Problem of braking as condition for development of railway transport

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to give information about the problems and technical achievements in the field of braking of railway vehicles. A brief description of the difficulties related to the braking of railway vehicles from the occurrence of rail traffic till today is given. From this it can be seen how engineering challenge is braking for the further development of railway transport. The main problem of further development of passenger and freight railway transport is solved by increasing the degree of automation of braking on a completely new and original way. This problem was solved by the Serbian engineer Dobrivoje Bozic from Kraljevo. Since the adoption of his solutions in 1928 to date, this principle of braking has remained unchanged. The paper gives the description of his solution, and some details from his interesting life. Bozic was the first in the world who was designed and applied completely new solution of three-pressure distributor in the braking system of railway vehicles. Its main characteristic is related to the possibility of gradual release of brakes. This solution was increased a level of automation of braking and provided a faster, safer and better quality of development of railway vehicles and the entire rail transport.