A Study on Life Cycle Cost on Railway Switches and Crossings

摘要

Switches and crossings (S&Cs) are one of the vital subsystems in railway. The main function of an S&C is to help trains to safely move from one track to another track. To do this, an S&C consists of movable and fixed mechanical parts, as well as signaling and electrical systems. Each of these systems requires a proper maintenance and is susceptible to failures which ultimately lead to train disturbances. The aim of the paper is to carry out life cycle cost analysis for railway S&C which operate over more 40 years. We decompose the life cycle of the S&C and break down them into subsystems to identify which of them requires maintenance. We demonstrated how to decide optimal S&C through cost identification and system breakdown.