Recent Research and Development on Maintenance of Existing Railway Structures "Inspection, Diagnosis and Reinforcement"

Abstract

Maintenance of existing railway structures is becoming more and more important for safe and stable operation of railways. However, severe meteorological disasters in recent years have caused enormous damage to railway structures and hindered railway operations. The technical issues surrounding railway structures are wide-ranging, including labor-saving measures for maintenance of existing railway structures, disaster countermeasures, and early recovery measures after disaster. In this paper, we outline the direction of research and development, that the Railway Technical Research Institute is working on, related to maintenance of the existing railway structures, for example, inspection, diagnosis and reinforcement.