TRACK MAINTENANCE METHOD FOR TILTING CAR OPERATION ON SHARP CURVES

Japan Railway (JR) companies are pushing speedup projects on sharp curves, using the existing track facilities, and tilting cars which have a predictive control tilting system. On the vehicle running on curves, static forces like unbalanced centrifugal force or wheel lateral force act depending on curve radius, track cant and train speed. At the same time, a lateral vibrational acceleration and a changing lateral force occur mainly due to track alignment irregularities on outer rail. Especially in the case of tilting cars, these phenomena are more prominent because tilting cars run faster than non-tilting ones, and they generate higher centrifugal forces. Problems that frequently occur are: growth of track alignment irregularity, wear and defect of track components, resulting in riding discomfort. The relation between vehicle running characteristics and track or vehicle conditions on sharp curves were studied in actual running tests, as were also lateral displacement characteristics under load repetition in a full-scale track test. This report shows a method for estimating vehicle lateral force and lateral vibration, a method for establishing track maintenance standards, a quantification method of track lateral deformation characteristics and an estimation method of track alignment irregularity growth.