Integrated Computational Materials, Process and Product Engineering – IC-MPPE 2022

The last few years showed the infrastructure managers that it is not only necessary to create and maintain a superstructure able to carry the loads from the trains but a system also being resilient to environmental impacts like floods, fire, landslides or else. At the same time a fast-rising importance of green travel possibilities and the shift from road towards rail traffic is happening, not only due to the climate benchmarks of the EU. The goal of Austria – a rise of 30% of trains upon an only slowly growing infrastructure – shows that the timespan for maintenance is going to be reduced drastically. Knowing that our superstructure has a mean lifetime of 35 years also indicates that in secondary tracks it is possible to find much older superstructure. It is now time to design a maintenance reduced superstructure, less vulnerable towards environmental impacts and optimize the maintenance planning.
This presentation will give a short overview of the changes within superstructure and maintenance in the last few years and also give some insights towards ongoing research.