The investigation of the railway track geometry defects and suggested solutions: Case study of ,Kütahya-Afyon railway line

The intercity distances are diminishing and through increasing speeds travel times are reducing, by the development of the high speed train network in recent years in our country. Although the tracks has been optimized to the high speed train standards with the newly constructed tracks at the railways, the more significant is the maintenance of the standartds of the track under service conditions. On the other hand the most important element at the maintenance of the truck quality is the punctuality of the maintenance activities by the continuous inspection of the track geometry defects. At this study firstly by investigating track geometry parameters; cross level, track gauge, longitudinal level, alignment and twist concepts, according to concerning European Standards, relating defects are evaluated. Track geometry defects are investigated through the measurements at the Kütahya-Afyon railway line, which has an opportunity to compare improvements at at track since having a fatal railway accident at 2008 and a renewal at 2013. At the evaluation part, track geometry deteriorations are determined on a specific section at Kütahya-Afyon railway line by the measurements within the four years and the effects of the renewal on the track geometry quality are revealed. Finally at the study general suggested solutions are introduced in order to maintain track geometry quality by examining the case studies in our country and abroad.