Improvement recommendations for railway infrastructure maintenance

Abstract

Based on the railway network performance, Infrastructure Manager is obligated to define the Maintenance plan for railway infrastructure, which contains corresponding values for intervention limits and alert limits. This paper considers vehicle response to track excitation due to the rail defect (code 2202 according to defect classification). It is indicated that theoretical models and acceleration measurements could be used to assess the quality of track geometry and ride comfort. The importance of early detection of irregularities of superstructure and substructure was emphasized. Moreover, the importance of inspection and preventive maintenance on the modern railway infrastructure was considered. According to the previous, the authors recommend nondestructive methods for inspection and early detection of irregularities of railway infrastructure.