The challenge to sustain railways depends on the ability to optimise the utilisation of the asset base. It demands the establishment of a continuous asset improvement process which requires maintenance personnel continuously ...

The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria recently constructed a 30 m long railway test section on the University's Experimental Farm (better known as the "Proefplaas") in Pretoria. The track will ...

Deformation of the railway superstructure can be observed when loads are applied by passing trains. Deflections due to these loads can be measured using various measuring techniques, e.g. linear variable differential ...

Of the many requirements modern railways must meet, those of safety, speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness are paramount. These requirements have been the driving force for railway engineers to develop new and innovative ...

South Africa is currently the seventh largest coal-producing country in the world, and annually roughly 70 million tons of coal (for export) are transported across the country by means of heavy haul train operations. ...

The rational design of a substructure to support a rail track requires an estimation of the stiffness value of the formation on which it is to be built. Stiffness values derived from back-analyses of deformations of the ...

A new optical track deflection measurement device was developed for Transnet Freight Rail (Track Technology) to be used for track research carried out in both field and laboratory investigations. The functioning and ...

The characterisation of track substructure is an integral component of track maintenance and rehabilitation. Traditionally this is done by determining the geotechnical properties of the discrete track formation layers ...