A planned interruption of railway infrastructure is a situation where the operation of the track line or the operation of railway transport is limited. If there is also a restriction on the railway ...infrastructure, it means there will be complications not only for passengers but, above all, for railway undertakings operating freight transport. However, because of the planned railway infrastructure interruption, the quality of services provided not only to passengers but also to freight transport is decreasing. The aim of this paper is to propose effective planned maintenance works based on the analysis and evaluation of the processes performed during the planned railway infrastructure interruption or restriction. The research describes the process of affected railway infrastructure from technical, cost, and safety points of view. A methodological procedure is proposed under the condition of the Czech infrastructure manager. The main method is the calculation of the costs for the railway infrastructure manager and railway operator during the infrastructure interruption. The application part is undertaken using two interrupted lines according to the established alternative timetable in the area of České Budějovice.
During the design of the external cladding, it is possible to use different materials and compositions. One of these possibilities is also a ventilated facade, which consists of a supporting ...structure, a thermal insulation, a supporting grid, an air gap for ventilation and a cladding layer. The construction of the supporting grid in the ventilated facade must be mechanically anchored into the supporting structure of the external cladding. This mechanical anchoring causes 3-D point thermal bridges in the external cladding itself. Therefore, the aim of this work is to assess and analyze the influence of these 3-D point thermal bridges on transmission heat losses through the external cladding. A Finite Element Mesh analysis has been used for this analysis. Different types of external cladding compositions were modeled in the simulation program, and the effect on the heat transfer coefficient was determined. In addition to the analysis of the existing anchoring systems, an innovative solution has been suggested that is more economical and easier to implement. The results show that the application of anchors and their number impacts significantly on the thermal properties of the envelope. The difference between the anchoring element with a thermal insulation pad and the patented method is minimal. This is a 1.29% difference. The last variant was a proposal (patent) that the anchoring element is only plastic-coated and thus its thermal engineering properties are improved, which is manifested mainly in heat conduction but also from the radiant point of view, as plasticizing the emissivity changes. Compared to the perimeter cladding without the ap-plication of an anchoring element, the heat loss increases by 29.37%. In addition to the energy savings, there are also financial savings. While the plastic pads costs about EUR 0.3, the plastic coating (patent) represents a price of around EUR 0.03. If we had a building with 10,000 m2 of wall area where 6 pieces of anchors per 1 m2 are applied, the savings would be EUR 16,200. Such savings are already significant. The conclusion of this work is that these point thermal bridges have a significant impact on the overall transmission heat loss coefficient and therefore they have overall heat demand and energy demand.
The disease COVID-19 negatively affected sustainable mobility, including public passenger transport, as it was necessary to take several measures to reduce the population’s mobility. It also limited ...rail passenger transport. Railway operators suffered from a significantly reduced number of passengers. An analysis of the transport performance of railway passenger transport is conducted in a case study in Slovakia. Based on the decline in transport performance in railway passenger transport and the degree of measures introduced, a new methodology and procedure for introducing pandemic measures are proposed in the context of reducing the scope of rail passenger transport. The measures are proposed under the condition that it is necessary to monitor the roles and responsibilities of railway infrastructure managers and rail passenger operators. The proposed methodology includes a transport performance forecast according to the defined transport reduction measure level and the train traffic diagram variants on the model railway line in the case of levels of the implemented measures. These proposals will contribute to higher quality and more efficient railway transportation, including optimal use of railway infrastructure capacity during emergency situations. The novelty of the research lies in the new methodological procedure and its practical application.
In Slovakia, participatory budgeting represents one of the relatively new instruments of political participation. It has been used since 2011. Currently it is present on both levels of territorial ...self-government (i.e., local level and regional level). Nevertheless, its implementation into practice is only a gradual one, as the number of local and regional governments using participatory budgeting is limited. Furthermore, both local and regional governments are currently exposed to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, so a question arises as to how they managed to deal with the situation and how it affected the implementation of approved participatory budgets. The aim of this paper is to identify how the local governments in Slovakia approached the implementation of participatory budgeting in 2020. With regard to the above-mentioned goal, we focus on the following: the implementation of participatory budgeting before 2020, its continuation in 2020 and, if maintained, its adjustment to the "period of social distancing". The findings show that there is a large group of local and regional governments that have decided to either suspend or cancel the implementation of participatory budgeting. Out of those who opted for its implementation, one group did not need to significantly adapt to the distancing restrictions, another group managed to hold potential meetings before the first restrictions came into force. It was only the latter group that faced the most serious challenge. However, active employment of online tools along with the use of the period of released measures proved crucial for the implementation of participatory budgeting.
Železničná doprava je kontinuálny proces, ktorý musí byť koordinovaný na všetkých úrovniach riadenia a je determinovaný technologickými postupmi. Z technologického hľadiska je dôležité správne určiť ...praktickú priepustnosť traťového úseku, nazývanú aj kapacita železničnej infraštruktúry. To znamená, akou vlakovou dopravou možno zaťažiť traťový úsek tak, aby vykazoval dostatočnú stabilitu vlakovej dopravy aj pri prevádzkových nepravidelnostiach. Článok je zameraný na spôsob zvýšenia kapacity traťového úseku Drienovská Nová Ves - Kysak s využitím metódy stanovenia praktickej priepustnej výkonnosti vo výhľadovom grafikone. Podrobné stanovenie časov obsadenia úseku pri súčasnom stave a pri aplikácii jednotlivých návrhov nám poskytuje informácie o ďalších možnostiach modernizácie železničnej infraštruktúry v SR. Článok popisuje a hodnotí výhody a nevýhody jednotlivých návrhov na zvýšenie kapacity skúmaného traťového úseku. V rámci budúcej modernizácie železničnej infraštruktúry tohto traťového úseku je potrebné tieto opatrenia realizovať, nakoľko skúmaný traťový úsek je súčasťou RFC koridoru. Zámerom je nielen zvýšenie kvality železničnej infraštruktúry, ale aj kvality nákladnej a osobnej dopravy.
Building information modeling (BIM) brings several benefits to design and construction companies, especially in higher efficiency and quality of work. Several companies also use common data ...environment (CDE) systems, which speed up communication and collaboration between project participants. These can be used for occupational health and safety (HS) purposes and to increase the level of HS on construction sites. The first part of the article presents the state-of-the-art possibilities and approaches to implementing BIM in automatic or semi-automatic health and safety hazard detection. The following parts analyze the interviews with experts in BIM coordination, project management and health and safety in Slovakia and their answers to a survey, that covers the topic of safety hazard detection in BIM. The analysis shows that BIM is a suitable tool for increasing safety on construction sites, but there are several obstacles to achieving its full potential. The survey brings readers closer to the current state of the topic and the possibilities offered by BIM and CDE software in Slovakia. This paper, through the requirements and opinions of experts in BIM, project management and HS management, points out areas for further research and development of BIM software.
This paper deals with railway lines with low traffic intensity where trains are operated under simplified conditions. Those conditions are stated in a regulation, and there is no interlocking system ...on the line. The whole railway operation is organized according to a regulation in cooperation with the train crew. For the calculation of the throughput, we can use analytic or simulation methods. On those lines there is a big problem with the common working methods because of special circumstances on each line, which are influencing the technological times and reliability of the calculation. The simplified conditions are the transforming of regular interlocking systems on the administrative level. Therefore, it is very complicated to use a common simulation model. Most of the simulation tools are not able to work with it. The motivation of this paper is to prove that modern simulation tools are usable for that specific condition as well. The simulation model was built in SW OpenTrack which is able to modify its functions to figure out each technological action to ensure the correct function of the model. This functionality is described in the paper in general and implemented on a case study.
The aim of each investor is to procure the construction work in an efficient and economical way. This goal can be achieved by managing costs from the beginning of the investment process. It is ...necessary to determine the estimated price of the construction work in all phases of the investment process and not to underestimate the importance of this activity. It is almost a rule that the contractor or investor does not allow sufficient time for the contractor to prepare the construction for good quality, which may lead to insufficient preparation. The consequences of poor construction preparation vary from poorly built construction to litigation over the lost profits of the contractor—and this is the topic we discuss in this paper. The issue of asserting lost profits on the contract by the contractor is the subject of legal disputes between the contractor and the customer of construction work. In such cases, the question becomes the design of a methodology suitable for its calculation. The article deals with the presentation of the existing methods of loss of profit calculation, two of which are applied to the example of litigation from construction practice, with the definition of their results and differences.
As several studies and authors have already proved, the curing of fresh concrete affects the development of its strength and volume changes, which goes hand in hand with the durability and service ...life of concrete structure. Several studies concerning internal curing (IC) have also been published. They were dedicated to identifying the action of IC by Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), especially for mixes with low w/c ratios. Some studies have presented various approaches for the design of mixes with IC. Some discrepancies between conventional designs and reality have been identified. A significant one is the calculation of water losses. The initial (conventional) approach defined water losses based on Menzel’s equation. However, in reality, it is valid for only the first few hours. As water losses are essential to an appropriate design of IC, we will demonstrate in this paper the effect of IC on the development of changes in the volume and strength of cement-based composites. Both parameters come into mutual interaction during actual construction and affect the internal stresses of the structure/matrix, which may lead to the formation and development of cracks. The general goal is to mitigate cracks and, thus, prolong the concrete’s service life, which may be achieved by controlling the development of changes in volume along with the development of strength, e.g., by IC.
Following the liberalisation of the railway infrastructure, the non-discriminatory approach to each railway undertaking is necessary, including the issue of the train paths provision in terms of the ...railway infrastructure capacity. Expression and provision of the throughput capacity of the railway network by absolute number of train paths appear to be inadequate and inaccurate at first glance. There are many ways of calculating the capacity of rail infrastructure, as well as several ways of expressing it. The paper describes the testing of the railway infrastructure capacity in a computer based simulation model, which provides results for further research in the area of this issue. Two hypotheses oriented towards the research on the linear dependence of capacity on the number of train paths as well as towards the need for capacity estimation for a whole track or for only one block section are tested.
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