Vertical Load Measurement Systems (SMCV)

TRANSMITTED FROM THE WHEELS OF ROLLING STOCK TO THE RAIL

The Vertical Load Measurement Systems (in Italian Sistema di Misura dei Carichi verticali – SMCV) allows the measurement of the load transmitted to the track by the wheels of railway vehicles in composition in a train, in order to help railway companies to monitor their load conditions.

The Vertical Load Measurement Systems has been designed to prevent abnormalities deriving from possible excess loads in freight trains. Among the first institutional references we have the note ANSF (Italian Government Agency for Railway Safety) n. 01477/11 08 March 2011 “Precautionary measures for the safety of freight transport”.

The SMCV system consists of:

• a detection station (weighing), located on the station tracks and consisting of a measuring device, a data acquisition device and an anomaly signaling device;
• a control post, located at the work station of the traffic regulator (RdC)

On the basis of the measurements made by the scale, the Vertical Load Measurement System(SMCV) provides the following information to the checkpoint:
– vertical loadtransmitted to the track by each wheel of the vehicle;
– axle load
– load imbalance index between the wheels of the same axle.

The weighing is carried out on freight trains originating in the stations where the SMCV is installed or for which the composition / decomposition of the towed part has been carried out.

A Regulatory Plan is defined for the network of check points for detecting anomalies in the loading of rolling stock to be installed at the most important points of entry, or entry, of goods traffic into the network: ports, freight yards, sorting systems, crossing points. international transit.

In Italy the Vertical Load Measurement Systems (SMCV) is already installed at important freight terminals, such as: Verona Quadrante Europa, Turin Orbassano, Padova Interporto, Ravenna, etc.

The argument is the subject of numerous scientific publications such as, for example, the publication of Railway Engineering of December 2014: some of the authors, including Prof. Malavasi and Eng. Stefano Rossi, will be speakers of the webinar.

If you are interested in rail freight also see the webinar on dangerous goods. Organized by CIFI with the participation of ERA and DG-Move

Vertical load measuring systems