FREIGHT TRAIN BRAKING – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Bruce Kuhnell (BE Hons, Dip ME, TTTC, MIE Aust, FI Diag E, MSAE),
Mervyn Tan (MEngSc, BE Hons)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
SUMMARY
This paper provides a brief overview of freight wagon brake control systems in that have been in service
throughout the world over the last 130 years. The fundamentals of vacuum brakes, pneumatic brakes,
electro-pneumatic and electronically controlled pneumatic brakes are described. The advantages and
disadvantages of each are discussed. This review aims to provide an insight into the future of freight train
braking.
1. INTRODUCTION 3. VACUUM BRAKES
A handbrake was the first brake to be used on The automatic vacuum brake was invented in
trains and in the 1860’s was the only wagon brake 1876 by Sanders and Bolitho in North America
available. It was typically a wooden lever pushed (around the same time George Westinghouse
against one wheel tread, mimicking the brakes invented the automatic pneumatic brake
used on horse drawn carts. Initially the handbrake discussed below). The automatic vacuum brake
was only installed on the locomotive. As train enjoyed only a brief period of popularity in North
speeds increased, railway operators began to America, primarily on narrow gauge railroads. The
install handbrakes on just the guard’s van or system took a greater hold in the United Kingdom,
selected cars in a train that were operated by the being used there as the primary form of train
guard or brakeman. The engine driver would braking until the 1970s. Vacuum braking is not
signal the brakeman with a whistle when it was now in large-scale use anywhere in the world and
time to apply the brake. This rudimentary system has been supplanted in the main by automatic air
led to many accidents that might have been brakes.
avoided and prompted George Westinghouse to A schematic diagram of an automatic vacuum
invent a brilliant solution that is still used today. brake is shown in Figure 1. Vacuum brakes
Most train braking systems use a pneumatic operate on a similar principle as air brake but use
brake cylinder that acts on a series of levers a vacuum instead of compressed air. The brake
called the rigging to push cast iron of composite pipe is held at nearly full vacuum during brake
brake shoes against the outside of the wheel rims. release and is restored to atmospheric pressure
Some passenger carriages use callipers to brake to fully apply the brakes. The system is fail-safe
on either an inboard disc or the wheel disc. To as it defaults to an applied state when the vacuum
date, to our knowledge, freight wagons have not is lost. In the early days of pneumatic brakes,
been fitted with disc brakes vacuum brakes were preferred over the air
brakes. This was because the vacuum ejector
2. NOTATION
was a simpler device having no moving parts
AAR Association of American Railroads compared to a steam powered compressor, and
CCD Car Control Device cheaper to install on a steam locomotive.
However, the main disadvantage of vacuum
EABS Electronic Air Brake System brakes is the lack of braking power compared to
ECP Electronically Controlled Pneumatic air brakes because the pressure differential
between atmospheric pressure and a feasible
EOT End of Train
vacuum is significantly less than that between
EP Electro-Pneumatic atmospheric and brake pipe pressure. Vacuum
PB Pneumatic Brake brakes have now been largely superseded by air
brakes. Most of the remaining vacuum brake
ROA Railways of Australia
equipped trains are found in the Indian
subcontinent, with a small number in Switzerland
and United Kingdom.
Conference On Railway Engineering
th rd
Melbourne 30 April – 3 May 2006
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Bruce Kuhnell, Mervyn Tan Freight Train Braking – Past, Present and Future
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
Figure 1 Automatic vacuum brake (Railway Technical Webpage).
4. WESTINGHOUSE PNEUMATIC BRAKES
In 1872, George Westinghouse patented the application of the PB, the driver applies the brake
automatic air brake. A series of public trials and by rotating a lever on the “driver’s brake valve” in
tests in America and England so impressed the the locomotive that vents the brake pipe pressure
railway authorities and operators that the from the lead locomotive. The drop in brake pipe
Westinghouse pneumatic brake (PB) was adopted pressure propagates along the length of the train,
as standard equipment for passenger and freight triggering braking action at each wagon. When
services. In 1889, George Westinghouse the brake pipe pressure drop reaches the
developed the pneumatic control valve, called a pneumatic control valve at a wagon, the pressure
triple valve in Australia because of its three way differential between the brake pipe and an
action, for the automatic air brake. The design auxiliary reservoir on the wagon actuates a
was so good that it has remained in use for 116 pneumatic control valve until the desired brake
years with only slight modification and will application is achieved. In the basic PB auxiliary
continue to be used for years to come. Most of the reservoir air is supplied to the brake cylinder to
freight wagons in the world still rely on the basic apply the brakes until the pressure in the reservoir
Westinghouse PB principle to safely control train equalises with that of the brake pipe. During
deceleration and to hold trains on inclines brake release, brake pipe air and wagon
although many different versions have been reservoirs are charged back up to full pressure
developed. This paper does not attempt to from the compressor in the lead locomotive. The
describe the many variations of the PB that have pressure differential between the auxiliary
evolved but the main thrust of the variations has reservoir and brake pipe actuates the pneumatic
been to reduce response time. control valve into the release position. The brake
The basic PB consists of a pneumatic control cylinder air is vented to atmosphere through the
valve, a reservoir and a brake cylinder. A pneumatic control valve and the reservoir is
diagrammatic representation of the basic air brake recharged through the pneumatic control valve.
is shown in Figure 2. In steady state, pressure in The PB is fail-safe because the brakes are
the brake pipe (the compressed air pipe running automatically fully applied if air pressure is lost in
the whole length of the train), wagon reservoirs the brake pipe.
and locomotive reservoir is held at full pressure
(typically 500KPa in Australia). During a service
Conference On Railway Engineering
th rd
Melbourne 30 April – 3 May 2006
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Bruce Kuhnell, Mervyn Tan Freight Train Braking – Past, Present and Future
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
Figure 2 Basic automatic air brake (Railway Technical Webpage).
In the 1950s, freight wagon owners in Australia cylinder to apply the brakes. In release, the
began to convert their fleet to relayed brakes. auxiliary reservoir is recharged through the
Currently, just over half of the ~50,000 freight cars pneumatic control valve and dummy reservoir air is
in Australia are equipped with Railroads of vented to atmosphere through the pneumatic
Australia (ROA) relayed brakes. In a relayed control valve. This in turn causes the brake
brake, a supplementary reservoir, dummy cylinder air to vent to atmosphere through the
reservoir and a relay valve are added to the basic relay valve. The supplementary reservoir is
air brake configuration as illustrated in Figure 3. continuously charged at all times provided the
During brake application, the auxiliary reservoir will brake pipe has sufficient pressure and this
supply an air signal into the dummy reservoir provides top up air to keep the brake at the
instead of directly to the brake cylinder as in the desired application in the event of brake cylinder
basic system. The pressure developed in the leakage.
dummy reservoir will cause the relay valve to
supply supplementary reservoir air to the brake
Figure 3 An illustration of Australian relayed brake on wagon.
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In the Association of American Railroads (AAR) air braking difficulties. For normal operation the
brake, an emergency portion is added to the basic system performs in the same manner as a basic
air brake configuration and relay valves are (non-relayed) automatic air brake. Figure 4 shows
generally not used. The emergency portion a configuration of an AAR air brake. This is not the
consists of an emergency valve and an emergency typical AAR configuration but is a representation of
reservoir. The emergency portion is to serve as a the small number of AAR air brakes that have
backup in the event of the train experiencing relay valves.
Figure 4 AAR relayed brake used by Quebec Cartier Mining.
and causes extended trip times. The delay in
5. LIMITATIONS OF THE PNEUMATIC BRAKE
pumping the system back to full pressure is
There are commercial pressures that are enticing important in safety critical situations such as
modern freight forwarders to increase the lengths travelling downhill where the train has to rely on
of freight trains and unit or single commodity trains dynamic brakes while the reservoir is being
and to increase wagon loads. This trend is charged.
stretching the performance limits of the
conventional air brakes. The most important 6. ELECTROPNEUMATIC BRAKES
problem is the slow response time in brake The first electro-pneumatic brake was invented by
application and release. Lack of simultaneous a French brake engineer name Chapsal in 1882.
brake application of every wagon can cause The early EP brake supplemented the
excessive in-train forces, can result in coupling Westinghouse automatic air brake by speeding up
failure and can lead to breakaway and/or brake application through local exhaust of brake
derailment. Braking delays translate into longer trip pipe air and release of brakes by direct exhaust of
times leading to revenue losses brake cylinder air through electrical means.
Conventional PB systems also lack graduated Although EP brakes were used in the New York
brake release causing long trains to suffer from subway and London underground in the early 20th
poor handling. Many trains worldwide are century, they did not take hold due of a lack of
equipped with conventional pneumatic brakes batteries on steam locomotives and difficulties
operating with a single brake pipe system and they experienced with voltage drop along the train. It
lack the ability to continuously recharge the was not until the introduction of electric traction
reservoirs. After brake application and release the and multiple unit control, coupled with the rapid
driver must wait for the brake pipe and wagon growth in transit operation in cities that spurred the
reservoirs to charge up before reapplying the development of modern day EP brake.
pneumatic brakes. This can take several minutes
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Bruce Kuhnell, Mervyn Tan Freight Train Braking – Past, Present and Future
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
Modern EP brakes are designed as an add-on to “open” to supply main reservoir pressure to the
conventional air brake systems. A typical EP brake brake cylinder to apply the brake. In release, the
add-on will consist of an application valve and a application valve is de-energised to “closed” and
holding valve with a main reservoir line installed the holding valve is de-energised to open to
along the length of the train to provide braking exhaust brake cylinder air and release the brake.
pressure as illustrated in Figure 5. This allows the The response of the EP brake is instantaneous
EP brake equipped train to operate the EP brake and fail-safe. The driver can attain precise
for service braking and retain the conventional air stopping position by adjusting the application and
brake for emergency use. During brake holding valve during braking. Nowadays, EP
application, the holding valve is energised to brakes are used almost exclusively on multiple unit
“closed” while the application valve is energised to passenger trains.
Figure 5 Electro-Pneumatic Brake (Railway Technical Webpage).
brakes and to receive status information to
7. ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED
monitor train performance. Typical AAR ECP
PNEUMATIC BRAKES
brake systems; replace the service and
Electronically Controlled Pneumatic Brakes (ECP) sometimes the emergency portion with a Car
presents the most significant change in railway Control Device (CCD) and a vent valve. Figure 6
braking technology since the invention of the shows a New York Air Brake’s EP-60 ECP brake
Westinghouse PB. The basic concept involves currently used in revenue service with Quebec
installing a microprocessor based controller, a set Cartier Mining. Although the pneumatic signal for
of solenoid valves and pressure transducers on braking is replaced by electrical signal, brake
each wagon to control braking operation on the operation is still performed using conventional
wagon. For electrical power the, so called, reservoirs and brake cylinders. The AAR ECP
“trainline” consists of two 8-gauge electric cables, system supplies compressed air directly into the
installed throughout the length of the train. The brake cylinder from the reservoir/s through full
“trainline” is used to deliver power to the wagon flow control valves during brake actuation. The
and to charge batteries and to provide two-way AAR ECP system uses an onboard battery to
data communication using “trainline” transceivers. emulate conventional air brake operation during
Brake commands are broadcast over the electrical power failure by responding to drop in
“trainline” to simultaneously apply or release the brake pipe pressure.
Conference On Railway Engineering
th rd
Melbourne 30 April – 3 May 2006
160
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Bruce Kuhnell, Mervyn Tan Freight Train Braking – Past, Present and Future
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
Figure 6 New York Air Brake’s EP-60 ECP brake used by Quebec Cartier Mining.
ECP brake systems offer a number of advantages emulation ECP brake called Chameleon that has
over conventional air brakes. Most significant of a dual-mode operation to ease the migration to
all are the ability to apply or release the brake ECP brake. GE Harris decided to focus on their
simultaneously at every wagon and graduated core strength and develop EPx, a radio based
(partial) brake release capabilities. ECP brake. In the late-1990s and early-2000s, a
Technical Service & Marketing (TSM) was the first number of test trains were outfitted with the
to pioneer ECP technology. In 1993, TSM’s electronic brake to study their economic benefit.
Electronic Air Brake System (EABS) began Among the railway operators that participated are
revenue service with Burlington North and Santa BHP with GE Harris’s EPx radio based ECP
Fe Railway (BNSF) on a 65 car coal train brake, Quebec Cartier Mining with NYAB’s EP-60
operating between the coal mines in Southern stand-alone system, Spoornet with WABTEC’s
Illinois and a power plant in Peoria, Illinois. The EPIC overlay system and distributed power and
overlay setup uses head-end power from the Western Fuels with Zeftron’s Chameleon
locomotive battery to supply 120 VAC to power emulation system.
the brake system on the wagon. Lonworks Although ECP brakes have been available for
communication protocol is used to send the brake over 10 years, implementation of ECP brake
commands and receive the brake status on the technology has been slow. Ironically, even though
wagons. By the late 1990s, Union Pacific, Norfolk the development of ECP was initiated by AAR-
Southern, Canadian Pacific and Amtrak were also member railroads, most of the interest in the
trialling TSM’s EABS. The number of wagons technology is from operators outside North
equipped with TSM’s EABS has grown to over America. Spoornet have recently release a tender
4,000 where the vast majority are owned by the to convert 6,735 wagons and 230 locomotives to
Southern Utility Company. ECP brakes. China Ministry of Railways is
The late 1990s also saw the entry of several new currently considering a proposal to convert 8,000
players into the electronic brake supply market. wagons and 200 locomotives to ECP brakes. And
New York Air Brake’s EP-60 and WABTEC’s Queensland Rail has recently equipped 310
EPIC-II are “trainline” based ECP brakes and can wagons and 9 locomotives with WABTEC ECP to
be implemented as stand-alone or overlay haul coal in the Hunter Valley. Current distribution
systems. Zeftron Inc. believes that full of ECP equipped trains worldwide is tabulated in
implementation of ECP system in North America Table 1.
will take 15 years and have adopted a different
path. They developed a “trainline” based
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Table 1. ECP brake operators
Railway Operators No. ECP Loco/Wagons ECP Supplier
BNSF 88 Locos, 630 wagons NYAB
QCM 200 wagons NYAB
Spoornet 230 Locos, 6735 wagons WABTEC/NYAB
China Ministry of Railways 200 Locos, 8000 wagons1 WABTEC/NYAB
BHP 220 wagons GE Harris
Florida East Coast 18 wagons GE Harris
CSX Transportation 2 Locos, 95 wagons WABTEC
Western Fuels 3 Locos, 52 wagons Zeftron Inc.
QR National 9 Locos, 310 wagons WABTEC
Southern Utility Company 4000 wagons2 TSM
2. Day, L., “Australian Freight Braking, Present
8. CONCLUSIONS
and Future”, Conference on Railway
The automatic pneumatic brake (PB) invented by Engineering, Wollongong, 10th – 13th
George Westinghouse has served the railway November 2002.
industry well for over a century as a safe, fail-safe 3. Kuhnell, B., Tan, M., “Australian Electronically
and reliable brake system. The PB superseded the Controlled Pneumatic Brake System: OZ-
less technically complicated and initially more ECP”, Conference on Railway Engineering,
popular vacuum brakes and has been in wide use Melbourne, 30th April – 3rd May 2006.
for more than a century. However, as wagon
loads increase and with trains reaching lengths of 4. Macfarlane, I., “Railway Safety Brakes”, Crows
5 km and longer, the consequential creation of Nest, NSW, Engineers Australia Pty Limited,
difficult problems for traditional braking systems 2000.
highlights the need for more modern braking 5. McLaughlin, B., “EP-60 ECP: Train Operation
systems. The electronically controlled pneumatic Data at Quebec Cartier Mining Company”, The
(ECP) brake system offers an apparent solution to Air Brake Association Annual Technical
the difficulties faced by conventional air brakes. To Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
date however, the take up rate on ECP brakes has 6. Rioux, Y., Truglio, J., McLaughlin, B., “ECP
been slow. The major constraints to adopting ECP Brake’s First Stand Alone Test Train”, The Air
are cost, unproven reliability and logistics of Brake Association Annual Technical
sidelining whole trains for conversion. Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
Notwithstanding the difficulties, ECP will inevitably
be required to overcome problems induced by 7. Railway Technical Webpage.
trends to heavier wagon loads, increasing train http://www.railway-technical.com/
lengths and the desire for shorter trip times. 8. Railway Age. http://www.railwayage.com/
9. REFERENCES
1. Cole, C., Ripley, I., “Investigation of
Application Delays in Australian Train Brake
System”, Conference on Railway Engineering,
Melbourne, 30th April – 3rd May 2006.
1
Proposed.
2
These were proposed at time of publication of the article referenced.
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