Welcome
MODBRAKE — Interoperability through addressing brake system performance
Background
MODBRAKE stands for Innovative Modular Brake Concepts for the Integrated European High-Speed Railway System. This project officially started on 1st June 2006 and will last 30 months.
MODBRAKE aims at contributing to the practical implementation of interoperability of railway systems across Europe by addressing brake system performance. The project follows the vision and approach of the Integrated Project MODTRAIN, which started in February 2004.
General Objectives
The braking system is one of the most critical and complex subsystems of rail vehicles, in particular in relation to safety requirements. Current situation in brake supply sector is characterised by the unnecessary and costly diversity of brake systems design, testing, validation and maintenance procedures. To reduce this complexity and therefore the costs of the brake systems the project proposes modularisation of the brake system. The related system specifications will be elaborated, evaluated and tested to develop a modular brake concept. The standardised modules will be interchangeable in terms of functions and interfaces while they may still be specific to each manufacturer so as to guarantee future technological progress.
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The main outputs of the project will be:
- Specification of the modules (according to all relevant levels of the rolling stock architecture) of the brake system
- Design of the modules and their interfaces
- Specification of assessment and maintenance processes (especially inspection/test criteria for safety and reliability)
- Development/improvement of a tool for the evaluation of the life-cycle-costs of brake modules
- Realisation and practical tests of prototypes
- Direct proposals to standardisation bodies about future brake requirements to be standardized or standards to be enhanced.
The main stakeholders in the high-speed railway sector (the 2 major European brake suppliers; the 4 major European system integrators; the 3 biggest European railway operators; 2 industrial associations) assisted by 3 research centres and 1 project management company, join their efforts to contribute to the ambitious goal of providing the European customer with an affordable, attractive and safe railway system.
Budget and Partners
As a STREP (Strategic Targeted Research Project), MODBRAKE has a total budget of about 4.9 million euros, of which 2.7 million are financed by the European Union's 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The second share is financed by the 15 project partners.
Further Information
For further information on the MODBRAKE development and current activities, please visit the regularly updated links on this website or contact Antoine Loraillère at UNIFE: antoine.loraillere@unife.org
Part of the European Union's 6th Framework Programme
for Research and Technological Development
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