We report on our study and proposal for interlocking devices in a cloud computing environment. This proposal realizes resilience, reduces time and cost of replacement, and provides interlocking processes as a service. The proposed system has the feature of processing interlocking logics of different stations independently. Furthermore, the proposed system has three layers: terminal devices to interface track circuits, signals, and switches, etc., logic units to process interlocking logics, and controllers to assign the interlocking table to logic units. We defined the specifications for terminal devices, logic units and controllers, and verified them.

The effect of water and carbonation on the corrosion of reinforcing bars in concrete was investigated by field surveys on members with different levels of supplied water. In addition, a design method to suppress corrosion of reinforcing bars due to water penetration was verified by comparing the cover depth where spalling of concrete occurred and the design cover depth determined by taking carbonation into account. Even if the un-carbonation depth (= cover depth―carbonation depth) is less than 10 mm, when water is not supplied, the probability of spalling is lower and the corrosion rate of reinforcing bars is slower, so it is important to consider the effect of supplied water on corrosion of reinforcing bars. It was also confirmed that the design method based on corrosion of reinforcing bars due to water penetration is applicable.

Maintenance worker schedules are daily schedules for teams performing inspection and maintenance work such as cleaning of rolling stock during turnaround operations at terminal stations. Since these schedules vary from day to day according to changes in rolling stock operations, they have to be created for each day. We have therefore proposed a method for automatically generating maintenance worker schedules using tabu search. In this paper, to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compared an actual schedule with schedules generated using proposed method. The results indicated that the proposed method could generate a practical solution within 3 minutes.

This paper presents the development of a safety check support device aimed at further enhancing platform safety checks using side cameras installed on rolling stock. The device employs deep learning-based image processing techniques to detect passenger approach on platforms in real-time from camera footage, notifying the driver to assist with safety checks. Additionally, the device is equipped with automatic passenger counting functionality at each station. An overview of the developed device and the results of evaluation experiments are provided.

This paper focuses on rolling stock scheduling after a large-scale natural disaster. In general, a temporary timetable is generated when sections of a line are partially disrupted by damage caused by the natural disaster. The next step is to generate a rolling stock schedule that is as close as possible to the original schedule at the time of timetable revision. We propose a two-phase rolling stock scheduling algorithm based on a mathematical programming method to cope with the temporary timetable. In addition, we confirm that the proposed algorithm can produce a practical rolling stock schedule in terms of evaluation criteria and computational time.

Traction motor bearings of railway vehicles are used at high rotational speeds and under light loads, so that their life is determined by cage wear rather than raceway flaking. In this study, the contact forces between the rolling elements and the cage were measured to predict cage wear. As a result, the magnitude, duration, and frequency of the forces were obtained. In addition, the forces were integrated with time to obtain impulses to show the relationship between impulses and cage wear.

Design Standard and Commentary for Railway Structures (Concrete Structures) was revised in January of 2023. In this revision, in addition to reorganization of the previous design standards established mainly for each type of structure and material, the introduction of the latest verification techniques has made the design standards easier to use. The application of the revised design standards to design practice will improve railway structures.

In recent years, disasters have frequently occurred due to rapid river flooding and prolonged high water levels caused by typhoons and localized heavy rainfall. It is, therefore, necessary to establish a method for monitoring the destabilization of river piers during periods of rising water. In response to this need, we have prepared an introduction manual for a natural frequency identification system, which includes an algorithm for identifying the natural frequencies of piers from microtremor measurements, the basic specifications of acceleration sensors required to construct a microtremor measurement system, the application conditions of this system, and methods for evaluating the measurement results.