Discussion on maintenance and repair of railway track

Rail transport is one of the most important arteries of our national economy and is the pillar industry of transportation in China. It plays an important role in the economic and social construction of our country. China's railway was built in 1876, with the development of reform and opening-up policy, railway industry is also flourished, large-scale adoption of domestic and foreign advanced technologies are put to use in the construction of Chinese railroading, strengthening the existing maintenance and renovation of the railway, and improving continuously operating conditions on the railway so as to stimulate the rapid development of the transportation industry, promote regional economic and cultural exchanges, speed up the development of the national economy.

1.Problems arising from railway track

    It’s known to the public that the railway track is of long-term exposure in the natural environment, under the influence of such natural factors as the wind erosion, rain's relentless insistence, and train vehicle's itself gravity and its power, the wear degree is also continuously increasing along with long time operation, at the same time, the geometric size of the ballast bed, sub-grade and track will be constantly deformed.

    At the same time, the train will cause serious damage to the track structure and other parts in the process of its operation, which will lead to serious deformation of the railway line. For now, the railway track common destruction mainly is: the railway line and its components change in the space position, such as line crawling, expand or narrow gauge line, the direction of fault line, uneven subsidence or freezing; and each part of rail wear and fatigue damage; sleeper and the dirt etc. Diseases of railway lines affect the normal operation of trains, and even endanger the safety of train operation.

2.Maintenance and repair of railway track

    Railway track maintenance and repair can solve the track’s the problems arising in the process of railway high speed condition n operation, it can guarantee the quality of the train track, ensures the integrity of equipment, improve the life span of railway equipment,it is the foundation to ensure the safety of railway transportation, the railway is used to ensure the safety of railway construction, is beneficial to the growth of national economy, protect the safety of the life and the property of people, improve the national GDP.

2.1Concept of railway track maintenance and repair 

    Track maintenance and repair include the renovation and repairs of the performance of each component of the track, and the regular maintenance of the track deformation and disease caused by the transport dynamic running and other influences. Maintenance and repair is usually influenced by such operating conditions of the railway track as axle load, speed; the selection of track structure type and various line ratio; track components use system, service life, transportation and repair regeneration capacity; track maintenance operation system, organization and the degree of mechanization, and climate environmental factors. its purpose is to ensure traffic safety, and track parts are in good condition, prolong the service life of various components of the track, avoid track equipment due to long-term neglect caused economic losses, it’s quite essential to research, develop and implement maintenance system to ensure the track in good condition.

2.2Maintenance and repair of railway track

    Maintenance and repair of the railway track in China has experienced three phases i.e. Correction maintenance, regular maintenance and condition-based maintenance. With the continuous development of railway transportation, the density of railway traffic is also increasing, traffic spacing is becoming continuously shortened, thus it dramatically reduced the time periods of maintenance of railway track, problems out of maintenance and repair work of the railway track became highlighted recently.

2.2.1 Low utilization rate of data

    At present, the railway track has been inspected through dynamic testing equipment, track inspection car and other professional checks by China's relevant railway departments, and get a relatively complete and accurate data, but in the real situation,  the usage of such information is low, only stopped on the superficial use, and there are no in-depth analysis of effective research about the track maintenance time, working arrangements.

2.2.2Unorganized organizational structure

    Improper organizing job on track maintenance and repair is mainly indicated in three aspects: one is less personnel and equipment in one special work area, showing the scattered characteristics of the entire workshop; the other is low operating efficiency,  poor quality and lack of security, 3rd. is the operation mode is too fragmented, which caused the transport supposed to be used can not adapt to the scale effect, directly affect the efficiency of transport.

2.3 Better scheme of railway track maintenance and repair

2.3.1Contractor outsourcing

    In foreign countries,the maintenance and repair work of the railway is often contracted by professional qualified maintenance company to finish with advanced technology equipment, professional technical engineers with a wealth of experience can satisfy the maintenance and repair of the track, it’s able to concentrate resources to finish the contracting work, and the work efficiency is relatively high, satisfactory results can be completed. China can learn from this way, the Ministry of public security focuses on the monitoring and management of these outsourcing companies, set up strict maintenance standards and working system, supervising on the behavior of outsourcing companies, and lay strict acceptance procedures for the approval results. 

2.3.2Make full use of data 

    At first, railway track maintenance and repairing require highly mechanical scale, and analyze the maintenance data detected by computer and Internet technology, build a complete database, which can update the data flow, carry out scientific analysis of these data by professional personnel and equipment to improve data utilization and master the current status of grasp the track’s situation, analyze problems during the work, timely solve the relevant problems and enrich the experience, then we can put to use the system applied to other related work.

2.3.3Design innovation 

    Considering the factors of maintenance and repair is a must in the design of the railway track, in order to ensure the normal service life and reduce infrastructure maintenance workload, the reasonable prediction effect of line factors, and a comprehensive and rational scientific analysis, innovative design techniques may be adopted to possibly reduce the problem when it’s working, that is starting from the source.

3.Summary

    Railway transport is the main mode of transportation for passenger and cargo transport. The development of railway transportation is the key factor to the development of our national economy, and the operation’s security is of great significance. Besides the railway track itself, as well as the impact of the natural environment, the train running on track and other damage to the track is obvious and serious, the railway maintenance and repairing is to prolong the service life of the track, improve the safety of railway transportation.