Crashworthiness has recently become an increasingly important design consideration in the railway industry. Many old vehicles, however, do not meet today's safety standards and hence modifications to these structures can be made in order to improve their crash performance. Cost and ease of implementation are of particular concern in the design of such modifications. This paper discusses recent work on modifications to improve crashworthiness of a 45 year old carriage design, generally known as Mark 1. The modifications were divided into three categories, namely: crush initiators, anti-overriding devices and shear-out components. Designs were carried out with the aid of dynamic finite element modelling tools and their outcomes validated with full-scale static and impact testing. The programme has shown that low-cost modifications to existing rolling stock are a viable method of improving their safety.
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