Triennial Report 2003 - CHARMEC

universities in Gothenburg, Linköping, Luleå and Stockholmtook part.A state-of-the-art study was initiated and jointly carriedout by Banverket, charmec and Epsilon HighTechEngineering with Jan Henrik Sällström as co-ordinatorand editor, see under project ts7. A new meeting washeld at Chalmers on 8 January 2002 with participationfrom the remaining interested parties Abetong Teknik,charmec, Duroc Rail, Linköping University, srs andvae. This meeting was followed by a visit on 26-29 February2002 to vae in Zeltweg, Austria, by Roger Lundén,Jens Nielsen, Björn Paulsson and Bengt Åkesson, andby a visit on 2-3 May 2002 to voestalpine Schienen inLeoben, Austria, by Roger Lundén and Björn Paulsson.Preliminaries for collaboration between charmec andthe Austrian companies were discussed. In the meantimeJan Henrik Sällström took part in the International RailwayConference on Switches and Crossings at Delft, theNetherlands, on 19-20 March 2002.The launching of the two projects ts7 and mu14 wasapproved by the charmec Board on 6 March 2002 andthe recruitment of doctoral students was started. Specialfinancial support during the first three years of projectsts7 and mu14 was then granted by Banverket (totallyksek 1050 + 1150 covering half the estimated projectcosts). For the period up to 30 June 2003, the projectshad a direct contribution to their financing from vae, seepage 59. The joint reference group of projects ts7 andmu14 met at Chalmers on 25 February and 13 November2003. Representatives from Banverket, Linköping University,Luleå Technical University, sl Infrateknik, vaeand voestalpine Schienen have participated. See furtherunder the projects ts7 and mu14.Some visits abroadLennart Josefson and Jonas Ringsberg were invited tovisit and lecture at Montanuniversität Leoben and voestalpineSchienen in Donawitz, Austria, on 31 January –2 February 2001. Roger Lundén and Bengt Åkesson visitedAustrak’s sleeper factory in Rockhampton, Australia,on 18 June 2001 and lectured at City University in HongKong, China, on 26-28 June 2001. Jonas Ringsberg tookpart in a seminar with Banestyrelsen in Copenhagen,Denmark, on 30 August 2001. Lennart Josefson, JonasRingsberg and Jens Nielsen were invited to lecture at aseminar in Derby, uk, on 22 May 2001. On 10 September2001, a prize for Best Paper was awarded at a ceremonyand dinner at the headquarters of the Institution ofMechanical Engineers in London, uk, to charmec’sMagnus Ekh, Anders Johansson, Hans Thorberntssonand Lennart Josefson, see under project mu6 incharmec’s Triennial Report from Stage 2.Torbjörn Ekevid and Nils-Erik Wiberg were invitedto present a Keynote Lecture at the 5th wccm Congressin Vienna, Austria, in July 2002, see under project vb5.Jonas Ringsberg was invited by the Transportation ResearchBoard (trb) in usa to give a seminar in Washingtondc at trb’s annual meeting on 12-16 January 2003.At the 2nd International Conference on Brakes andWheels in Paris on 8-9 September 2003, Roger Lundéndelivered a speech entitled “Synopsis of cm2003 Conferencein Gothenburg”.TRAINSAFEThis is a so-called thematic network funded by the EuropeanUnion under its Fifth Framework Programme. Theaim of trainsafe is to “promote and enhance the safetyof the rail system”. charmec’s Lennart Josefson, JensNielsen and Jonas Ringsberg took part in trainsafe’sworkshop “Safe Infrastructure” on 29-30 October 2003in Leamington Spa, uk. A series of further workshops ondifferent safety topics have preceded the present one andare planned up to June 2004.ERRAC andSRRA 2020In September 2002, the European Rail Research AdvisoryCouncil (errac) published a Strategic Rail ResearchAgenda 2020 (srra 2020). This document was discussedduring the international evaluation of charmec in March2003, see page 11, and also during the visit to Gothenburgon 24 October 2003 by Antoine Mynard of errac.According to errac, rail research is required to developEurope’s railway business towards the objectives: a treblingof freight volumes and a doubling of passengertraffic by the year 2020.errac is an initiative of the European railway sector,the European Commission and the eu Member States.Individual members of the associations promoting thesrra are uic (International Union of Railways), unife(Union of European Rail Industries), cer (Communityof European Railways) and uitp (International Associationof Public Transport Operators). It is said in srrathat “Rail transport in Europe is a future oriented industry;its challenge is to offer a more efficient, attractive,affordable, safe, clean, competitive and reliable service”.75