Management of rail stress with climate change for modern and legacy track specifications

Abstract

Railways have a significant role to play in sustainable transportation. Rail travel is currently the only mode of rapid, large-scale, long-distance transport for both freight and passengers that offers zero carbon dioxide emissions at the point of use. However, our railway infrastructureneeds to be more robust and resilient to the combined effects of climate change, traffic growth and increases in vehicle loads and speed. Rail buckling is of increasing concern as environmental temperatures rise and traffic loads, speed and intensity of use increase. Thus, it is critical for rail track management to be improved to develop appropriate mitigation plans and avoid immense costs. This research aims to assess and enhance the management of rail stress under climate change by investigating the relationship between factors affecting stress-free temperature and track buckling vulnerability. Analysis of the National Track Buckle database showed that most of the track buckling incidents in the UK happened in track sections that were not identified as vulnerable. This underscores the need to better understand the factors leading to track buckling. Finite element modelling is used to perform a parametric study to assess the probability of track buckling across a spectrum of differential rail temperatures along the track, initial misalignment and train speed scenarios. Parametric studies explore varying conditions, analysing residual axial stress, lateral and longitudinal displacement, and rail-sleeper-ballast interactions. Also, a numerical model is used to analyse the effect of the multiple train passages and various magnitudes of train braking. Moreover, a laboratory study is performed to investigate the contributions of ballast configurations and fastening strength to the longitudinal behaviour of the track, quantifying ballast resistance and assessing how fastening variations influence rail and sleeper displacement. By integrating simulation and experimental approaches, this study provided critical insights into the factors influencing stress-free temperature variations and track buckling risk. The results emphasise that the track curvature, train braking forces, differential rail temperatures along the track and poor fastener strength affect the stress-free temperature variations along the CWR track and overall track stability.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Ana Skarova: orcid.org/0000-0001-5406-9466

ORCID for John Harkness: orcid.org/0000-0003-0908-0791

ORCID for David Milne: orcid.org/0000-0001-6702-3918

ORCID for William Powrie: orcid.org/0000-0002-2271-0826

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