A risk assessment method for ballast flight;managing the rolling stock/infrastructure interaction

The evaluation of the level of risk resulting from the phenomenon of ballast flight is currently receiving considerable attention, due to its direct impact on the safety and reliability of commercial railway operations. Of particular interest are the effects of this phenomenon on both railway infrastructure and rolling stock. It is difficult to analyse the ballast flight phenomenon, due to its dependence on a large number of variable parameters. Investigations carried out at SNCF have led to the proposal of a global approach, called the stress–strength interference analysis method, which can be applied by considering a relevant indicator to evaluate the risk due to flying ballast. This paper presents the work on the application of the proposed analysis approach to the ballast flight phenomenon performed within the FP7 EU AeroTRAIN project. The approach considers the influence of the passage of dedicated rolling stock and the resistance of the track to the displacement of ballast. It leads to the proposal of a methodology to evaluate the risk of ballast flight in high-speed rail operations; this allows the evaluation of the degradation rate of railway infrastructure and rolling stock due to this phenomenon to be performed.