The author advocates Meter-Gauge for the upgraded rail-track on the trace of the Kelani-Valley Railway and long welded rails (LWR) on Y-shaped Steel-Sleepers with Pandrol Fast-Clips Rail-Fastening, providing several advantages over a Broad-Gauge track with concrete sleepers and Short Welded Rails (SWR). Less space is needed. Y steel-sleepers tolerate shallow ballast cushion and allow a […]
Author: Chaminda Weerawarna
COLOMBO SUBURBAN RAILWAY PROJECT (CSRP), PART II – an ambitious Project
The Colombo Suburban Railway Project, CSRP, which is funded by Asian Development Bank, is aiming at electrification of the section from Veyangoda to Panadura (64 km) in the Colombo Suburban Area of Sri Lanka. This is a 600 Million USD project, under which the Railway-Tracks will be rehabilitated and reconstructed to increase the speed from […]
COLOMBO SUBURBAN RAILWAY PROJECT (CSRP) – an ambitious Project with a long Way between actual and Target Quality of Rail-Track
In Sri Lanka, the majority of passenger transport is by road. The ambitious Colombo Suburban Railway Project (CSRP) aims to increase the share of rail transport from the current 5% to 10%. The success of the project will depend on whether it will be possible to bring the dilapidated railway-tracks up to the latest standards. […]
WITHOUT WELL BEARING FORMATION AND CLEAN BALLAST-BED NO STABLE RAILROAD Poor Quality Rail-Tracks in Sri Lanka
The Railway-Tracks of Srilankan Railways are a shining teaching sample that a long-lasting well aligned rail-track, matching the traffic load it has to carry, is not possible without a well drained and well bearing Formation, a thick Formation Protective Layer (FPL, “Blanket” or “Sub-Ballast”) and a proper and clean Ballast-Bed. The memory for the track […]
CULTURE OF ERROR AND RISK MANAGEMENT IN RAILWAY COMPANIES – LEARNING FROM THE AVIATION INDUSTRIES
The paper is based on the publication of Dipl. Ing Karoly Obrecht and Dr. Bernhard Rüger: FEHLERKULTUR BEI EISENBAHNEN – NOTWENDIGKEIT UND CHANCE ZUR ERHÖHUNG DER SICHERTHEIT in Eisenbahn Technische Rundschau, ETR, Juni 2018, p. 42, eurailpress, DVV Media Group, Hamburg, Germany, ISSN 0013-2845. At the centre of the modern proactive, precautionary and generative culture […]
RAILWAY PERFORMANCE IN THE LIGHT OF INVESTMENT POLICY. What Indian Railways can learn from the Performance of European Railways.
A MODERN RAILWAY OF WORLD CLASS STANDARD needs efficient INFRASTRUCTURE with a HIGH CAPACITY RAIL NETWORK allowing economical high Rail-Performance (high Route Capacity, short start-to-end Journey Time, high Punctuality and high Safety). The whole Infrastructure should be owned and managed by one state owned Infrastructure Management Company/Organisation/Undertaking, which will be the only partner to deal […]
LEARNING ABOUT MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT AND BEST PRACTISE IN TRACK MAINTENANCE FROM ADVANCED CENTRAL EUROPEAN RAILWAYS FOR INDIA`S JOURNEY TOWARDS FUTURE WITH THE MISSION MODE PLAN TO DEVELOP ITS RAILWAY ACCORDING WORLD CLASS STANDARDS – From “Fire-Fighting Maintenance” to Condition, Analytic and Data based Track Maintenance –
Indian Railways are suffering from a historic under-investment in rail-track assets and from a rail-track neglect of far reaching history. India has the ambitious plan to bring its Railway System on World Class Standards. A World Class Standard Rail-Service needs World Class high Quality Infrastructure, Assets, and Rail-Tracks as well World Class best Practice in […]
MONITORING INSTRUMENTS MOUNTED ON SCHEDULED RUNNING COMMERCIAL TRAINS (INSTRUMENTED REVENUE VEHICLES, IRV) MAKE USE OF NEWTON`S LAWS OF MECHANICS FOR TRAIN BASED AND IN-SERVICE TRACK-CONDITION MONITORING IN TARGET PLANING OF MAINTENANCE
The Newton`s Laws Mechanic is useful to analyse mutual track-vehicle/wheel-rail interactions and to determine track irregularities and track defects by vehicle mounted instruments: Accelerometer Sensors and Gyroscope Devices for Rotation Measurements. This means, by measuring accelerations and rotations through instruments on board of commercial and scheduled running rail-vehicles, the cause in form of track irregularities […]
Fundamentals of Railway-Track Engineering and Technology; Quotations for achieving sound and healthy Railway-Tracks of high Quality fit for modern “World-Class” Railway-Service
QUOTATIONS: “MODERN RAIL-TRACK TECHNOLOGY HELPS TO CUT LIFE CYCLE COSTS”; “A TRACK IS ONLY AS GOOD AS WHAT IS UNDERNEATH”; “A TRACK IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS WEAKEST SPOT, BECAUSE A TRAIN MIGHT DERAIL ON SUCH A SPOT”; “WITHOUT PROPER WELL BEARING AND WELL DRAINED SUB-STRUCTURE (SUBSOIL, SUB-GRADE, FORMATION AND BLANKET) NO STABLE RAIL-ROAD”; […]
SETTING THE POINT FOR APPROPRIATE DECISIONS LEVERAGING THE WAY FOR EXTENSIVE RAIL-TRACK REHABILITATION, RE-ENGINEERING, STRENGTHENING, MODERNISATION AND UPGRADING OF ALL ROUTES IN INDIA
Underfunding of Safety related Rail-Track Works is a main underlying Factor for the recent Spate of fatal Derailment-Disasters. India has to catch-up the Investment Backlog under the Vision for modern sound and healthy Rail-Tracks for a World-Class Railway. Let’s hope that the new leadership will overcome the deficiency in making decisions in favour of modern, […]