Low frequency motions and motion sickness on a tilting train

Abstract

Tilting trains have been developed to reduce rail transport times by allowing greater train speeds without increased discomfort from increased lateral acceleration. It is reported that passengers on tilting trains experience motion sickness, but there have been few published studies of motions of tilting trains and the associated sickness. This paper presents the motion and motion sickness on an experimental tilting train during two trials: the first involved 200 subjects on five return journeys, the second involved 445 subjects and 14 return journeys. For each journey, lateral and vertical translational accelerations and roll velocities were measured in the passenger car-body. Simultaneously, subjects assessed their motion sickness at periodic intervals using an illness rating scale. The characteristics of the translational acceleration and roll velocity were investigated for each journey and the covariant relationships between the low frequency motions were explored. Illness ratings were found to be correlated with the vertical acceleration and roll velocity. A single motion variable is considered insufficient to predict motion sickness on tilting trains.