During the last 15 years in Sweden, train speeds for conventional (non-tilting) trains have been increased from 130 km/h to 160 km/h, tilting trains with a maximum commercial speed of 200 km/h have been put into service, and on the Stockholm-Arlanda airport railway, non-tilting EMUs have been put into service with a maximum speed of 200 km/h. The efforts to increase train speeds on existing lines and the programme for building new lines formed the starting point for a research project on track geometry conducted by the VTI in co-operation with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The research focussed on problems in curve design, types of superelevation ramps and transition curves, and lengths of transition curves and curve radii. Computer models were used to simulate vehicle response.
Abstract