Establishing meaningful results from models of railway track dynamic behaviour

Traditional empirical methods of designing railway track rely on simplistic impact factor methods that crudely represent the complex dynamic behaviour of track and train interaction and of the defects that give rise to damaging forces. Various analytical models have been developed around the world to help the track design engineer better understand the consequences of variations and innovations in track design. The creators of six recently developed models from Canada, China, Germany, Sweden, USA and UK were invited to participate in a benchmarking exercise to allow comparison of the operation, outputs and applicability of those models. Although detailed instructions were given to the benchmark participants, variations in interpretation, complexity and underlying theory of each model led to differences in outputs. This paper provides some guidance in interpreting these differences and compares the results to those obtained from traditional design processes.