TREND OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRACK TECHNOLOGY

This article presents a report from the Railway Technical Research Institute on track technology carried out with an eye toward the institute's four goals for the immediate future: increased reliability of railways; lowering the costs of railway operations; making railways attractive; and making them compatible with the environment. The work on track includes preventing flange-climb derailment, improved track inspections and planning of track maintenance, improved track to permit higher-speed operations and smoother rides, reducing emissions of carbon-based pollutants and recycling of track materials. Recent serious derailments have increased interest in learning more about rolling contact fatigue between wheel and rail and the value of bainitic rail that may be more durable. Computer simulations are starting to replace sequential collection of data. Work is also being done on maintenance planning, ways of measuring and achieving high riding quality for track, reductions in noise and vibration and recycling materials for use in ballast.