trains of light weight and length circulate. Some of them, for example, on French railways, were subsequently rebuilt into hump stations. These stations provide savings on shunting locomotives, but have significant drawbacks: the level of safety of train traffic and shunting work is lower; high costs for equipping tracks with moderators and their operation; the difficulty of sending cars from the station to the direction opposite to sorting, due to the large difference in the marks of the beginning and end of the sorting system (about 25 m); slow sorting of wagons, the impossibility of using a variable speed of dissolution and, as a result, a lower processing capacity compared to high-capacity hump stations.

Nevertheless, under favorable terrain conditions, one should not exclude the possibility of developing options for locating foothill parks on a slope at regional marshalling yards, as well as serving a port or an industrial area, which will make it possible to sort wagons with less shunting equipment or even without the participation of locomotives.

SORTING SLIDES ON RAILWAYS OF THE WORLD

AT transport nodes, near big industrial centers, at megacities, near ports, major enterprises heavy industry and mining industry - there, where trains are being formed, in most countries peace sorting rooms are located slides. We offer readers analysis systems, with which these slides, and trends development foreign devices formation compositions.

Central Europe, and primarily France and the Benelux countries, have a high density of hump yards. There are also a significant number of them in the countries of the former USSR and on the east coast of the United States. A large number of hump yards have been built in recent years in China. There are much fewer of them on the railways of countries such as Canada, India and South Africa. In developing countries in Africa, as well as South and Latin America, hump yards, like other means of automation in rail transport, are still rare. On the contrary, in many industrialized countries (Japan, England, Denmark and Norway) not a single sorting yard has been preserved due to the use of new ways of forming trains. In other European countries, sorting work is concentrated only on the largest nodes, humps of small and medium capacity are gradually closed. To date, the world's largest sorting hill Bailey Yard is located in the USA (Nebraska) and has 50 tracks in the park in one direction and 64 tracks in the park in the opposite direction. Only a little behind it is the two-sided sorting hump Maschen (Fig. 1), located near the port of Hamburg, with 48 tracks in one direction and 64 in the other. In China, Asia's largest marshalling yard has recently been built at Zhengzhou station - 34 and 36 tracks, another large marshalling yard is located in South Africa at Centrarad station northeast of Johannesburg - 64 tracks in the marshalling yard and 8 tracks in the subsorting parks. Differences in the technical equipment and operation technology of sorting humps are due to the historical development of mechanization and automation in different countries of the world, which began in Europe in the middle of the century before last.

ORIGIN OF SLIDE SYSTEMS

Back in 1846, an inclined track was built at the freight station in Dresden, on which wagons detached from the train were fed. At that time, other methods of disbanding trains were known in Europe, for example, using turning circles that have survived near many depots to this day (Fig. 2). The first simplified marshalling yard was built in 1858 at the intermediate freight station in Leipzig. Completely corresponding to today's structure of most marshalling yards with a reception park, a marshalling yard and a departure yard (Fig. 3), a slide was built at the Ter Nord freight station near Saint-Etienne in France in 1863. Shildon station was built on the same principle in 1869 in the north east of England.

The first marshalling yards used the natural slope of the terrain and did not have a counterslope on the sliding part. Only in 1876, at the Shpeldorf marshalling yard in Germany, a hill was built with a platform on top and an anti-slope. The mechanical centralizations used at that time had a control limited in range, and therefore several posts independent of each other were built in the dissolution zone.

The division of the marshalling yard into groups of tracks (bundles) began to be used in 1891 at a large marshalling yard with two-way operation Osterfeld-Süd in Germany. At that time, mechanized braking devices were not yet used on hump yards, but targeted targeted braking was necessary, and therefore workers installed brake shoes on the tracks at the foot of the hump. These simple devices are currently used as anti-theft devices at cargo stations with a natural slope of the tracks.

In the twenties of the last century, the economies of Europe and the United States, and with it the freight traffic, were on the rise, and the first beam-type wagon retarders were developed to accelerate and safely disband the trains. In 1923, the first retarder with a large number of nodes was installed in the USA on the Gibson marshalling yard near Chicago, and in 1925, a mechanized complex consisting of four hydraulic car decelerators. The electromechanical centralizations that appeared around the same time made it possible to remotely control all objects from one post of the hump complex. Thanks to this, the process of disbanding trains was accelerated, and its automation became possible. A little later, the first electric devices for storing the sequence of passage of cars were created. In accordance with the task they received, they controlled the switch drives of the beams.

The first electronically controlled slide complex was created in 1955. at Kirk station near Chicago, and by the 1960s, most of the major marshalling yards were fully automated. In the same years, many hump yards began to use a radio channel to control the locomotive for pushing the train, which made it possible to improve quality and productivity, as well as to abandon the drivers and floor hump signals.

TYPES OF SORTING HILLS

Hump ​​complexes can have both a unidirectional (one-sided) construction structure, and a two-sided one, used at large nodes with a large sorting work in both directions. Previously, slides were built in areas with a natural slope of the tracks, independent of the dissolution zone, as is customary in modern complexes. Many of these slides are still in use today. Abroad, slides are used with both natural and artificial slopes (Fig. 4). The principles of wagon braking used on them also differ. The location of the hump also influences the choice of braking means. Humps built near transport hubs eventually ended up in the city, and special requirements are currently imposed on such sorting complexes. These are silent operation of retarders and turnout drives, special rules for disbanding, limited access to the territory.

Sorting yards can have either the same length as other station yards or reduced. Shortened marshalling yards are used, in particular, in the USA, where long trains are formed in favorable terrain and long distances between stations. The short trains assembled in the marshalling yard are fed to the departure route, where they are coupled with other half trains. In some cases, it is more profitable, on the contrary, to design sorting tracks of increased length.

The latest generation of marshalling yards provides for the possibility of local control of the points and signals of the receiving and departure parks, checking the necessary dependencies and closures. Only centralized control is less common, and sometimes these parks may not have signaling devices used at stations.

Let's consider the devices and principles of braking on marshalling yards.

BRAKING CATCHES IN HILL COMPLEXES

The first braking of the cuts is intended mainly for the formation of the necessary following intervals and is carried out by one or two braking positions (TP) in the hump zone, and targeted braking occurs in the park zone. In addition to the pincer-shaped pressure retarders known on Russian railways, retarders with other braking principles are used in the hump zone. For example, on marshalling chutes located near residential areas, rubber-coated rails are used to dampen speed. The friction force during the movement of the metal wheel on the rubber is regulated by the position of the retarder, thus taking away a significant part of the kinetic energy of the cutter. Brake means based on permanent magnets are considered promising, which are most effective at high (above 20 km/h) speeds of cuts.

For braking in a park area, many hump yards are equipped with a large number of point retarders that provide quasi-continuous speed control. The greatest recognition was given to point hydraulic piston retarders. Their braking effect occurs when the wagon wheel flange collides with the retarder piston mounted on the rail neck (Fig. 5). Excessive kinetic energy is dissipated due to the downward movement of the piston if the speed of the cut is exceeded. Piston retarders contain speed sensors.

Hydraulic helical retarders are also common in Europe. During the passage of the car along it, the wheel flange interacts with the spiral protrusion of the cylinder (Fig. 6), and it makes one revolution. If the speed of the car is less than that for which the retarder is adjusted, then its valve does not prevent the flow of liquid from one cavity to another, and braking does not occur. If the specified speed is exceeded, the retarder generates maximum braking force. If it is necessary to skip the shunting locomotive, a special pneumatic device moves the spiral retarder away from the rail.

In addition, hydraulic accelerators are installed on a number of hump yards in the park area, operating at cut speeds below the established limit.

On slides with a natural slope of the tracks, quasi-continuous speed control is usually used throughout the descent, including the pre-park (hill) zone.

On the latest generation slides with intensive sorting work for the park area, wagon loaders are provided. They are located inside the rail track and are moved by automatically controlled cables. If necessary, wagon depressors bring the cuts to the wagons standing in the way (Fig. 7). Such devices are used, for example, on sorting humps in Munich (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland) and Rotterdam (Netherlands).

MODERNIZATION OF SLIDE COMPLEXES ABROAD

For the construction and modernization of marshalling yards, Siemens has developed a universal complex MSR 32 (Fig. 8) for medium, large and high capacity hump yards. Depending on the type and required power of the slide, its profile, local conditions and the turnout drives and brakes preferred by the customer, a model of the slide is created, which is tested on a computer. Based on the results of the simulation, the types and locations of wagon speed sensors, wind speed meters in different zones of the hump, weight meters, cut length and height meters (to calculate the trajectory of its acceleration), the number and optimal zones for the location of brake positions, as well as sensors for free tracks are selected.

The principle of operation of such slides is as follows. Information from all measuring devices and sensors of the marshalling yard, as well as reception and departure parks, is fed to the central processor. From there, after processing all the data, the locomotive is controlled by the available brake positions, as well as by the car loaders (Fig. 9). The most important information about the operation of the hump, as well as the results of the formation of trains, is transmitted in real time to the control room. The MSR 32 system is designed in a modular way, which makes it easy to adapt to any customer requirements.

This system has been implemented on slides with different profiles, braking concepts and processing capacities. So, in Zurich (Switzerland) the slide has a capacity of 330 wagons per hour. The locomotive is controlled by a radio channel. There are two retarders in the 1st braking position, eight in the 2nd one, 64 in the park area (one per track), and two in the lower braking position. On the main hump, car decelerators are used, on the auxiliary hump (put into operation in 1999) - 13 park retarders.

In Vienna (Austria), a marshalling yard with a capacity of 320 wagons per hour has a radio-controlled locomotive. Of the 48 tracks in the park area, two are used for overthrust. Piston retarders operate on the hill with automatic speed control throughout the cuts rolling path. The marshalling yard was commissioned in 2004.

The South Elbe slide near the port of Hamburg (Germany) is of lower capacity and has three retarders in the 2nd brake position and 24 in the park area. It was commissioned in 2006.

On all sorting humps, a continuous exchange of information with dispatch centers is ensured.

In the near future, Siemens plans to put into operation the first hump yard MSR 32 adapted to the requirements of the railways of the countries of the former USSR (Vaidotai station in Lithuania).

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS FOR FORMING TRAINS

In the second half of the last century, there was a trend towards the predominance of small shipments in the cargo turnover. Due to the increasing competition in the field of cargo transportation between rail and other modes of transport, container transportation has become relevant, which allows minimizing transshipment costs and taking advantage of the advantages of each mode of transport, delivering small shipments on a door-to-door basis. To reload containers from wagons to sea and road transport, special fleets with crane mechanisms were created. With the growth of container shipments over time, many marshalling stations will transfer their functions to fleets designed to reload a container from a wagon not only to ships and cars, but also to trains in other directions. In many European countries, such parks are already in use (Fig. 9), displacing small and medium-sized marshalling yards.

30-12-2013, 16:39
Your attention is a small overview of the largest railway stations in the world in terms of the number of passenger platforms.

Jakarta Kota (Indonesia)

The capital of Indonesia has the largest railway station in Southeast Asia. The station was built in 1870. In 1926, the building and access roads of the station were reconstructed. In particular, the number of landing platforms here has been increased to 12.

Jakarta Kota was officially recognized as a cultural heritage site in 1993 and has become an important historical landmark.

Jakarta Kota serves passenger routes on the island of Java.

Berlin Central Station (Germany)

The current building of Berlin Central Station appeared on the site of the one destroyed during the Second World War. In 2006, the station became the largest transport hub in Europe. It is noteworthy that a multi-level layout of platforms is provided here. Six platforms are located on the top and eight on the bottom tier. The paths, like a web, intersect with each other due to the constructed tunnels and bridges.

The main building of the station is built of glass and steel. More than forty thousand square meters of the station area is allocated here as a commercial zone. Mostly on this vast territory there are shops, restaurants, small shops. The station serves up to 300,000 passengers daily.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (India)

This station, located in Mumbai, is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world. The station was built during the era of British colonialism in 1888. At first it bore the name of Queen Victoria. In 1996, the station was renamed and began to bear the name of the national hero of India, Chhatrapati Shivaji.

In terms of architectural style, the building of the station resembles a kind of mosaic, in which there are Victorian neo-Gothic, Indo-Saracenic motifs. There are a lot of arches, turrets, domes decorated in an original way. The interior halls of the station are skillfully decorated with wood carvings. There is iron, mostly copper.

In 2004, this historic building was rightfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Station today has 18 boarding platforms, which makes it the eighth place in the overall ranking of the largest stations in the world.

Leipzig Central Station (Germany)

The Leipzig railway station is considered the largest in Europe in terms of such an indicator as the occupied area. By the way, it is 83460 square meters. The length of the station facade is 300 meters.

The first stone in the construction of the station was laid back in 1915. During the Second World War, the station building was badly damaged by bombing and was completely rebuilt in the 1950s. After forty years of operation, a new reconstruction of the station followed. After it, the number of landing platforms at the facility reached 24.

Leipzig railway station is considered multi-level. It serves up to 120 thousand passengers daily.

Zurich Central Station (Switzerland)

Zurich Central Station was put into operation in 1847. During its existence, it was rebuilt and reconstructed several times. Now this railway point of the country serves up to half a million passengers daily!

The station has 16 platforms for long-distance trains. There are also 10 platforms for high-speed electric trains EuroCity, Cisalpino, TGV, Intercity-Express and CityNightLine.

In addition, it is noted that the Zurich railway station has the largest covered trading platform, the total area of ​​which is 55,000 square meters.

Termini (Italy)

Termini railway transport hub was opened in 1862. The station takes the second place in terms of area, second only to the railway station in Leipzig.

There are 29 boarding platforms at Termini station, from which trains depart to Paris, Vienna, Munich, Geneva, Basel, as well as suburban services.

The passenger traffic of the Italian station exceeds 400 thousand passengers a day.

Munich main station (Germany)

Munich railway station is the fourth in the world and the second in Europe in terms of the number of platforms - there are 32 of them!

The original station building was rebuilt in 1839. However, a war broke out and the transport hub was destroyed. The station was almost completely rebuilt in 1960. Then this transport point in Germany was able to receive several hundred thousand passengers daily. By the way, today the daily capacity of the station has been increased to 450,000 passengers.

Shinjuku (Japan)

One of the oldest train stations in Japan. Shinjuku was built in 1885. Today it is a real record holder in terms of passenger traffic.

The transport hub passes over three and a half million people daily. Thanks to this indicator, the station got into the Guinness Book of Records. It was in 2007 and today, most likely, the number of passengers has increased.

The station is provided with more than 200 entrances and exits in order to serve such a huge number of people. It should be noted that most of the 36 passenger platforms are occupied by domestic trains, acting as public transport.

North Station (France)

There are 44 platforms at the Gare du Nord in Paris! This is an absolute European record holder!

The station was built in 1846. Despite its age, the station remains one of the most beautiful buildings in the French capital.

Inside the North Station, the infrastructure of public catering and trade is quite well developed. There are dozens of small cafes and restaurants, a lot of boutiques and just small shops.

They say that already today there are projects to expand this railway station, bringing the number of passenger platforms to 77.

New York Central Station (USA)

The world leader in the number of passenger platforms is occupied by the New York Central Station - Grand Central Terminal.

The station was built in 1871. Here, 44 landing platforms, covering an area of ​​200,000 square meters, are located underground. There, in these underground tunnels, shops, restaurants are equipped, there is even a museum!

There is also a secret government railway line. It is located at the underground level M42. However, no one knows its exact location. This is understandable! This state secret has been securely guarded since the Second World War.

It should be noted that the station is a favorite place for many tourists. Every year this object attracts more than 21 million tourists from all over the world!