Monitoring the dynamics of freight wagons

An autonomous wagon dynamics monitor installed on a QR BCZY freight container wagon will automatically reports the levels of severe wagon dynamics on the mixed freight routes throughout Queensland. The monitor notifies QR of severe wagon dynamics events caused by track irregularities, uneven container loading or longitudinal train dynamics. The monitor is fitted to a normal operating freight wagon to provide frequent reporting of the wagon dynamics that occur at normal operating speeds for a range of driving techniques, loading conditions and the wagon position within a train. By continually accumulating the reports generated by this monitor, the dynamics of the overall QR freight operation could be understood. Details and operation of the monitor are explained and the results from the initial tests provided. The initial tests have identified wagon dynamic events such as bounce, pitch, roll and body yaw hunting. The events are compared to the track geometry data collected by the QR track recording car.