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Track/Infrastructure Maintenance & Engineering

 

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Assessment of high-speed slab track design

28 November 2006 | By Coenraad Esveld, Professor of Railway Engineering and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member and Valéri Markine, Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology

Currently, all over the world, non-ballasted track concepts are being applied, although still at a moderate volume. If the low maintenance characteristics of slab track on open line are to be retained, great care must be taken to ensure that the subgrade layers are homogenous and capable of bearing the…

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Investment in track monitoring increases

15 September 2006 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor

Keeping on top of the condition of your track can pay dividends in terms of improved ride and reduced maintenance bills. Modern monitoring equipment allows engineers to plan predictive maintenance. Europe’s railways are stepping up spending on track testing and monitoring. Traditionally, track maintenance has been reactive: in this case,…

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Design of prestressed concrete sleepers

28 July 2006 | By Dr. Stephan Freudenstein, General Manager of Engineering and Development and Mr. Franz Haban, Project Engineer, RAIL.ONE GmbH

The basis for design work for prestressed-concrete sleepers in Europe is EN 13230, valid since October 2002: “Concrete sleepers and bearers.” A supplement to this standard is UIC 713: “Design of Monoblock Concrete Sleepers,” which provides a design example for a prestressed-concrete sleeper. The design bending moment calculated here accounts…

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Technology for maintenance works

3 April 2006 | By

The increasing change in traffic towards rail, the opening of the market in European railway traffic and the increasing responsibility for providers of railways make heavy demands on the quality and the availability of the rail infrastructure. Effective and efficient maintenance concepts are sought after more than ever. New ways,…

Plasser & Theurer
Plasser & Theurer
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Machines and technology for high-capacity lines

3 April 2006 | By Ing. Rainer Wenty, General Manager Marketing and Technical Sales, Plasser & Theurer Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH

Whenever the speed or capacity of a line is increased or a new line is built, the application of appropriate track maintenance and upgrading procedures is very important to enable optimal and efficient use of the lines. In addition to that, a high level of comfort and safety has to…

RET metro, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
RET metro, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Shape optimisation of a railway wheel profile

3 April 2006 | By Coenraad Esveld, Professor of Railway Engineering and Valery L. Markine, Assistant Professor of Railway Engineering and Ivan Y. Shevtsov, Researcher of Railway Engineering, TU Delft

Delft University of Technology has developed and successfully implemented a procedure for optimisation of a railway wheel profile. An optimised wheel profile reduces wheel/rail wear and prevents vehicle instability.

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The future of rail is here

3 April 2006 | By Craig Waters

The railway infrastructure market needs excellent, sustainable and economical track solutions – these are the words of Klaus Meusel, Member of the Managing Board, voestalpine Bahnsysteme GmbH & Co KG. However this is not merely commentary; voestalpine Schienen GmbH have invested more than €330m in a new rail manufacturing plant.…

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Geogrids under dynamic loading

14 February 2006 | By Helmut Zanzinger, SKZ-TeConA GmbH, Würzburg, Germany

The bearing performance of railway embankments on soft ground can be improved by high strength geosynthetic reinforcement products. Under operating conditions, the reinforcement is submitted to static and dynamic forces. The geosynthetic reinforcement products are made out of polymer materials, which show visco-elastic behaviour. Their long term deformation and strength…

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Innovative solutions to old problems

3 November 2005 | By Willem van Ginkel, Track Expert, ProRail

Railways are of great social importance. In The Netherlands, a million passengers take the train each day and an increasing amount of freight traffic also goes by rail. Without a safe and reliable network with sufficient capacity, everything would grind to a halt. It is one of the tasks of…

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An overall view of maintenance

23 August 2005 | By Vivianne Karlsson, Senior Advisor Maintenance & Strategic Planning, Banverket

The task of Banverket, the Swedish National Rail Administration, to safeguard the state-owned railway infrastructure is performed with the aid of significant maintenance so as to ensure its operations achieve the transport policy goals set out by Sweden’s Government. Maintenance is a link in securing a transport system for the…

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Machine pool

23 August 2005 | By Max Binder, Project Manager, Sersa Group

For a company to survive in the hard-fought international railway technology market it must have access to modern, high-performance, reliable and economical machinery. However, high-performance machines are both very complex and expensive to purchase. The technical complexity determines the qualification and training needs of the operating and maintenance staff. The…

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The journey of ballastless track

23 August 2005 | By Günther Leykauf, Professor and Director, Institute for Construction of Roads, Permanent Way and Airfields, Munich University of Technology

When the new high speed line Nüremberg-Ingolstadt is opened for service in 2006, more than 800km of ballastless track will be in operation in Germany. The different systems have undergone extensive laboratory and field tests before implementation on grade, bridges and in tunnels. Available measurement results indicate the expected favourable…

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The ÖBB life cycle cost

23 August 2005 | By Dr. Peter Veit, Professor, Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economy, University of Technology, Graz and Gregor Girsch, Technical Customer Services, Technology, voestalpine Schienen GmbH

In a joint project, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economy of the University of Technology, Graz and voestalpine Schienen GmbH have developed a (LCC) life cycle cost-based evaluation model for track components – rail profiles and steel grades.

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A vital instrument in asset management

23 August 2005 | By Gerlof den Buurman, Advisor Management, ProRail Inframanagement, and Arjen Zoeteman, Researcher, ProRail Inframanagement and Delft University of Technology

In the last two years the roll-out of the innovative weigh-in-motion (WIM) system Quo Vadis has taken place on the Dutch rail network. This system, developed by ProRail, Baas R&D and NedTrain Consulting, has been installed in 38 locations, allowing the measurement of 80% of traffic movements and 96% of…

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JIT: delivery is key

23 August 2005 | By Corus

The eyes of the railway world are on France as it builds the latest addition to its successful high speed network – the TGV Est line that will link Paris with eastern France and beyond. The €3 billion first phase of the programme, which commenced in spring 2002, is placing…