The impact of wildlife on railway track

Abstract

The problem of track maintenance as a condition for the quality of railway transport in terms of comfort and speed of traffic has encouraged the modernization of railways. With modernization an important part of the process of managing the railway network is the timely identification of priority areas for maintenance and reconstruction – the so-called hot spot area. Damage to the embankment of railway structure is caused by the settlement of the railway track. Suddenly climate change leads to an increased frequency of deformations and is the most common cause of track instability. In addition to causing an increased risk to traffic safety, they can also cause serious disruptions to traffic networks. The papers present the influence of animals on deformations and damage of railway structures, primarily embankments, and the possible influence on the behaviour of track construction. The phenomenon was noticed at the end of 2020 on the railway line M104 Novska – Tovarnik – State border. As a part of the observed impacts of wild animals, continuous measurements of track subsidence at selected measuring points were carried out, and geotechnical investigation works were performed with the aim of processing and analysing the measured data and preparing a remediation project.