The effect of railway vehicle dynamics on the lateral alignment of track

Track geometry deteriorates with traffic flow, thus it needs to be regularly restored using tamping or other method. As the deterioration is mainly in the vertical direction this aspect has been widely studied and models for its analysis developed, however, the lateral deterioration of track is not as well understood. This research aims to develop a method that can be used to analyse and predict the lateral deterioration of railway track caused by traffic flows, and investigate the influences of different railway vehicles, running speeds, traffic types and wheel/rail contact conditions.