Strength and stability of continuous welded rail track of ballastless track superstructure of Moscow – Saint Petersburg high-speed main line

Introduction. The development of high-speed main line with the speed up to 400 km/h is strictly connected with the major problem of insufficient normative technical documentation which regulates methodology of railway design calculation, including stability from extreme temperature and strength under its combined action with rolling stock. The aim of the article is to develop methodology for assessing the stress-strain state of a continuous welded rail track on a ballastless track based on strength and stability, as well as to assess temperature release risks and loss of rail string strength.

Materials and methods. In order to calculate continuous welded rail track for stability the authors employed method which involves accounting for rail string initial unstressed unevenness of the most unfavorable shape. Finite element method was used to estimate continuous welded rail track strength.

Results. The calculations show that the permissible temperature increase of rail string in comparison with fixing temperature under the terms of stability may be equivalent to 111 °С, and permissible temperature decrease of the rail string is 98 °С, which is comparable to the traditional track design on a ballast.

Discussion and conclusion. Ballastless design of the superstructure, required by documentation, has greater stability capacity in comparison with traditional design on a ballast. Technical solutions of ballastless track design of superstructure on pointless sections placed on roadbed nearly eliminate risks of mechanical safety violation both in terms of strength and stability. As a part of experimental operation of high-speed railway line on Sablino – Tosno space interval and Alabushevo – Novaya Tver section, analytically calculated temperature increase value of rail string in terms of fixing temperature under the terms of stability and temperature decrease value of rail string in comparison with the fixing temperature under the terms of strength using finite element modelling should be proven experimentally.

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