High speed trains are currently meant to run faster and to carry heavier loads, while being less energy consuming and still respecting the security and comfort certification criteria. To face these challenges, a better understanding of the interaction between the dynamic train behavior and the track geometry is needed. As during its lifecycle, the train faces a great variability of track condit...

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Travelling safely and comfortably on high speed railway lines requires excellent conditions of the whole railway infrastructure in general and of the railway track geometry in particular. The maintenance process required to achieve such excellent conditions is largely complex and expensive, demanding an increased amount of both human and technical resources. In this framework, an optimal schedu...

This paper presents a methodology to build representative railway track geometries thanks to a stochastic modelling. This modelling, which has to integrate the statistical and spatial variabilities and dependencies, is a key issue when using simulation for conception, maintenance or certification purposes, as the dynamic behaviour of the trains is mainly induced by the track geometry. The stoch...

Construction projects become complicated and fragmented so that many specialty contractors are involved. In such changed environments, a general contractor’s overhead costs are increasing comparable to direct costs. In addition to an increase of volume, activities consisting of overhead costs play an important role in coordinating different participants who include different specialty contracto...

current practices in railway track analysis and design are reviewed and discussed in this paper. the mechanical behavior of railway track structure comprising of various components has not been fully understood due to the railway track structural complexity. although there have been some improvements in the accuracy of current track design methods in recent decades, there are still considerable...

Times of downturn in economy, tough competition, high costs, and large amounts of capital required for replacements have created growing need for cost cutting measures and for seeking better return on investment. This has also placed an increasing emphasis on maintenance practices to extend the service life of existing railroad bridges. This paper outlines the various factors which playa role i...