Special trackwork, including turnouts, can reduce a track section's capacity by requiring speed restric-tions in order to extend the turnout's service life and can be an expensive component to replace once that service life ends. Modifying a rail sys-tem's existing turnouts to be able to handle higher diverging speeds could increase line capacity and better the dynamics and mobility of the system. A "work in progress" hypothesis developed by Avinash Prasad of MTA-NYCT was presented at the AREMA 2011 Annual Conference in conjunction with Railway Interchange 2011 and proposes the possibility that developing low-cost upgrades to a system's turnouts for higher diverging speeds may result in lower life-cycle costs and increased capacity by reducing lateral forces and accel-eration, as well as component wear.
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