{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T19:42:41Z","timestamp":1779392561768,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,26]],"date-time":"2025-07-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753488000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MINIATURA_7 grant awarded by the National Science Centre (NCN)","award":["581546"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["581546"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Unbalanced accelerations occurring during tram travel have a significant impact on passenger comfort and safety, as well as on the rate of wear and tear on infrastructure and rolling stock. Ideally, these dynamic forces should be monitored continuously in real-time; however, traditional systems require high-precision accelerometers and proprietary software\u2014investments often beyond the reach of municipally funded tram operators. To this end, as part of the research project \u201cAccelerometer Measurements in Rail Passenger Transport Vehicles\u201d, pilot measurement campaigns were conducted in Poland on tram lines in Gda\u0144sk, Toru\u0144, Bydgoszcz, and Olsztyn. Off-the-shelf smartphones equipped with MEMS accelerometers and GPS modules, running the Physics Toolbox Sensor Suite Pro app, were used. Although the research employs widely known methods, this paper addresses part of the gap in affordable real-time monitoring by demonstrating that, in the future, equipment equipped solely with consumer-grade MEMS accelerometers can deliver sufficiently accurate data in applications where high precision is not critical. This paper presents an analysis of a subset of results from the Gda\u0144sk tram network. Lateral (x) and vertical (z) accelerations were recorded at three fixed points inside two tram models (Pesa 128NG Jazz Duo and D\u00fcwag N8C), while longitudinal accelerations were deliberately omitted at this stage due to their strong dependence on driver behavior. Raw data were exported as CSV files, processed and analyzed in R version 4.2.2, and then mapped spatially using ArcGIS cartograms. Vehicle speed was calculated both via the haversine formula\u2014accounting for Earth\u2019s curvature\u2014and via a Cartesian approximation. Over the ~7 km route, both methods yielded virtually identical results, validating the simpler approach for short distances. Acceleration histograms approximated Gaussian distributions, with most values between 0.05 and 0.15 m\/s2, and extreme values approaching 1 m\/s2. The results demonstrate that low-cost mobile devices, after future calibration against certified accelerometers, can provide sufficiently rich data for ride-comfort assessment and show promise for cost-effective condition monitoring of both track and rolling stock. Future work will focus on optimizing the app\u2019s data collection pipeline, refining standard-based analysis algorithms, and validating smartphone measurements against benchmark sensors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s25154635","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,28]],"date-time":"2025-07-28T09:53:02Z","timestamp":1753696382000},"page":"4635","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["The Application of Mobile Devices for Measuring Accelerations in Rail Vehicles: Methodology and Field Research Outcomes in Tramway Transport"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5296-5184","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Micha\u0142","family":"Urbaniak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jakub","family":"Myrcik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martyna","family":"Juda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-6728-4885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jan","family":"Mandrysz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiological Informatics and Statistics, Medical University of Gdansk, 80-210 Gdansk, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sventekov\u00e1, E., Urbancov\u00e1, Z., and Holl\u00e1, K. 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