Crashworthiness of Conventionally Designed Railway Coaching Stock and Structural Modifications for Enhanced Performance

In this paper, the authors present a crashworthiness assessment of a conventionally designed railway passenger vehicle and suggest modifications for its improvement. The analytical approach consisted of two stages. Firstly, the crashworthiness of the coach was assessed by simulating a collision between the coach and a rigid wall. Then, after analysing the structural weaknesses, the design of the coach was modified and simulated again in the same scenario. It was found that bending or jack-knifing is a main form of failure in conventionally designed rail vehicle structures and components. The coach design, as modified by the authors, overcomes the original weaknesses and shows the desired progressive collapse behaviour in simulation. The conclusions have general relevance and suggest the need for a rethink of some aspects of rail vehicle design.