Pasi Lautala

Opportunities and challenges in the design and analysis of biomass supply chains.

The biomass supply chain is one of the most critical elements of large-scale bioenergy production and in many cases a key barrier for procuring initial funding for new developments on specific energy crops. Most productions rely on complex transforming chains linked to feed and food markets. The term ‘supply chain’ covers various aspects from cultivation and harvesting of the biomass, to treatment, transportation, and storage. After energy conversion, the product must be delivered to final consumption, whether it is in the form of electricity, heat, or more tangible products, such as pellets and biofuels. Effective supply chains are of utmost importance for bioenergy production, as biomass tends to possess challenging seasonal production cycles and low mass, energy and bulk densities. Additionally, the demand for final products is often also dispersed, further complicating the supply chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce key components of biomass supply chains, examples of related modeling applications, and if/how they address aspects related to environmental metrics and management. The paper will introduce a concept of integrated supply systems for sustainable biomass trade and the factors influencing the bioenergy supply chain landscape, including models that can be used to investigate the factors. The paper will also cover various aspects of transportation logistics, ranging from alternative modal and multi-modal alternatives to introduction of support tools for transportation analysis. Finally gaps and challenges in supply chain research are identified and used to outline research recommendations for the future direction in this area of study.

Hybrid simulation approach for improving railway capacity and train schedules

Timetable management is one of the operational methodologies commonly applied in the highly structured European rail system to improve the capacity utilization while maintaining acceptable level of service (LOS) parameters; but their potential benefits to the less structured U.S. system have received little attention. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of timetable management features to analyze the trade-off between LOS parameters and capacity utilization in the U.S. The research applies a hybrid simulation approach, where output from RTC, a simulation tool developed in the U.S., was used as an input for timetable compression by RailSys, a simulation tool developed in Europe. 28 scenarios were developed in RailSys to identify a preferred scenario with reasonable LOS parameters while maintaining the capacity utilization under the recommended threshold, and the selected scenario of RailSys was then validated in RTC. The results of the study revealed that 10-min maximum allowed dwell time provided the best corridor capacity utilization. Also, the LOS parameters were significantly improved for total number of stops (55% reduction), total dwell times (80% reduction) and average dwell time (65% reduction); while the timetable duration was increased (capacity utilization was degraded) by 18% compared to the initial schedule.

Evaluating the Results and Features of Two Capacity Simulation Tools on the Shared-Use Corridors

The majority of passenger rail services in the United States (U.S.) operate on the shared-use corridors with freight rail. These types of operations tend to be challenging due to high heterogeneity, particularly in terms of reliability of service and capacity availability. The projected growth in demand for rail transportation is likely to exacerbate the situation. Similar to the U.S., the European passenger rail services are generally operated on shared-use corridors, but the infrastructure conditions and the operational priorities and patterns typically allow more reliable and higher speed passenger operations in comparison to the U.S. trains.Both continents use capacity and simulation software to analyze capacity allocations and operational limitations. However, the effects of the software selection haven’t been investigated. This research reviews two common simulation tools developed in the U.S. and Europe, Rail Traffic Controller (RTC) and Railsys, respectively. The paper reviews the structure and the main components of these two simulation tools. It will also present the outcomes of running RTC and Railsys through a given segment of shared-use track based on the same rolling stock, operation and signaling characteristics and analyze the similarities and differences between the outcomes of RTC and Railsys.© 2013 ASME

Rebuilding Railroad Engineering Education in the United States with Industry-University Partnerships

Because of the growing volume of freight traffic, the increasing interest in intercity and in urban passenger rail, and the escalated retirement among industry professionals, the rail industry has been returning to university campuses in search of future leaders. In so doing, the industry has discovered that todays universities are a challenging environment in which to recruit because most of them eliminated railroad engineering from their curricula many years ago and graduates are not familiar with the rail industry. A research study at Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) assessed whether greater participation by universities would help to encourage students to pursue rail careers. Surveys targeting industry managers, recently hired engineering graduates, and university professors were used to define the demand and supply for university engineering graduates and to determine the effect on students’ career choices from pregraduation exposure to rail topics. The results indicated a high demand for railroad engineers for the next 5 to 10 years but few opportunities to expose students to rail topics before their graduation. The research indicated a strong correlation between exposure to the rail industry and career selection and identified the development of university–industry partnerships as an attractive approach for reintroducing railroad engineering at universities. This paper summarizes the study results and provides recommendations for developing these partnerships. It also presents a short case study on how Michigan Tech has successfully introduced rail transportation into its curriculum.

What the Railroad Industry Needs and Expects from Higher Education: Meeting the Needs

Rail transportation and engineering education in the United States was neglected for decades, from a lack of demand for graduates in the field. However, the increase in freight rail transportation volumes, combined with a growing interest in passenger rail development, has reenergized the academic community. Currently, several universities are either investigating or implementing rail-related activities. Because of the long disconnect between the industry and academia, several challenges have arisen about what the rail industry needs and wants from graduates and universities. Challenges include the quantitative and qualitative demands placed on graduates by the industry as well as industry preference for types of education and the perceived benefits from university education and university–industry collaboration. The educational background of current industry employees and its importance to their career selection are also of interest. This paper reports the outcomes of two online surveys of industry employees to bring light to the aforementioned points. More than 1,000 industry employees participated in the surveys that were conducted in 2006 and 2010. The second survey was conducted as part of a collaborative study between the United States and the European Union, allowing direct comparison of opinions between the U.S. and international workforce.

Sensitivity Analysis of Track Maintenance Strategies for the High Speed Rail (HSR) Services

Track Maintenance (TM) is one of the critical parts of rail operations and asset management. It has been estimated that about 25–35% of all operational costs are related to the track maintenance performance which can be typically classified as either corrective maintenance (CM) or preventive maintenance (PM). The first is a more reactive approach, where maintenance is conducted when inspections have revealed a need for action. The latter is a strategic approach that is mainly applied through maintenance planning. High Speed Rail (HSR) systems, especially on shared HSR corridors, can complicate track maintenance conditions due to the tight tolerances and precision, reliability and safety issues required by HSR. This paper evaluates strategic approaches for track maintenance planning along selected HSR corridors with either shared or dedicated operation pattern. The paper uses analytical and descriptive parameter tables to evaluate how sensitive a corridor is to changes in essential criteria for developing track maintenance strategies (TMS). These criteria may include: - HSR traffic conditions and operations regime; - TMS approach (or strategy) on current rail lines connected to the new HSR line; - Operation and Maintenance (O&M) structure of HSR management system. The descriptive parameter tables have been used by a specific PM modeling approach called preventive maintenance scheduling problem (PMSP). Before running PMSP model over a designated line, the respective parameters of the model should be calibrated and analyzed based on the line specifications. The descriptive parameter tables can be used during calibration procedure to assist in analyzing the sensitivity of model’s parameters and variables for the above mentioned criteria. This paper discusses and compares TMS approaches on three planned HSR corridors in Europe (Lisbon-Madrid HSR), Asia (Tehran-Isfahan HSR) and USA (California HSR). All three HSR rail corridors are under development, but each presents specific sensitivities to the given PM model’s parameters that can affect track maintenance strategic planning along these corridors. We concluded that TMS model calibration by these descriptive analytical tables can assist maintenance strategic planners in identifying different TMS approaches when dealing with maintenance contractors, HSR operators and public rail authorities.Copyright

An automatic method for detecting sliding railway wheels and hot bearings using thermal imagery

One of the most important safety-related tasks in the rail industry is an early detection of defective rolling stock components. Railway wheels and wheel bearings are the two components prone to damages due to their interactions with brakes and railway track, which makes them a high priority when the rail industry investigates improvements in the current detection processes. One of the specific wheel defects is a flat wheel, which is often caused by a sliding wheel during a heavy braking application. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a computer vision method for automatically detecting the sliding wheels from images taken by wayside thermal cameras. As a byproduct, the process will also include a method for detecting hot bearings from the same images. We first discuss our automatic detection and segmentation method, which identifies the wheel and bearing portion of the image. Then, we develop a method, using histogram of oriented gradients to extract the features of these regions. These feature descriptors are later employed by support vector machine to build a fast classifier with a good detection rate, which can detect abnormalities in the wheel. At the end, we train our algorithm using simulated images of sliding wheels and test it on several thermal images collected in a revenue service by the Union Pacific Railroad in North America.

An Investigation on Driver Behaviors and Eye-Movement Patterns at Grade Crossings Using a Driving Simulator

Collisions at grade crossings are often attributed to driver failure to detect warnings, to comprehend their meaning, or to react appropriately. One of the solutions to tackling these problems is the development of various visual signs. We designed three types of visual warnings at virtual grade crossings: a gate with lights and crossbuck, a gate with a crossbuck, and a crossbuck alone. Study 1 shows that vehicle speeds of 18 participants in the period 20 seconds before approaching the crossing (critical zone) decreased in comparison to the baseline (pre-critical zone) for visual warning type 1, a gate with lights. Additionally, participants, who were exposed to a train early in the scenario, showed more defensive driving behaviors than the other case. In study 2, we considered drivers’ eye movement pattern in the pre-critical and the critical zone for 17 participants. Design applications of warnings in vehicles and on roads and further research directions are discussed.Copyright

The Role of Railroads in Multimodal Woody Biomass Transportation in Michigan

Minimizing transportation costs is essential in the forest products industry, as the relatively low value and high weight of the products causes transportation to account for exceptionally high portion of the overall cost. The forest products such as logs, chips, and residues (woody biomass) are one of the major business sources in Michigan especially in Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Currently, truck transportation is used for the great majority of the trips, but it is believed that a more cost-efficient transportation chain might be achieved through use of multimodal approach by trucks and rail and in some cases water transportation.This paper presents the three alternative transportation supply chain models for woody biomass transportation; 1) single mode, 2) multimodal and 3) intermediate storage. The paper uses data from three recent studies to describe the forest products transportation in the upper mid-west, including the typical distances for movements and the breakdown of cost elements for each alternative. It will discuss the potential benefits of increased use of rail as part of the transportation chain and address the perceived drawbacks and challenges caused by the shift. It will also present cost-gradient maps developed to highlight the capability of rail to expand the economical radius for obtaining feedstock and demonstrate how increasing fuel prices change the balance toward multimodal transportation. Finally, the paper will highlight the potential for gained efficiency in log truck operations through increased use of rail.Copyright

Railway Education Today and Steps Toward Global Education

Both passenger and freight railway transportation has changed dramatically during the past decades in most parts of the world. Many new technologies have emerged or have been increasingly applied in rail industry to improve the competitiveness of the mode. At the same time, globalization and changes in the political landscape have contributed to the growing pressure to expand the use of rail transportation across national boundaries. All the development is accelerating the need for international cooperation in railway design, construction and operation and the educational framework should shift accordingly to consider rail transportation beyond national boundaries. In addition to discussing the changes with global dimensions that are taking place in the railway industry, this paper reviews the history and current status of university level railway education in the world, including examples from the USA, Russia, China and selected countries in the European Union (EU). The paper also reviews some of the current methods and approaches used by the other industries and engineering fields to improve the global reach and cooperation in education. Based on these proven concepts, the paper provides some recommendations and suggestions for the railway industry how it can start taking its first steps toward a more global railway education.Copyright