Development of Safety Criteria for Evaluating Concrete Tie Track in the Northeast Corridor. Volume 2. Track Safety Evaluation

摘要

An important part of the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project was the installation of more than 400 track-miles of concrete tie track. Since installation, incidents of clip fallout, loose inserts, broken insulators and cracked ties have occurred, albeit infrequently, in the concrete tie track. A cooperative investigation was conducted by Amtrak and DOT/FRA, contracting with Battelle's Columbus Laboratories. The primary cause of tie cracking was determined to be high vertical impact loads caused by a few rough wheel profiles on high-speed passenger cars. To improve component performance, remedial projects were initiated by Amtrak. These included the development of a wayside wheel impact load detector to identify specific impact-producing wheelsets. In addition, field tests of more resilient tie pads and a different rail clip design were begun.