Optimizing the quality of the wheel/rail system, cost-efficiency, financing: Very high-speed track design and cost optimization in Spain

摘要

The new high-speed railway line between Madrid and Barcelona (Spain) has been designed to enable commercial train services to operate at maximum speeds of up to 350 km/h. This paper outlines the criteria adopted by the Spanish railways to ensure that the track-geometry deterioration on the new line is not greater than on the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville (300 km/h). Attention has been focused on two primary factors: reducing axle load and the unsprung mass of vehicles, and reducing of the vertical rigidity of base plates between sleepers and rails.