A proper quality of a track and other infrastructure objects represents a basic requirement for train safety and punctuality. Most of the physical systems and their components deteriorate over time. This affects performance and may lead to failures. Albert Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Only if we understand how the whole system works, taking into account its imperfections and how they influence its quality and performance will we be able to learn the rules of the game and “play better.” The book provides the readers with the necessary functional knowledge of track behaviour and comprehensively covers the function of the various track components, their interaction as elements of the track system, as well as the interaction of the track with railway vehicles. By presenting important tools for a deep understanding of track-behaviour this book aims to be a reference guide for infrastructure managers and to help them to find ways improving track quality for optimum long-term behaviour.

During the last decades completely new technologies for high speed railway vehicles have been developed. The primary goals have been to increase traction, axle load, and travelling speed, and to guarantee the safety of the passengers. However, new developments have revealed new limitations: settlement and destruction of the ballast and the subgrade lead to deterioration of the track; irregular wear of the wheels causes an increase in overall load and deterioration in passenger comfort; and damage of the running surfaces of the rail and the wheel is becoming more frequent. These problems have been investigated in the Priority Programme SPP 1015 supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), with the goal of better understanding of the dynamic interaction of vehicle and track, and the long-term behavior of the components of the system. The book contains the scientific results of the programme as presented at the concluding colloquium held at University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2002.

Light rail trains (LRT) are an important part of public transport but due to perceived high life-cycle costs are not always considered suitable. Life cycle cost reduction might be achieved through a knowledge-based maintenance management rather than just on experience. This work develops limits of maintenance and renewal of LRT systems based on vehicle reactions to the current track quality through measured data, multibody simulations and track geometry indices. An approach based on knowledge would lead to a track condition which allows a safe, comfortable, and under an appropriate maintenance strategy, economically profitable operation.

Containing selected papers from the ICRESH-ARMS 2015 conference in Lulea, Sweden, collected by editors with years of experiences in Reliability and maintenance modeling, risk assessment, and asset management, this work maximizes reader insights into the current trends in Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) and Risk Management. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of the significance of the role of RAMS and Risk Management in the decision making process during the various phases of design, operation, maintenance, asset management and productivity in Industrial domains, these proceedings discuss key issues and challenges in the operation, maintenance and risk management of complex engineering systems and will serve as a valuable resource for those in the field.

This Research Topic eBook comprises Volume I and Volume II of Best Practices on Advanced Condition Monitoring of Rail Infrastructure Systems.

This book presents selected articles from the 5th International Conference on Geotechnics, Civil Engineering Works and Structures, held in Ha Noi, focusing on the theme “Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure”, aiming to not only raise awareness of the vital importance of sustainability in infrastructure development but to also highlight the essential roles of innovation and technology in planning and building sustainable infrastructure. It provides an international platform for researchers, practitioners, policymakers and entrepreneurs to present their recent advances and to exchange knowledge and experience on various topics related to the theme of “Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure”.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of civil, environmental and construction engineering, as presented by researchers and engineers at the XXX Annual Russian-Polish-Slovak Seminar Theoretical Foundation of Civil Engineering (RSP), held in September 2021. Co-organized by six universities from Russia, Poland and Slovakia, the event covered diverse topics such as structural mechanics; building structures; geodesy and geotechnics; transport and environmental issues in civil engineering. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaborations.

A comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of contemporary data science analysis for railway track engineering Featuring a practical introduction to state-of-the-art data analysis for railway track engineering, Big Data and Differential Privacy: Analysis Strategies for Railway Track Engineering addresses common issues with the implementation of big data applications while exploring the limitations, advantages, and disadvantages of more conventional methods. In addition, the book provides a unifying approach to analyzing large volumes of data in railway track engineering using an array of proven methods and software technologies. Dr. Attoh-Okine considers some of today’s most notable applications and implementations and highlights when a particular method or algorithm is most appropriate. Throughout, the book presents numerous real-world examples to illustrate the latest railway engineering big data applications of predictive analytics, such as the Union Pacific Railroad’s use of big data to reduce train derailments, increase the velocity of shipments, and reduce emissions. In addition to providing an overview of the latest software tools used to analyze the large amount of data obtained by railways, Big Data and Differential Privacy: Analysis Strategies for Railway Track Engineering: • Features a unified framework for handling large volumes of data in railway track engineering using predictive analytics, machine learning, and data mining • Explores issues of big data and differential privacy and discusses the various advantages and disadvantages of more conventional data analysis techniques • Implements big data applications while addressing common issues in railway track maintenance • Explores the advantages and pitfalls of data analysis software such as R and Spark, as well as the ApacheTM Hadoop® data collection database and its popular implementation MapReduce Big Data and Differential Privacy is a valuable resource for researchers and professionals in transportation science, railway track engineering, design engineering, operations research, and railway planning and management. The book is also appropriate for graduate courses on data analysis and data mining, transportation science, operations research, and infrastructure management. NII ATTOH-OKINE, PhD, PE is Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware. The author of over 70 journal articles, his main areas of research include big data and data science; computational intelligence; graphical models and belief functions; civil infrastructure systems; image and signal processing; resilience engineering; and railway track analysis. Dr. Attoh-Okine has edited five books in the areas of computational intelligence, infrastructure systems and has served as an Associate Editor of various ASCE and IEEE journals.

The book enriches the literature on different sub-domains of applied information technology. The ICCAIAIT Proceedings presents the high quality research papers presented at ICCAIAIT 2018. The contributions cover the contemporary issues in data analytics, computational intelligence, nature inspired computing, cyber physical systems, cloud computing, social network and intelligent computing on climate change. The volume is an important resource for educationists, academics, scholars and practitioners from both the public and private sectors.

This title incorporates the 15th proceedings of the very successful International Conference on Railway Engineering Design and Operation (COMPRAIL) series, which began in Frankfurt 1987 and continued in Rome (1990); Washington (1992); Madrid (1994); Berlin (1996); Lisbon (1998); Bologna (2000); Lemnos (2002); Dresden (2004); Prague (2006); Toledo (2008); Beijing (2010); the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2012) and, again in Rome in 2014. The papers presented at this conference aim to update the use of advanced systems, promoting their general awareness throughout the management, design, manufacture and operation of railways and other emerging passenger, freight and transit systems. With the conference attracting a variety of specialists, including railway engineers, designers of advanced train control systems and computer specialists, the book particularly emphasises the use of computer systems in advanced railway engineering. Topics include but are not restricted to: Advanced train control Operations quality; Risk management; Planning and policy; Energy supply and consumption; Communications and signalling; Operational planning; Interface management; Systems integration; Maglev; High speed technology; Interoperability; Passenger flow management; Computer simulations and Driverless and automatic train operation.