Enhancing railway passenger ride comfort
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Railway travel has long been celebrated for its efficiency and environmental benefits. Yet passenger experience, particularly ride comfort, remains crucial for improving rail systems. The European standard EVS-EN 12299:2024 provides a methodology for evaluating and enhancing ride comfort in rail vehicles.
This updated standard replaces the 2009 version, introducing advanced methods to ensure passenger comfort is measurable, repeatable, and aligned with modern rail technologies.
Why ride comfort matters
Passenger ride comfort is a complex sensation influenced by vehicle vibrations, roll velocities, and lateral jerks transmitted through the body. EVS-EN 12299 focuses exclusively on these physical factors, offering methods to assess how rail vehicle motions impact passengers.
The standard does not address broader issues such as noise, temperature, or motion sickness, maintaining a specific scope for actionable insights.
The standard introduces five core comfort indices:
- Mean comfort: Evaluates long-term vibrations on passengers, offering a baseline measure for ride experience.
- Continuous comfort: Monitors short-term accelerations using RMS (Root Mean Square) values.
- Comfort on curve transitions: Assesses passenger discomfort caused by track curvature and tilting dynamics.
- Comfort on discrete events: Captures discomfort from singular disturbances such as junction crossings or track irregularities.
- Vehicle assessment: Focuses on the rail vehicle’s contribution to overall comfort, facilitating targeted improvements.
These indices ensure that passengers’ immediate and sustained experience is considered, providing actionable data for rail operators and vehicle manufacturers.
Technical approach: precision measurements
The standard relies on indirect measurements, using accelerometers to capture vibrations in longitudinal, lateral, and vertical directions. Strategic measurement points – such as vehicle floors and seats – help quantify motion effects accurately.
Advanced data processing techniques, including frequency weighting and sliding window analysis, convert raw motion data into interpretable comfort scores.
Compared to its predecessor, the new standard incorporates significant updates:
- Broader Frequency Analysis: Captures a wider range of motions, particularly lateral and vertical vibrations.
- Enhanced Guidelines: Includes improved methodologies for evaluating curved track transitions and discrete events.
- Simplified Reporting: Provides clearer instructions for documenting test conditions, aiding consistency across applications.
- Additionally, simulation tools complement physical measurements, enabling cost-effective evaluations in early vehicle design stages.
By formalising comfort measurement, EVS-EN 12299 underscores the railway sector’s commitment to passenger-centric innovation. The standard aligns with Europe’s broader goals of advancing sustainable and efficient transportation systems.
Whether for high-speed trains or regional services, this standard sets the stage for the next generation of rail travel.