Project and Conservation of Rail Infrastructures

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Lectures combining theoretical explanations with exercise solving and with conceptual and real-case discussions.

Learning Outcomes

Provide students with a deep knowledge and with advanced R&D skills and competences on the subject of rail infrastructure design and conservation.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Basic notions of railways. Key variables of railway design. Stages and processes in railway design.

Geometric design. Applicable criteria and constraint analysis. Pre-design studies and design blueprints.

Railway layout. Assessment of impacts on commercial operation.

Fixed facilities. Complements on electricity, safety, signaling, and operation systems. Basic notions of fixed facilities design.

Structural design. Multi-layer elastic and finite-element models. Constitutive materials models. Dynamic analysis of railway-vehicle interaction. Advanced models of railway behavior.

Construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure. Assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation methodologies, criteria, and systems. Activity planning and implementation. Advanced maintenance management. Decision-aid tools/expert systems.

Railway design optimization based on life-cycle cost analysis.

Head Lecturer(s)

Adelino Jorge Lopes Ferreira

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Home assignment and written final exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

Alias J, Valdés A, La Vía del Ferrocarril, Editorial Bellido, 1990
Esveld, C, Modern Railway Track, MRT-Productions, 2001
López Pita, A., Infraestructuras Ferroviarias, Ediciones UPC, 2006
Ministerio de Fomento, Recomendaciones para el Proyecto de Plataformas Ferroviarias, 1999
Selig ET, Waters JM, Track Geotechnology and Substructure Management, Thomas Telford, 1994