Braking Questions - Comparison of results from braking incident tests (fusible tests) - bench tests and line tests

In order for composite brake blocks to replace cast iron, as is foreseen by the EU directive on the reduction of noise emissions from rail vehicles, UIC has defined a representative braking-incident bench test and associated acceptance criteria for use during brake-block approvals.

To demonstrate that the results of these tests correlate with those achieved in line tests under the same stresses, line tests were conducted on the Siemens test bench in Wildenrath in 2007.

The outcome of these tests was that, in terms of the temperatures occurring in the wheel, the "locked brake" bench test in programme A6 of UIC Leaflet 541-4 can be considered representative of the block/wheel pair in line conditions.