Gauge Railway Research Articles

Development of a railway out-of-gauge freight transport routing optimal method

Railway out-of-gauge freight (ROF) is beyond railway gauges in its dimensions, which could be risks leading to serious railway accidents. This article presents a new methodology to search for a safest and more economic route of ROF by taking safety and cost objectives into consideration. In this method, a mathematical model is proposed based on the transport costs as optimization objectives with the constraints of flow balance and safety gap clearance in which ROF transport routing generation, loading outline and railway gauge double-checking algorithms are established, and then a ROF transport routing model combining transportation costs, loading outlines and railway gauges are developed. The proposed method can be used to determine the safest and more economic ROF route. A case study is used to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.

Development of hi-rail vehicle driven on metre-gauge railway/road in Thailand

This research aims to develop a pickup truck to become a hi-rail vehicle that runs on meter gauge railways in Thailand. It is intended to be used for rails maintenance or response times during train derailments and for accessing inaccessible areas via rails in emergency situations. A hi-rail vehicle can travel both on rails and roads. The guide train steel wheels set is designed to have steel wheels running on rails with the vehicle being raised above the rails using a programmable logic controller for hydraulic cylinders. The results of the road test can run at a normal speed of not more than 90 kilometers per hour. The results of the test run on the rails can run at speed of not more than 30 kilometers per hour. There is a vibration of the hi-rail vehicle due to the designed guide train steel wheels set mechanism that can be accepted.

Executive Agency and State Capacity in Development: Comparing Sino-African Railways in Kenya and Ethiopia

Why do infrastructure projects that are similar in nature develop along starkly different trajectories? This question sheds light on the varying state capacity of developing countries. Divergent from structural explanations that stress external agency and institutional explanations that emphasize bureaucratic capacity, I propose a political championship theory to explain the variance in states capacity of infrastructure delivery. I argue that when a project is highly salient to leaders' survival, leaders commit to the project; leaders with strong authority build an implementation coalition, leading to higher effectiveness. I trace the process of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya and Addis-Djibouti Railway in Ethiopia, relying on over 180 interviews. This research highlights the individual agency within structural and institutional constraints, a previously understudied area in state capacity.

A European Norms-Based Sleeper Design of Broad Gauge Railway in Bangladesh

European Norms (EN) are internationally used railway design standards, mastering the design theory of EN is an important prerequisite for smoothly prompting international projects. This paper took a 1676mm broad gauge prestressed reinforced concrete sleeper on ballasted track of Bangladesh Railway as an example. Through the sleeper design method of EN, the tensile stress in concrete for serviceability limit state, the static load, the dynamic load and the fatigue load are analysed, and the feasibility of the design is verified by the acceptance criteria. The research results of this paper can provide design guidance for similar international projects.

Prospects and Impediments of Railway Infrastructure Development in Ghana: Impact of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Technology

There is limited understanding concerning the practicable challenges that could impede the developmental process of railway infrastructure projects, and the possible negative effect of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) technology in Ghana. Given that the majority of the population are unfamiliar with the newly planned railway system. Our research intends to contribute towards the development of human capital and elevating the standard of living through the assertion of productive policies to ensure rapid infrastructure development by highlighting not only the socio-economic impact, but the negative impact of the railway infrastructure in the society. Also, this study discusses the possible challenges that could hinder the railway infrastructure development process. This study employs face-to-face interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) interview sessions that assimilate 35 respondents. Data collected is transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. The findings reveal that corruption, unstable political discourse, lack of modern technology, and the impact of the Covid19 pandemic are among the critical challenges to hinder the progress and completion of the railway infrastructure development. By-laws should be designated ensuring that every uncompleted national project must be completed and not abandoned by the successive governments regardless of political differences. JEL Classifications: R4, O1, Q18, Q55, Q51

Some Remarks on Registration Techniques of Point Clouds Obtained from Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a measurement technique used for many geodetic applications (such as determination of displacement and deformation of building objects or monitoring of engineering structures) as well as for non-geodetic applications (for example in forestry, archeology or geotechnics). Despite the high level of automation, the measurement with a laser scanner and the processing of the results consist of many stages and depend on many factors. The most important factors are: the features of measurement object (size, material, availability), required accuracy, speed of scanning, required scan density, type of reference frame, registration method, planned visualization, and 3D modelling method. In this article, the authors focused on the type of registration technique of point clouds obtained from TLS. The most popular strategies of registration were discussed. The practical application of the selected technique was presented on the example of measurement of the railway gauge of the viaduct. Due to the characteristic object (narrow and long railway line) and considering the local reference frame of point clouds as well as the need of minimization of the measurement time, the hybrid registration method in the nested variant was selected.

Synthesizing social and environmental sensing to monitor the impact of large-scale infrastructure development

The booming development of large-scale infrastructure projects (LSIPs) facilitated by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has drawn global concern regarding the scale, pace, and potential impact. Studies have largely focused on the geopolitical impact (i.e., politics and international relations) but less is known about social and environmental impact. This is in large part because consistent, high-resolution, cross-boundary social and environmental data at large scales are rather limited. To address the knowledge gap, this research developed a novel Socio-Environmental Sensing (SES) approach by synthesizing remote sensing imagery and geotagged Twitter data to map the socio-environmental impact of LSIPs. We demonstrated the applicability of this approach using two BRI flagship projects, namely, the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan. Our analysis shows that both projects have led to a substantial loss of natural land (e.g., 3.7 % loss of vegetation in Kenya, and 23.3 % reduction of the glacier in Pakistan) but gains in artificial land (e.g., 4.2 % increase in cropland in Kenya, and 34.6 % expansion of built-up land in Pakistan). In addition, the BRI-LSIPs have largely improved local economic development, because nighttime light imagery revealed that regions near the BRI-LSIP sites became much brighter than other regions. Regarding the social aspect, we found that public sentiment toward the projects was largely positive and improved over time, which contradicts the prevalent pessimism to BRI-LSIPs by critics. Nevertheless, sentiment also presented strong spatial heterogeneity – regions around the BRI transportation hubs (usually large cities) most showed more positive sentiment than other regions. By spatially joining the georeferenced sentiment scores with environmental indicators from remote sensing, we further found that positive sentiment improved more in more developed regions, but only changed slightly in other regions. This study provides a novel approach to assess the socio-environmental impact of large-scale projects, and the findings would be useful for informing the implementation of future BRI projects across the globe.

Infrastructure as techno‐politics of differentiation: Socio‐political effects of mega‐infrastructures in Kenya

AbstractThe Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya, inaugurated in 2017, has been promoted by the Kenyan government as a promise of “development” and “prospering people.” This paper demonstrates how, contrary to these narratives, the SGR reiterates the pre‐existing relations of difference mediated by class, geography, and ethnicity. Focusing on material and semiotic forms of the SGR infrastructures, it specifically shows how the railway project functions as the techno‐politics of differentiation that governs by including “prospering publics” of urban middle classes into Kenya's modernist development vision, providing unstable hopes for “development” to more precarious peri‐urban and rural “anticipating populations,” but simultaneously constituting “excluded populations” in rural landscapes that are denied the possibility of being a part of the national modernist development vision. Highlighting this intimate relationship between infrastructure, governance, and biopolitics, the paper demonstrates that mega‐infrastructures – differentiating between the publics included in, and the populations excluded from, the state's development visions and practices, as well as unstable subjective dispositions in‐between – engender modalities of non‐belonging that fall outside of (inherently liberal) frames of “citizenship” or a “public” frequently employed in critical infrastructure scholarship.

Infrastructural territorialisations: Mega-infrastructures and the (re)making of Kenya

This paper, based on historical and contemporary dynamics of railway infrastructures in Kenya, analyses how mega-infrastructures are central in state practices of infrastructural territorialisation – an infrastructure-based production of territoriality as a historically and geographically specific form of spatio-political order and organisation, imbued with social tensions, stemming from the state-led imposition of a techno-politics onto its territory. Focusing on territorial and political objectives of the state advanced through the Uganda Railway and the Standard Gauge Railway, the paper demonstrates how both of these projects have been central in colonial and contemporary practices of infrastructural territorialisation, albeit in mercurial ways that do not fully represent original techno-political intensions of the state. This discussion, first, highlights how megaprojects – although primarily analysed by recent geographical scholarship as advancing contemporary geographies of global capitalism – also contingently coalesce with state (re)territorialisation practices. Second, undertaking these analyses in the Kenyan context, the paper shows how, despite shared historical dynamics of contingent state territorialisation – and the reconstitution of racial and socio-economic inequalities, advanced through megaprojects that in Kenya are socially interpreted through historical experiences of colonialism – current infrastructural territorialisations are also different; whilst the colonial territorialisation of Kenya emerged as relatively unchallenged, its present state territory-making is undermined by both the global character of megaprojects and the external actors that the state relies on for its practices of infrastructural territorialisation.

Experimental and numerical investigations of dual gauge railway track behaviour

The dual gauge track, in which a third rail is added to the conventional track section, has recently been installed in large sections of the Spanish railway network, allowing the passage of trains of two different track gauges. With increasing train speeds and axle loads, the new dual gauge track must share the main characteristics of current track systems while minimizing the drawbacks, in order to ensure a real step forward in railway track design. Thus, this paper presents a research study on the dynamic behaviour of a dual gauge track generated by the passage of trains. To accomplish this task, an extensive experimental and numerical investigation was conducted in a stretch of the Spanish railway network. The experimental work includes the characterization of the rail and sleeper mechanical behaviour during train passage. In addition, results from the experimental investigations were also compared with a fully three-dimensional numerical model. The model uses SOLID95 elements with elastoplastic Mohr–Coulomb behaviour and yields a rMSE of 25% between measured and calculated responses, hence showing a good agreement. Concerning the vibrational response, the presence of the third rail have a significant effect, since the maximum rail vertical accelerations significantly increased on the side where two rails are close together. Finally, the contact pressure between the sleeper and the ballast bed is 35% higher in the common rail when the train runs on the Iberian gauge, but 50% higher on the dedicated rail when the train runs on the standard gauge.

Railways of Galicia before the First World War

The Galician rail network in Austria and Austria-Hungary was built before the outbreak of World War I. The first railway construction projects were developed in the 1830s. The construction of the first rail tracks began in the late 1840s. The first railway connecting Western and Eastern Galicia was put into operation in 1861. Before WWI, the Galician rail network spanned a total length of more than 4,000 km. The construction of local wide and narrow gauge railways began in the same period. The railway construction process, transport capacity and the railway infrastructure in Galicia have never been comprehensively studied in view of recently emerged data. This article offers a thorough analysis of the Galician network of strategic and local railways beginning from their construction to the outbreak of WWI.

Research on the Sustainability of the Standard Gauge Railway Construction Project in Tanzania

This exploratory study aimed to examine the validity of the sustainability evaluation model suggested and the sustainability of the standard gauge railway (SGR) construction project in Africa’s developing countries with Tanzania as a case study. By using the proposed railway sustainability evaluation model, the researchers collected data from 300 people, which included workers in the project and people living or conducting businesses along the route of the first phase of the project (Dar-es-salaam to Morogoro). Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and analyzed using the structural equation model (SEM) technique and correlation analysis. The findings validated the model used to be efficient in railway sustainability evaluation, and also, the researchers were able to realize from the data collected that the first phase of the SGR in Tanzania is sustainable for development. The study suggests encouraging and collaborating with local agencies to improve local railway maintenance and operations skills in order to ensure the project’s long-term viability and extension.

Key Safety Approaches in Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railways (BR) is an integral part of the country's transportation system since the British era. At present it covers a length of 2,877 route kilometres. Train accident data collected from BR revealed that train accidents reduced from 590 per year for 2001-10, to 250 per year for 2010-2015 and to 166 for 2015-16. Data also shows that derailments are the major concern in railway safety. Mixed railway gauges, rail weight, battered and damaged rails, low sleeper density and damaged sleepers, lack of maintenance of fittings and fastenings, and inadequate amount of ballasts are the main reasons for such derailments. So as a safety approach against derailments BR has taken rail track rehabilitation projects as well as speed restriction programs. 2015-16 data showed benefit of such restriction program. A speed map is prepared according to the speed restriction program and speed capacity of different sections of the railway network.
 Journal of Engineering Science 12(1), 2021, 57-62

The treatment of climate change impacts and adaptation in the environmental impact assessment of the standard Gauge railway project in Tanzania

ABSTRACT Transport remains one of the essential infrastructures, crucial for socio-economic development. However, climate change threatens the transport infrastructure development gains already achieved globally. The incorporation of climate change and adaptation capabilities into environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes has been extensively discussed and linked to enhanced project climate resilience. However, a considerable research gap remains unexplored, and that is assessing whether and how EIA has been used to climate-proof development proposals in Africa. This study examined how climate change impacts and adaptation capabilities featured in the EIA of a major transport infrastructure project in Tanzania. It draws on reviewing the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) using review criteria derived from the literature. The findings revealed that all EIA stages addressed climate change in one way or another, with some of the criteria more comprehensively treated than others. A closer examination unveiled several good practices, which evidence appreciation for climate science and considerable strength in climate change preparedness. The results highlight EIA’s potential to steer climate efforts among vulnerable communities systematically. This paper will contribute to the international discussion on this issue and offer a basis for further research towards deeper engagement between the actors within EIA, transport planning and climate networks.

Resource-Financed Infrastructure: Thoughts on Four Chinese-Financed Projects in Uganda

Increasingly common methods for financing public infrastructure in developing economies are Resources-for-Infrastructure (R4I) and Resource-Financed Infrastructure (RFI), usually involving Chinese financial institutions and Chinese construction companies. Although there are advantages to the borrowing country from these project financing arrangements, there are also various issues and governance challenges. In Uganda, expectations around future revenue from oil extraction have led to many infrastructure projects being commissioned, mostly funded by RFI arrangements. To consider the appropriateness of these arrangements and to reflect on whether they are likely to contribute to positive development outcomes or be examples of the resource curse, we examined four public infrastructure projects: Kampala–Entebbe Expressway; Karuma Hydroelectric Dam; Isimba Hydroelectric Dam; and the Malaba to Kampala section of the East Africa Standard Gauge Railway. Although R4I/RFI arrangements are viewed positively by some commentators, others (especially local companies) consider they lack transparency, create unsustainable debt, promote China’s interests over the borrowing country, increase unemployment, unfairly compete with local business, deal in corruption, have poor working conditions, and result in substandard construction. Nevertheless, we conclude that Uganda and other developing countries have generally benefited from Chinese-funded infrastructure, and there is more myth trap than debt trap. However, to ensure positive development outcomes, governments and construction companies should ensure compliance with international standards, especially relating to: environmental and social impact assessment; human rights; benefit-sharing arrangements; livelihood restoration; and project-induced displacement and resettlement.

The Successes and Challenges of Kenya’s Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway Transport Operations: A Special Reference to the Users

This article examined the successes and challenges of Kenya’s standard gauge railway for users in transport operations. The constrained operations in Kenya’s existing colonial railway system have contributed to connectivity barriers and inefficiencies in the transport sector. Standard Gauge Railway’s construction aimed to address these gaps and facilitate cargo and passenger transport operations in Kenya and across borders. This study used a descriptive research design in the form of a survey and adopted a mixed research method of qualitative and quantitative data with primary data collected through questionnaires and interviews. The population of interest was the train users (passengers and cargo transporters). The findings suggested that the railway has generally enhanced transport operations for passengers and freight through reduced travelling time, improved transport safety and security, and improved mobility and accessibility. While the SGR has led to reduced travel costs for passengers, the cost of freight transport remains relatively high.The SGR has provided an alternative for freight and passenger transport, but there are challenges such as logistical and administrative challenges in cargo clearance, ticketing issues, and passengers' “First mile and Last mile” challenges. While the improvement of physical transport infrastructure and connectivity is significant, these challenges should be transformed into enablers to realize the railway’s full potential. This research, therefore, recommends for; effective transfer of the cargo clearance and forwarding paperwork from Mombasa to Nairobi; development of a transport link between the railway and the two major cities to solve the “first mile” and “last mile” transport challenges for passengers, and to audit the ticketing system to identify and sanction cartels involved in ticketing malpractices. The overall conclusion is that generally, the railway has added value in Kenya’s transport sector; passengers now have a cheaper, reliable and safer mode of transport while cargo is transported in a more reliable and safer way. The SGR is thus a transformative infrastructural project for Kenya; it symbolizes a country on a pressing need to transform herself into a middle-income economy supported by modern infrastructure.

English

Nairobi National Park is a protected ecosystem where various types of wildlife find hiding place. The park has in the recent past experienced destruction through construction of a standard gauge railway (SGR) line and a highway called the Southern bypass. These developments raise concern with the possibility that their combined environmental cost being enormous. This study sought to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) for the restoration of the park attributes using discrete choice experiment. The focus was on the attributes of (1) wildlife population and diversity of species, (2) wildlife movement in dispersion and migration areas, (3) vegetation density and diversity, (4) security of wildlife and people, and (5) environmental safety and quality. The data used was collected from 93 students of Kisii University, Nairobi campus. A price attribute in form of an increase in gate fee was included to elicit WTP estimates. Multinomial logit regression estimates indicated that respondents were WTP for the restoration of all the attributes except attribute 4. Attributes 1 and 2 elicited the highest WTP and could be the most affected by the two projects. Middle-aged respondents with stable jobs were likely to pay more for the restoration of the attributes compared to students and the youth. Based on the findings, the government could consider relocating the park to a place with better environmental attributes. Key words: Nairobi National Park, ecosystem, discrete choice experiment, willingness to pay, park attributes, Multinomial logit.

Assessing the ecological impacts of transportation infrastructure development: A reconnaissance study of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya.

Transportation infrastructure, such as railways, roads and power lines, contribute to national and regional economic, social and cultural growth and integration. Kenya, with support from the Chinese government, is currently constructing a standard gauge railway (SGR) to support the country's Vision 2030 development agenda. Although the actual land area affected by the SGR covers only a small proportion along the SGR corridor, a significant proportion of the area supports a wide range of ecologically fragile and important ecosystems in the country, with potential wider impacts. This study used a qualitative content analysis approach to gain an understanding and perceptions of stakeholders on the potential ecological impacts of the interactions between the SGR and the traversed ecological systems in Kenya. Three dominant themes emerged: 1) ecosystem degradation; 2) ecosystem fragmentation; and 3) ecosystem destruction. Ecosystem degradation was the most commonly cited impact at while ecosystem destruction was of the least concern and largely restricted to the physical SGR construction whereas the degradation and fragmentation have a much wider footprint. The construction and operation of the SGR degraded, fragmented and destroyed key ecosystems in the country including water towers, protected areas, community conservancies and wildlife dispersal areas. Therefore, we recommend that project proponents develop sustainable and ecologically sensitive measures to mitigate the key ecosystem impacts.

The Effect of Traffic on Ballast Settlement

The main factor that contributes to the deterioration of track components is traffic load. Explanations on how the speed, load and repetition of traffic influence the long-term settlement of ballast in a ballasted track are very scarce. Having in mind that tracks subjected to the same load show different settlement behaviors, explanations of track settlements in accordance with the speed, load and repetition are needed. This study is motivated to show how traffic affects the long-term settlement of ballast and how the traffic parameters (speed, load and repetition) contribute to the process. Using finite element modeling software, the three-dimensional track is modeled and analyzed for different values of speed, load and number of repetitions. Drucker Prager plastic model is applied for the ballast and sub-ballast materials of the track. To get the parameters for the Drucker Prager plastic model of granular materials, triaxial test simulation is performed using discrete element software. Hertz’s contact theory is used to model the contact between the wheel and rail. The long-term settlement behavior of ballast material is analyzed by applying 8000 cycles of moving axel load. According to the analyses, a change in the speed and the number of repetitions of train movement changes the permanent settlement of ballast more than the variation in load. Increase in the speed of train movement by 20 km/hr. will increase the stress transferred to the subgrade by up to about 1000 kPa. Speed of train movement is the most contributing parameter in the degradation of ballast material more than the load and number of repetitions. In a conventional ballasted track after about 6000 repetitions of train movement ballast material will start to decrease its performance. The comparison of the effects of the variation of individual traffic parameters speed, load and number of repetitions on the settlement of ballast which is not touched by former researches is well addressed by this study which is very helpful for designing a new railway track and monitoring existing railway tracks. Based on the analysis of the model with the parameters from Ethio-Djibouti standard gauge railway track, the possible maintenance period of ballast material is predicted.

GIS Assessment of Environmental Footprints of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) on Nairobi National Park, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the magnitude of the environmental problems caused by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on Nairobi National Park (NNP) and hence model GIS aided solutions to the problems. People may know the impacts the SGR has or can have on the park. However, there is no research that has been done to unearth the magnitude of these impacts, hence a knowledge gap that needs to be filled. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of these impacts will open up a door for the formulation of the most appropriate solutions for the identified problems. Relevant spatial and non-spatial data, based on the objectives, were collected for processing and analysis using geospatial technologies to assess the environmental footprints before and after the planned SGR on the Nairobi National Park. The layers were overlaid to identify the most impacted areas and spatial statistical methods used to predict the expected continued impact over 5 years and 10 years. The results successfully demonstrated how the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has and will cause negative environmental impacts on Nairobi National Park by use of the various GIS analysis tools. The SGR-I has indeed encroached on Nairobi National Park occupying an area of 87.29 Hectares and the proposed SGR-IIA will cut across the park caving out an area of 42 Hectares. Moreover, approximately 500.61 Hectares of vegetation cover will be lost to construction and operation of the SGR. Ultimately, the noise and air pollution produced due to the SGR construction and operation will fragment the wild animals, affect the herbivores vegetation, and personnel as well. SGR encroachment into the park particularly affects the wildlife migration routes negatively. Some of the recommendations of the study are wet-spraying of cement and wet drilling to reduce dust emissions during the construction of SGR-IIA; often investigations of the construction sites and recommendation of a suitability analysis of the best SGR route to be carried out using GIS.