Calculating the length of the branching zone of modern hump yards

The paper develops a formula for the minimum length of the branching zone of modern hump yards. The results of the work can be used for kinematic calculations of humps and for calculating land occupancy for marshalling, shunting, and industrial stations.1. INTRODUCTION
Marshalling and shunting stations are stations that sort and assemble freight train consists. To perform shunting work, marshalling and shunting stations must have appropriate equipment, primarily including a sufficient number of tracks and a specific number and quality of shunting devices (hump yards, extraction tracks, turnout paths, shunting locomotives) [2].
Hump yards are used to perform shunting maneuvers at marshalling and shunting stations.
Hump yards are the main facilities of these stations, determining the safety of railway wagons.
The profile of a hump yard consists of the following elements: a transition zone located behind the hump counter-slope, a first acceleration gradient used to create intervals between wagons with different movement values while passing through the first distribution turnout, a second intermediate gradient at the end of which the first braking zone is located, a third gradient on which railway turnouts lie, and a fourth gradient at the beginning of the directional tracks, with a second braking position.
The length of the distribution zone is one of the main parameters of the hump yard track layout. (…)

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