Sasidharan, M P (2020) A risk-informed approach to setting economically-justifiable maintenance strategies for railway tracks. PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, UK.
Abstract
The global railway infrastructure is carrying ever increasing amounts of railway and freight traffic which in turn is causing accelerated rates of infrastructure deterioration. Given the pressure to increase track utilization, the ageing infrastructure on which much of the railway transport systems are founded, and the constrained budgets under which the infrastructure is managed, appropriate maintenance needs to be predicted, prioritized, planned and carried out efficiently and economically. This doctoral research aims to develop a means of appraising railway track maintenance strategies economically while taking into account the associated risks and uncertainties. To this end, this research proposes, a Whole Life Cycle Cost Analysis (WLCCA) under uncertainty, while considering the direct and indirect costs of track maintenance, and the benefits to train operation, users, safety and the environment. The developed risk-informed approach is demonstrated via case studies on three different route types within the UK mainline railway network.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | uncertainty; railway; traffic; deterioration; life cycle; safety; UK; cost analysis; life cycle cost; case study; indirect cost; railway track |
| Index terms: | life cycle, whole life cycle, risk-informed, indirect cost, case study, strategy, life cycle cost, cost analysis, deterioration, railway track |
| Subjects: | management, cost management, infrastructure and transport systems, data collection methods, value management, material degradation and durability, financial and cost management, research methods, sustainability assessment, financial risk |
| Topics: | Construction Materials, Research Practice, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Sustainability, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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