RAILWAY BUFFER STOPS PLANNING

Paper discusses the methodology of the planning process for railway buffer stops The general procedure to choose the appropriate type of the buffer stop to fulfil demands on kinetic energy absorbing and acceptable risk is presented. The static and dynamic analyses of various structures of buffer stops were performed with the aim to define acceptable velocity and train weight. The rigid buffer stops are usually weak, and movable friction buffer stops are the more suitable choice in most design situations. Friction buffer stops are the favoured structure, mainly due to its high resistance and variety of layout. The manner of deceleration induced upon impact and during the braking what makes it smart solution regarding the railway transport safety. The general approach of designing buffer stops is via usage of the kinetic energy and its conversion into work. Paper describes input parameters such as train velocity or the analysis of buffer stop vicinity which is expressed by the safety coefficient implemented within the calculation. The paper shows the design principles of calculation the friction buffer stop, and its braking jaw arrangement. The results of the analyses were implemented into the national railway regulation.