Article

Modelling tamping effectiveness for track geometry longitudinal levelling defects

Modelação da eficácia do ataque para defeitos geométricos de nivelamento longitudinal da via férrea

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit

Rodrigues, Pedro; F. Teixeira, Paulo — 2023 — SAGE Journals

Key information

Authors:

Rodrigues, Pedro (Pedro Miguel Guerreiro Rodrigues); F. Teixeira, Paulo (Paulo Manuel da Fonseca Teixeira)

Published in

December 7, 2023

Abstract

The geometric recovery achieved with tamping is affected by several factors, including maintenance history, ballast condition, type of tamping, age and configuration of track components, operational speeds, and human factors. In this paper, data from 2,819 defects of longitudinal levelling are analysed considering 66,892 km of inspections carried out on 19 lines of the Portuguese railway network over 10 years. The influence of infrastructure clusters, defect level, ballast age, degradation rate before tamping, and the still little-studied shape of defects on geometry recovery is firstly investigated by analysing relationships between the raw data (scatterplots). A multiple linear regression model is then developed to predict the defect level after tamping, taking into account both the defect level before tamping and its shape, which is modelled through a proxy parameter. It is concluded that track sections where there are singularities (underpasses, culverts, level crossings, bridges, tunnels and viaducts) usually have much shorter maintenance cycles (median values up to 60% lower). Ballast age and degradation rate before tamping did not prove to have a marked influence on geometry recovery. Although the defect level before tamping is found to be the factor that most conditions geometry recovery, thus corroborating the critical importance of timely intervention, its shape also proves to have a significant influence, giving rise to differences in geometry recovery of up to 20% of the defect level before tamping.

Publication details

Authors in the community:

Publication version

VoR - Version of Record

Publisher

SAGE Journals

Link to the publisher's version

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09544097231219827

Title of the publication container

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit

First page or article number

662

Last page

674

Volume

238

Issue

6

DOI

10.1177/09544097231219827

Fields of Science and Technology (FOS)

civil-engineering - Civil engineering

Keywords

  • tamping effectiveness
  • tamping geometry recovery
  • track maintenance
  • longitudinal levelling
  • defects shape
  • regression modelling

Publication language (ISO code)

eng - English

Rights type:

Only metadata available

Financing entity

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Title of the project, award or grant: MIT-Portugal Program in Transportation Systems

Identifier for the funding entity: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871

Type of identifier of the funding entity: Crossref Funder

Number for the project, award or grant: PD/BD/52358/2013