Modelling and Simulation Historical Tram Running in Modern Tracks

The restoration of historic trams is not only an operation of aesthetic and cultural preservation but also requires complex technical and engineering analyses to ensure the vehicle safety and efficiency. The restoration activity, if intended to bring these vehicles back to conditions to be made circulating and usable for tourist purposes, presents many complexities. In fact, the tramway infrastructure has changed significantly compared to the period in which these vehicles circulated and the regulatory framework to allow the approval of vehicles has become much stricter. Often, the restoration of these vehicles requires the replacement of some components to make them compatible with the current infrastructure and the retrieval of data relating to the original projects and the characteristics of suspension, running gear and structure may require a reverse engineering activity as the original projects are often no longer available. The paper focuses on the dynamic simulation of tram 614, a Turin tram from the 600 series restored by the Associazione Torinese Tram Storici (ATTS). The main goal is to verify whether the main railway parameters, such as the derailment safety ratio, wheel unloading and the limit gauge, fall within the values required by current regulations when running on Turin tramways.