http://www.tubulartrack.co.za/index.php/2008/04/railway-technology-namib-desert/ Manufacturer of patented, ballastless railway system. Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:11:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://www.tubulartrack.co.za/index.php/2008/04/railway-technology-namib-desert/comment-page-1/#comment-5 rolando m. barangan Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:39:26 +0000 http://www.tubulartrack.co.za/?p=65#comment-5 Im the civil engineer for the ongoing 5.7km light rail extension project in manila. In this project, we have departed from the usual ballasted system by adopting so-called floating slab design that was also adopted in an underground system in Greece and introduced by our Systems Engineer. It consist s of insitu plain concrete track slab cast and suspended over the viaduct structural floor slab by means of discrete elastomeric pads between them. |n a way the floating slab takes the place of the ballast along with the elastomeric pads. The usual twin block RC ties is embedded on the track slab separated by rubber boots. Being an elevated track system, I have reservations in using this floating slab, due to heavy dead load imposed over the viaduct, and high initial cost.. if the only advantage is eliminate ballast track maintenance, I feel a system like Tubular Track would have been more appropriate. I came across a system developed by Japanese which they call Ladder Track, similar to Tubular Track, but only read about experimental trials of it. Another form of ballastless track have been is use in the Philippines's Light Rail or Metro- the Plinth Type, in lieu of cross sleepers. It is having problems now, perhaps not because it is inferior, but due to poor alignment design. It would be interesting to read more articles on Passenger Train application of Tubular System in the near future. Im the civil engineer for the ongoing 5.7km light rail extension project in manila. In this project, we have departed from the usual ballasted system by adopting so-called floating slab design that was also adopted in an underground system in Greece and introduced by our Systems Engineer. It consist s of insitu plain concrete track slab cast and suspended over the viaduct structural floor slab by means of discrete elastomeric pads between them. |n a way the floating slab takes the place of the ballast along with the elastomeric pads. The usual twin block RC ties is embedded on the track slab separated by rubber boots. Being an elevated track system, I have reservations in using this floating slab, due to heavy dead load imposed over the viaduct, and high initial cost.. if the only advantage is eliminate ballast track maintenance, I feel a system like Tubular Track would have been more appropriate. I came across a system developed by Japanese which they call Ladder Track, similar to Tubular Track, but only read about experimental trials of it. Another form of ballastless track have been is use in the Philippines’s Light Rail or Metro- the Plinth Type, in lieu of cross sleepers. It is having problems now, perhaps not because it is inferior, but due to poor alignment design. It would be interesting to read more articles on Passenger Train application of Tubular System in the near future.

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