Proposed track classification for Egyptian railway lines

Abstract

The present research paper aims to reclassify the Egyptian Railway Network taking into consideration the safety and economy factors as Egyptian Railway suffers from track maintenance shortage. Lines are classified into several groups depending on dynamic load parameters to facilitate economic studies and comparisons between the worldwide railways. Then, discussions of four Railway line classifications are studied as follows: Theoretical classification of line Sections according to ENR, Actual classification of line sections according to ENR, UIC line classification and proposed classification of line sections for ENR by following the mentioned techniques. Three objectives are studied to reclassify the Egyptian Railway tracks: determine the traffic loads for all line sections of ENR based on official train schedule for year 2019, the track classification should be continuously defined each year taking the load, train type and the running speed as the main three effective parameters. The present methodology deduce some conclusion and recommendations to ensure both track safety and economical operational.