Rail Fastening Maintenance Impact on Track Stability for Continuously Welded Rail Tracks

The railway superstructure in the classical construction is composed of crushed stone layer, sleepers, rails and fastenings. The rails-sleepers frame is subject to a variety of efforts, the complexity of the elements, the imperfections and the inhomogeneity of the crushed stone layer make it difficult to determine both experimentally and statistically the parameters necessary for different calculation methods. The paper aim is to establish the fastening influence parameter on track maintenance and track stability, for welded rail superstructure. Due to dynamic and mobile loads, the rail superstructure develops small geometrical imperfections over time, which can pose a real threat to its stability. Using the energetic calculus method, rail track stability was determined for different types of geometrical imperfections both in alignment and in curve. The results reflect each parameter influence aiming the maintenance status of the track.