Mystery of tremors in Hallandsås tunnel is resolved – New Technology

Several trains were affected by severe vibrations through the newly built Hallandsås Tunnel. The cause was still unknown. But now consider the Finnish Transport Agency that the mystery is solved.

At the end of January, the Swedish Transport Administration to speed through the tunnel had been cut because of the tremors. Train crew had raised the alarm about the vibrations at four different times.

The first reports claimed that only one type of train, SJ 3000, had been hit by the tremor. But pretty soon emerged that the vibrations had also arisen in a Öresund train and a freight train.

Transport Administration started an investigation together with train operators to find out what caused the tremor.

Now considered the riddle to be solved.

– SJ found a fault in some of the vehicles that were hit. It was corrected and then disappeared vibrations, says Johan Petersson, Swedish Transport Administration’s project manager for maintenance at distance through Hallandsåsen.

Peter Brickner, road safety officer at SJ, points out, however, that the error was due to a combination of defects on the vehicle and the rail. Now the wheels on SJ trains machined, minor adjustments have been made to track position and the track has been ground.

– We have seen failures on vehicles and deficiencies on the rail, it was a little tight and had small manufacturing cracks. After Transport Administration adjusted the rail by grinding and we made some adjustments to our vehicle vehicles have gone very well, he says.

SJ’s policy is that X3000 trains should not go more than 600 000 km before the wheels turned. When vibrations occurred in the Hallandsås Tunnel had some trains exceeded the limit.

– There was no limit was absolute. Now we have been working our way down so that all vehicles are below the limit. But there is an ongoing investigation of the border is good or should go down further, says Peter Brickner.

The shaking of the Öresund train was due, according to the Finnish Transport Agency, the wheel damage, which has now been rectified.

Freight train vibrations are the only ones that have not been explained. Trafikverket think they were due to wind loads, because the timber train at the time was driving with empty trucks.

– A train has a large windbreak, there may be effects from it, says Johan Petersson.

Since the rail grinding and wheel turn no one has Trafikverket not received any more reports of tremors through the tunnel. From March, trains can therefore run in normal maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour on the stretch.

Johan Petersson is satisfied with the cooperation between the authority Trafikverket, train operators and maintenance contractor under investigation.

– We had an open investigation process where everybody had all information, it allowed us to get ahead faster. It was an approach that worked very well, he says.

Hallandsåsen has cost nearly 11 billion and take about 22 years to complete. Therefore, the most likely many of Trafikverket a sigh of relief that the tremor was not due to tunnel construction.

– Of course it was nice that there were some problems with the tunnel itself, says Johan Petersson.