ELECTROPNEUMATIC BRAKE. TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE TWO SYSTEMS OF ELECTROPNEUMATIC BRAKE

A comparison of: the automatic type of electropneumatic brake with two pipes and the direct-acting type of electropneumatic brake with one 1 1/4" brake pipe has shown that the former is superior from both the technical and the economic standpoint. The technical part of the study involved rack tests and track tests with trains of different compositions. The technical superiority of the automatic type of electropneumatic brake is particularly apparent in the following features: it is inexhaustible and ensures uniform pressure in the brake cylinders of all the vehicles of the train regardless of the manner of brake application; automatic operation is ensured because of the retention of pneumatic control; the brake will still operate even if the electric control system fails (automatic change-over to pneumatic control); if a circuit-checking system is installed it can be done very easily, unlike the direct-acting type of brake for which highly reliable circuit-checking is essential; only with the automatic type of electropneumatic brake is it possible to accept a high proportion of vehicles fitted only with the pneumatic brake. The economic study is based on the principle of fitting all wagons which are to be equipped with the automatic coupler. In addition to the cost of installing the electropneumatic brake equipment on the wagon (see Report B 83/RP 3) allowance has also been made for the cost of equipping the locomotives and for the circuit-checking system, and to this should also be added the cost of modifying the coupling heads of the automatic coupler. The calculations have been made by 4 administrations. Finally, these calculations show clearly that the automatic electropneumatic brake with two pipes is less expensive than the direct-acting type with one 1 1/4" brake pipe.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Restrictions on the use of this document are contained in the explanatory material.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Union of Railways

  Office of Research and Experiments
  Utrecht,   Netherlands 
• Publication Date: 1970-4

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 45 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air brakes; Brakes; Costs; Couplers; Vehicle design
• Uncontrolled Terms: Electropneumatic brakes
• Old TRIS Terms: Automatic coupling; Brake design; Braking systems; Question b83
• Subject Areas: Design; Economics; Finance; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00053006
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Union of Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: B83/RP 4/E Final Rpt.
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 26 1976 12:00AM