ReviewFailures of mainline railway sleepers and suggested remedies – Review of current practice
Section snippets
Introduction and motivation
The Australian railway transport industry may realise a potential savings of $A80 million per annum in its operating cost if further improvements could be made in its railway operation and maintenance [1]. The premature deterioration of railway sleepers has become of great concern over the last two decades even the sleeper perfectly supported by the underlying ballast. For many years, timber, concrete and steel, which have targeted life spans of 20, 50 and 50 years, respectively have been used
Failure of timber sleeper
Proper investigation of the causes of premature failures of sleepers to minimise the cost of track maintenance and to improve the track efficiency, is necessary. The Railway of Australia (ROA) [8] surveyed several states in Australia in order to understand the causes and modes of failure of timber sleepers. For this purpose, it examined 2200 timber sleepers in Queensland railway tracks and found different reasons for the sleeper damage including fungal decay, end splitting, termites, still
Failure of concrete sleeper
The many advantages of concrete technology led to its use for sleepers in the 1950s. Nowadays, approximately 500 million railway sleepers in the world’s railway networks are made from prestressed concrete and, every year, the demand for them constitutes more than 50% of total demand [4], [5]. In Australia, the majority of modern railway sleepers are made from mono-block prestressed concrete which was first used in 1970 [15]. Over the last three decades, researchers in different parts of the
Failures of steel sleepers
A very few studies of steel sleeper failure have been conducted. However, several researchers reported that the steel’s risk of corrosion, high electrical conductivity, fatigue cracking in the rail-seat region and the difficulty of packing it with ballast has made it an inferior material for sleepers. Thus, a proper investigation into the reasons for its failure is essential.
Approaches to minimise sleeper failure
Several studies aimed at minimising the problems of railway sleepers have been conducted and some of them already implemented. Some researchers have focused on taking special care of traditional sleepers while others have introduced relatively new materials. In this section the most appropriate method and best practice in reducing sleeper failure in service and in the maintenance work are discussed to provide guidelines for scientific researchers and practicing engineers.
New materials for railway sleepers
The many advantages of geopolymer concrete and composite materials have recently motivated researchers and railway industry to consider using them in sleeper construction, as highlighted in this section.
Discussions
Several causes of sleeper deterioration around the world over the last two decades are summarised in Table 2.
This study found that the big problem inherent in timber sleepers is their susceptibility to mechanical and biological degradation, including decaying, splitting and insect infestation which leads to their failure. Mono-block prestressed concrete sleepers are the most commonly used sleepers throughout the world due to their greater durability in adverse environments and, in Australia,
Conclusions
The unexpected deterioration of traditional railway sleepers and the lack of understanding of their degradation mechanisms are the main drivers behind this research which aims to provide guidelines for structural designers, engineers, researchers as well as asset owners. Several causes of sleeper deterioration are identified and some best practices for minimising sleeper problems provided by different researchers and organizations are presented, from which the following conclusions are drawn.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to LOC composites Pty Ltd and the Department of Industry Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Teaching Enterprise Connect Researcher-in-Business Scheme for their financial support in the study.
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