Presentations and Papers
Summary - Deterioration of Railway Track on Heavy Haul Lines
Presenter: Haitham Hawari
The geometric alignment of railway track deteriorates with time, primarily due to the static and dynamic forces exerted by the trains’ wheels on the track. Deterioration of the track’s geometry is called track roughness. The paper reports on the outcomes of a study of the deterioration of track roughness on three test sites in Queensland Australia; all three sites are heavy haul lines carrying trains with axle loads above 25 tonnes and more than 50 million gross tonnes of traffic per annum.
An examination of measurements of track roughness by Track Recording Vehicles over a 5 year period showed that the rate of increase of track roughness grew with the passage of traffic – this is contrary to the commonly held view that the rate of increase of roughness diminishes with time. A method of presenting track geometry measurements from Track Recording Vehicles is provided which may assist maintenance planners to balance more easily the conflicting demands of reducing maintenance budgets while preserving a safe and serviceable track.
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