The Application of Bamboo in the Railway Industry: A Sustainable Solution for Track Construction

The railway industry has shown a strong interest in utilizing sustainable materials, including recycled materials and composites, in construction. Bamboo, as a highly renewable natural resource, has been proposed as a construction material for the railway industry. This material offers several advantages, such as high strength and durability,...

Implications of climate change for railway infrastructure

Weather phenomena can result in severe impacts on railway infrastructure. In future, projected changes to the frequency and/or intensity of extreme weather events could change weather–infrastructure risk profiles. Infrastructure owners and operators need to manage current weather impacts and put in place adequate plans to anticipate and adapt...

Resilience in railway transport systems: a literature review and research agenda

Critical infrastructure networks, such as transport and power networks, are essential for the functioning of a society and economy. The rising transport demand increases the congestion in railway networks and thus they become more interdependent and more complex to operate. Also, an increasing number of disruptions due to system failures as...

Analysis of Bridge Transition Zones in Railways Considering the Moisture Condition of the Ballast and Subballast

Transition zones in railway tracks are the locations with considerable changes in vertical support structures, e.g., near bridges. Due to possible water flow constrictions in transition zone structures, there is frequently an increased moisture level in the ballast/subballast layers, which is a potential source of track degradation. This paper...

Toward operationally feasible railway timetables (PPT)

Individual markers of resilience in train traffic control: The role of operators’ goals and strategic mental models and their implications for variation, expertise and performance.

Objective:<br/>The aim of this study was to examine individual markers of resilience and obtain quantitative insights into the understanding and the implications of variation and expertise levels in train traffic operators’ goals and strategic mental models and their impact on performance.<br/>Background:<br/>The Dutch railways are one of the...

Assessing gaming simulation validity for training traffic controllers.

Background. The Dutch railway company ProRail is performing large-scale capacity upgrades to their infrastructure network. As part of these upgrades, ProRail uses gaming simulations to help prepare train traffic controllers for new infrastructure situations. Researching the validity of these gaming simulations is essential, since the conclusions...

A capacity analysis of the railway line Rotterdam?Dordrecht (NL)

Although the Dutch railway network is one of the busiest ones in Europe, it is still not completely future?proof; the limits of the current rail system are reached. In some cases major adaptions to the timetable require adjustments to the tracks themselves to come to a valid operating plan. Besides, the robustness of the network in case of...

Rail estate, multiple use of space and railway infrastructure

The demand for new development sites, coupled with a wish to preserve green areas outside cities, is provoking increasing interest in inner-city redevelopment. All over Europe, projects of multiple use of space are appearing that involve developing high-quality buildings in which to live and work, while taking account of the history of the city...

Optimal Train Dispatching at Railway Stations: A Discrete Event Dynamic System Approach

Reliability of transfers in a transportation network largely influences the level of service of trip chains. Especially in low-frequency service networks like (long-distance) railway networks. Running and dwell times are typically subject to random variations resulting in arrival delays during operation. If a scheduled transfer connection is...

Synchronization Control of Scheduled Train Services to Minimize Passenger Waiting Times

During operation a transportation service may wait on delayed feeder services to secure scheduled transfers. For low-frequent connecting services this has a major positive impact on the transfer waiting times. However, the resulting synchronization control time of the connecting service also affects the waiting times of originating and through...