The development of a risk-informed framework for the appraisal of drainage maintenance of ballasted railway track

Usman, Kristianto (2020). The development of a risk-informed framework for the appraisal of drainage maintenance of ballasted railway track. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Poor drainage of ballasted railway track can lead to a variety of issues, including flooding, accelerated track degradation and substructure failure. These issues in turn can result in unplanned track maintenance, imposition of speed restrictions, delay, safety issues and damage to third party property. However, despite the potential costly impacts of poor drainage, managing the maintenance of drainage assets is challenging because it involves the consideration of large interconnected networks of assets and maintenance budgets are often limited.

To address these issues, this doctoral research develops a risk-informed tool that can be used by railway asset managers to facilitate the management of railway drainage assets. The tool incorporates an engineering model to help identify drainage associated risks and assign probabilities of occurrence to the risks, a cost model to determine the risk impacts, and an integrated model to determine risk values.

The tool is demonstrated using data obtained from three sites on the UK railway network, namely, Ardsley Tunnel, Clay Cross Tunnel and Draycott. The analysis shows that the Clay Cross Tunnel had the highest failure risk and should be prioritised for maintenance over the other two sites. It was found that the required maintenance needs to focus on the risks associated with blocked of drainage assets due to vegetation overgrowth or lack of debris clean out. The tool offers ranges of risk values associated with inadequate drainage assets which are also affected by the occurrence of causal events. These events can be categorized into a variety of contributing factors including environment, design, component (material) deterioration, installation, maintenance, traffic, and land use.

The research shows that the developed risk-informed approach is suitable for identifying and quantifying the risks associated with the drainage of ballasted railway track, even when there is a paucity of data. The approach therefore provides the railway drainage engineer with a means for arguing for funds and rational and transparent tool for prioritising the preventive maintenance of drainage assets at greatest failure risk.

Type of Work: Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)
Award Type: Doctorates > Ph.D.
Supervisor(s):
Supervisor(s)EmailORCID
Burrow, MichaelUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Ghataora, GurmelUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Licence: All rights reserved
College/Faculty: Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
School or Department: School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering
Funders: Other
Other Funders: DIKTI/DGRSTHE (Directorate General of Resources for Science, Technology and Higher Education-Indonesia)
Subjects: T Technology > TF Railroad engineering and operation
URI: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/10089

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