AIR POLLUTION – MONITORING MODELLING AND HEALTH

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Air Pollution – Monitoring, Modelling and Health
locomotive components, pouring, leaking, and dusting out of transported loads, emissions
from locomotive diesels and coal car-heating boilers. Large amounts of solids of different
chemical species can be blown away from the trains transporting ores, coal, and other loose
goods. Upward airflows blow solid particles up from the railroad bed. The majority of these
particles are coarse, and, therefore, they are deposited back to the surface rather quickly.
Figures 12 and 13 demonstrate an effect of oncoming freight trains on the size distribution
and aerosol mass concentrations measured by mobile laboratory. An abrupt increase of the
portion of coarse particles after the passage of oncoming trains is caused by the lifting of
solid particles from railroad beds and from freight cars. In contrast, oncoming trains have
almost no influence on the atmospheric concentration of fine particles. An abrupt increase in
the aerosol concentration is observed immediately after the passage of oncoming trains. The
height of the concentration peak depends on the length and speed of the oncoming train and
on its type: long freight trains increase aerosol concentrations to a greater extent than the
passenger trains do.
Fig. 12. Effect of oncoming trains on the aerosol size distribution.
Fig. 13. Aerosol concentration peaks caused by the passage of oncoming trains of different
types.