Transportation and Planning

Assignment#2

FALL 2019

SECTION CV-A

SUBMITTED BY

NAME: ALI ABID KHAN NIAZI ROLL #: 17L-4678

SUBMITTED TO

PROF. ASIM IQBAL

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING,

 FAST-NU, LAHORE

Contents
Railway engineering....................................................................................................................................3
Types of Tracks in Railways.........................................................................................................................4
Traditional track......................................................................................................................................4
Ballast-less track......................................................................................................................................5
Continuous longitudinally-supported track.............................................................................................6
Types of Rail in railways...............................................................................................................................7
Double Headed Rails................................................................................................................................7
Bull Headed Rails.....................................................................................................................................8
Flat Footed Rails......................................................................................................................................9
Flat footed rails has the following advantages....................................................................................9
Importance of Railways.............................................................................................................................10
Identification of Parts................................................................................................................................11
 Railway engineering

Railway engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design,

construction and operation of all types of rail transport systems. It encompasses a wide range of
engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical
engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering and production engineering. A great
many other engineering sub-disciplines are also called upon.
Railway systems entail much more than a train and a track. They are based on advanced
technical and operational solutions, dealing with continuously changing demands for more
efficient transport for both passengers and freight every day. Each system consists of many
components that must be properly integrated: from trains, tracks, stations, signaling and control
systems, through monitoring, maintenance and the impact on cities, landscape and people. This
integration is the big challenge and the source of many train delays, inconvenient connections
and other issues that impact our society.
Railway engineering offers substantial economic benefits, energy efficiency, and environmental
and safety benefits to nations all over the world, and rail is widely viewed as a vital component
of the integrated transportation system for sustainable and resource efficient societies of the
future. There is substantial demand for engineers with integrated knowledge of railway
subsystems (infrastructure, vehicles and traffic control) who understand how to maximize
performance of the whole system
Types of Tracks in Railways:
The railway track, also known as the ‘permanent way’, is the long horizontal structure that
provides trains with a surface for wheels to roll upon
Traditional track
The most common type of track used around the world is ‘flat bottom’ steel rails supported on
sleepers made of timber or pre-stressed concrete. Typically, tracks are laid on a bed of stone
track ballast which is supported by prepared earthworks, known as the track formation. Ballast
consists of crushed stone and is used to uniformly distribute loads from the sleepers to the
formation. Ballast also helps with stabilization, drainage and prevents the sleepers from moving.
It is typically laid to a depth of between 225-300 mm, filled to the top of the sleepers and beyond
the ends of the sleeper by around 250-500 mm.
The track formation consists of a subgrade and blanket – a layer of sand or stone dust in
impervious plastic. The blanket restricts the upward movement of wet clay or silt. Additional
waterproofing is provided if deemed necessary. The subgrade layer is slightly sloped at the sides
to help water drainage. Water is channeled away by ditch or other type of drain.
Ballast-less track
An alternative type of track structure that can be used to alleviate the large demand for
maintenance that traditional track requires, is one that does not use ballast. This type of track
tends to be used for short extensions that require additional strength such as in rail stations, or in
tunnels where maintenance is difficult. At its simplest, this comprises a continuous slab of
reinforced concrete upon which rails are supported directly using a resilient pad. An alternate
design is the use of pre-cast pre-stressed concrete units which are laid on a base layer.

Continuous longitudinally-supported track

This type of track involves the rail being supported along its length rather than using sleepers. It
was experimented with in the 1840s, but proved to be more expensive in terms of maintenance.
A more modern version is the ladder track which uses sleepers which are aligned along the same
direction as the rails, with gauge-restraining cross members that resemble the rungs of a ladder.
This system can be used with ballast and without.
Types of Rail in railways:
Rails can be divided in three types
1. Double Headed Rails
2. Bull Headed Rails
3. Flat Footed Rails
Double Headed Rails
These rails indicate the early stage of development. It essentially consists of three parts,
 Upper Table
 Web
 Lower Table
Both the upper and lower tables were identical and they were introduced with the hope of double
doubling the life of rails. When the upper table is worn out then the rails can be placed upside
down reversed on the chair and so the lower table can be brought into use. But this idea soon
turned out to be wrong because due to continuous contract of lower table with the chair made the
surface of lower table rough and hence the smooth running of the train was impossible.
Therefore, this type of rail is practically out of use.
Bull Headed Rails
This type of rail also consists of three parts,
 The Head
 The Web
 The Foot
These rails were made of steel. The head is of larger size than foot and the foot is designed only
to hold up properly the wooden keys with which rails are secured. Thus, the foot is designed only
to furnish necessary strength and stiffness to rails. Two cast iron chairs are required per each
sleeper when these rails are adopted. Their weight ranges from 85lb to 95lb and their length is up
to 60 ft.
Flat Footed Rails
These rails were first of all invented by Charles Vignola’s in 1836 and hence these rails are also
called Vignola rails. It consist of three parts
 The Head
 The Web
 The Foot
The foot is spread out to form a base. This form of rail has become so much popular that about
90% of railway tracks in the world are laid with this form of rails.
Flat footed rails has the following advantages
1. They do not need any chair and can be directly spiked or keyed to the sleepers. Thus they
are economical.
2. They are much stiffer both vertically and laterally. The lateral stiffness is important for
curves.
3. They are less liable to develop kinks and maintain a more regular top surface than bull
headed rails.
4. They are cheaper than bull headed rails.
5. The loads from wheels of trains are distributed over large number of sleepers and hence
larger area which results in greater track stability, longer life of rails and sleepers,
reduced maintenance, costs, less rail failure and few interruptions to traffic.
Importance of Railways:
 Railways are the major transport facility and service in the world.
 They are a cheap and convenient public commutation option for people in urban areas.
Many have to go long distances in big cities. They use metros.
 It is a safer transport facility for long distances.
 The journey times are more or less predictable. It is tedious to travel by personal transport
over long distances.
 Railway network is very huge. The number of people/passengers is very large. So it is
important.
 Railways carry mails and couriers.
 Railways are a major employer, employing thousands and lakhs of employees.
 Railways take part in the development of the country with introduction of latest
technologies.
 Modern transport techniques reduce the journey duration significantly. So the people's
business and personal plans could be improved.
 Railways carry a large amount of goods.
 As it is a public transport, the use of fuel (oil/electricity) per passenger is minimum. It is
quite less as compared to individual transport.
 In modern world railways is also a matter of prestige for the country.
 Railways make it possible to conduct multifarious activities like business, sightseeing,
and pilgrimage along with transportation of goods. 
 It is suitable for long distance travel. 
 Plays an important role in national integration.
 Railways bind the economic life of the country 
 It accelerates the development of the industry and agriculture. 
 Today the railways have become more important than all other means of transport put
together.
 Identification of Parts:

Speed Sign
Stock Rails
Board
Left hand
turn Fouling
Marks

Switch Rails
Rails
Points and
Crossing Railway
Sleepers

Frog
Ballast

Fastener Wing Rails Right hand turn