Deveopment Progress of composite body shell tilting train in Korea

초록

There has been increase in the demands for speed up existing railways lines for some special area where not linked with the high-speed rail service. And we needed to establish an efficient network connection between high speed operation lines and conventional lines. In addition, our express class train is a very old model with diesel locomotives, maximum operation speed only 150 km/h, uncomfortable interior which have been operated almost 25 years. In consequence, we targeted development of new train model with maximum operation speed 180 km/h, EMU type, and Tilting function. This train is the first tilting train in Korea as maximum design speed 200km/h class, Electric Multiple unit ( EMU) type. The most significant feature of the train is that each car consists of a 23m-long body shell that is produced with composite material molding technology in a single process in a very huge autoclave (measuring 5m in diameter and 25m in length). The train has satisfied all of the testing criteria in terms of both its structural safety and fire-proofing capabilities. In addition, this project has already completed objective qualification of the related development technology by obtaining NET, a new technology certificate awarded in Korea. We can reduce the weight by 40% compared with existing car body shell sand reduce the manufacturing process by 50%. The project initiated the pilot operation in April 2007 and completed the reliability qualification testing after a total of 40,000 km of operation until now. In February 2008, the project successfully carried out speed-increment testing at 180 km/h, faster than the highest operational speed of 160 km/h on existing lines, and tested the tilting system up to 8 degrees. We will perform a pilot operation on over 100,000 km of actual track, document the capability inspection criteria, and draw up standard specifications for commercial operation. Commercial operation of the tilting trains will commence after producing a final commercial version with the operating company in 2012.