I’ll be a Berliner, just for a day … joining the fellow railway engineers from around the world at InnoTrans 2016. InnoTrans is the largest rail industry event in the world, held every two years in Germany, at Messe Berlin – ExpoCenter City. Sub-divided into the five segments Railway Technology, Railway Infrastructure, Public Transport, Interiors and Tunnel…
When exposed to temperature variations, the rail tends to vary its length. If this tendency would be freely allowed, for a temperature variation Δt° the rail length L will vary by ΔL. This length variation is ΔL = αLΔt°. If, on the other hand, the expansion is not permitted in any way, and both ends of…
Track measurement The importance of knowing the track geometric quality arose in the middle of 20th century, when European infrastructure managers developed their own track recording vehicles allowing a continuous measurement of track geometry and based on this, their own track geometry quality evaluation standards (EN 13848-6). Periodic track measurement is required to evaluate the…
Maglev is a transport system that uses the magnetic levitation to move vehicles without contact to the guideway. The system uses magnetic forces for levitation, propulsion and guidance of the vehicle, thereby making practically negligible the friction forces and allowing very high speeds. The technological evolution is making this transportation system competitive and gaining consideration as a…
There are two types of railway track superstructure from the point of view of the response to rail temperature variation: free thermal expansion (FTE) track superstructure which allows the rail to freely vary its length due to temperature variation. This superstructure does not provide reliable constant and easy to control and maintain track longitudinal resistance…
Thermal expansion When exposed to temperature variations, the rail tends to vary its length. If this tendency is freely allowed, for a temperature variance Δt°, the rail length L will vary by ΔL. This length variance can be computed as: ΔL = αLΔt° In this formula, α is the steel expansion coefficient = 11.5·10−6 mm/mm°C. If…
General considerations The relative position of railway double or multiple adjacent lines is of critical importance for level crossings. On canted tracks, the road traffic is affected if the level crossing does not provide a good riding plane, especially for long vehicles or the (sometimes expensive) low profile ones. This is why the design of…
Motto: Tolle lege. Most of the railway track design standards around the world are presenting the particular issue of the reverse transition. All these standards are insisting on keeping a constant rate of change of curvature – a constant A. By doing this in fact the design will include a single continuous transition between the two opposite circular…
