Track geometry defect rectification based on track deterioration modelling and derailment risk assessment

Analysing track geometry defects is critical for safe and effective railway transportation. Rectifying the appropriate number, types and combinations of geo-defects can effectively reduce the probability of derailments. In this paper, we propose an analytical framework to assist geo-defect rectification decision making. Our major contributions lie in formulating and integrating the following three data-driven models: (1) A track deterioration model to capture the degradation process of different types of geo-defects; (2) A survival model to assess the dynamic derailment risk as a function of track defect and traffic conditions; (3) An optimization model to plan track rectification activities with two different objectives: a cost-based formulation (CF) and a risk-based formulation (RF). We apply these approaches to solve the optimal rectification planning problem for a real-world railway application. We show that the proposed formulations are efficient as well as effective, as compared with existing strategies currently in practice. Journal of the Operational Research Society advance online publication, 19 February 2014; doi:10.1057/jors.2014.7