European Railroad Discussion > European Air Brakes

Recently the subject of European air brakes came up and I have had a terrible time in locating people that really understand air brakes and speak English. I have received what I believe to be conflicting reports:(1) in the UK brakes are still vaccum , (2) the brakes in the UK are "modern" (what is that?), (3) in Switzerland I have been told that the brakres used compressed air. Will some of you enlighten me as to how air brakes work in Europe? Westinghouse type (service and emergency portions with triple valves ala the USA) or some other style?
I thank you in advance.

Except for Heritage railways all trains use Air Brakes in Western Europe. Many passenger vehicles use air operated disc brakes, including all High-speed trainsets. Some Intermodal freight cars are beginning to use disc brakes in order to reduce the noise from braking.

what are "vacum brakes" and how do they differ from North American train air brakes?

thanks for any info.........

66

Simple explanation is that a vacuum holds the brakes off, springs apply the brakes when the brake lines drop from vacuum to atmospheric pressure.

I believe train brakes using a vacuum were the first "automatic" system to be installed, in the era when train braking had been done only by brakemen applying them by hand. The problem with vacuum brakes is that the maximum force that can be applied is that supplied by springs, or by the atmosphere (about 14.7 psi at sea level).

A good explanation here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_brake