Modelling the interactions between heavy axle weight freight traffic and underbridges
Modelling the interactions between heavy axle weight freight traffic and underbridges
Faced with a combination of ageing infrastructure, changing traffic patterns, climate change impacts and the need for modal shift to rail, freight train operators and railway infrastructure managers need improved methods and tools for the planning and management of freight train paths and infrastructure maintenance, renewals and enhancement. Since underbridges tend to be the limiting factor for the accommodation of heavy axle weight freight traffic, they require particular attention. In order to meet these needs, new methods and an integrated tool were developed to visualise the railway network and its assets, and to model the routeing of freight services and the degradation of underbridges, the interactions between traffic and the bridges, and the impacts and constraints they impose on each other. The integrated modelling tool combines data from a range of sources in an online geospatial database, making use of industry standard, open-source techniques and tools, and thus maximising reliability and deployment flexibility and the scope for further expansion of the system. The database interacts with bespoke structural degradation modelling tools to determine the impacts of traffic on bridges and vice versa. Work is continuing to extend the model’s coverage from an initial exemplar route to Britain’s full national railway network, and the possibility of expanding its coverage to include additional infrastructure asset categories is being considered.
Railways, rail freight, heavy axle weight, underbridge, route availability
Armstrong, John
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Sadler, Jason
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Blainey, Simon
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Watson, Geoff
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Powrie, William
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Kashani, Mehdi
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Harkness, John
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Zhang, Ziliang
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Anderson, Rod
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April 2025
Armstrong, John
5fafa91e-39c1-4d1d-a331-564558aaa638
Sadler, Jason
1fa395f9-b780-4294-9e51-5fafdd588899
Blainey, Simon
ee6198e5-1f89-4f9b-be8e-52cc10e8b3bb
Watson, Geoff
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Powrie, William
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Kashani, Mehdi
d1074b3a-5853-4eb5-a4ef-7d741b1c025d
Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Zhang, Ziliang
1fca0696-ebe9-4ea3-913b-a7ae0888783b
Anderson, Rod
2f33eaf8-2e77-4d75-8ff8-09796e122797
Armstrong, John, Sadler, Jason, Blainey, Simon, Watson, Geoff, Powrie, William, Kashani, Mehdi, Harkness, John, Zhang, Ziliang and Anderson, Rod
(2025)
Modelling the interactions between heavy axle weight freight traffic and underbridges.
RailDresden2025: 11th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis, , Dresden, Germany.
01 - 04 Apr 2025.
16 pp
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Faced with a combination of ageing infrastructure, changing traffic patterns, climate change impacts and the need for modal shift to rail, freight train operators and railway infrastructure managers need improved methods and tools for the planning and management of freight train paths and infrastructure maintenance, renewals and enhancement. Since underbridges tend to be the limiting factor for the accommodation of heavy axle weight freight traffic, they require particular attention. In order to meet these needs, new methods and an integrated tool were developed to visualise the railway network and its assets, and to model the routeing of freight services and the degradation of underbridges, the interactions between traffic and the bridges, and the impacts and constraints they impose on each other. The integrated modelling tool combines data from a range of sources in an online geospatial database, making use of industry standard, open-source techniques and tools, and thus maximising reliability and deployment flexibility and the scope for further expansion of the system. The database interacts with bespoke structural degradation modelling tools to determine the impacts of traffic on bridges and vice versa. Work is continuing to extend the model’s coverage from an initial exemplar route to Britain’s full national railway network, and the possibility of expanding its coverage to include additional infrastructure asset categories is being considered.
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More information
Published date: April 2025
Venue - Dates:
RailDresden2025: 11th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis, , Dresden, Germany, 2025-04-01 - 2025-04-04
Keywords:
Railways, rail freight, heavy axle weight, underbridge, route availability
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 504412
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504412
PURE UUID: dd6fd9d5-a997-48ba-9313-b94395cdf9fb
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 09 Sep 2025 16:41
Last modified: 10 Sep 2025 09:04
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Contributors
Author:
Jason Sadler
Author:
Ziliang Zhang
Author:
Rod Anderson
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