Competition in rail transport: Methodology to evaluate economic impact of new trains on track

Performance that a railway should provide users, in a perspective of market competition for new passenger and freight services, requires the infrastructure manager to a particular focus on processes of rail track degradation generated by traffic during seasonal weather conditions. In particular the study of the distress evolution over time, taking into account rutting and fatigue processes in track formation, provides the indicator to forecast the service life and, therefore, to plan its maintenance. This paper deals with a method to assess the railway structural distress produced by traffic loads and to calculate maintenance work costs. In Europe, liberalization of the railway sector results in increasing traffic load due to new competitors. Depend- ing on the forecast distress evolution in the service life and on the budget available, the maintenance plan to keep the railway infrastructure to the desired level of service may be defined.

Performance that a railway should provide users, in a perspective of market competition for new passenger and freight services, requires the infrastructure manager to a particular focus on processes of rail track degradation generated by traffic during seasonal weather conditions. In particular the study of the distress evolution over time, taking into account rutting and fatigue processes in track formation, provides the indicator to forecast the service life and, therefore, to plan its maintenance. This paper deals with a method to assess the railway structural distress produced by traffic loads and to calculate maintenance work costs. In Europe, liberalization of the railway sector results in increasing traffic load due to new competitors. Depending on the forecast distress evolution in the service life and on the budget available, the maintenance plan to keep the railway infrastructure to the desired level of service may be defined. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group.