The Procedure of Identifying the Geometrical Layout of an Exploited Railway Route Based on the Determined Curvature of the Track Axis

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed algorithm for determining the curvature of a track axis with the use of a moving chord method, and then discusses the procedure for identifying the geometric layout of an exploited railway route on the basis of the determined curvature. In the moving chord method, the measured coordinates of the track axis allow one to directly determine the existence of the horizontal curvature without the need for additional measurements. This enables comprehensively identifying the existing geometric elements—straight lines, circular arcs, and transition curves. The conducted activities were illustrated with a calculation example, including a 5.5 km long test section with five areas of directional change. This showed a sequential procedure that led to the solution of the given problem. Based on the curvature diagram, the coordinates of the segmentation points, which define the connections of the existing geometric elements with each other, were determined.