Continuous Welded Rails (CWR) are widely used these days for its benefits like reduced maintenance, enhanced track safety etc. While using CWR, it is to be ensured that any interaction between the rail and bridge due to temperature and rail traffic loads is within the limits specified in UIC 774-3R. The interaction mainly depends on the stiffness of various elements of bridge, resistance offered by track structure to deformation, the continuity of rails and introduction of expansion joints in between them. This current study was carried out for continuous welded rail over Railway Bridge across river Vatrak in Gujarat, India for Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) by adopting different options such as altering the bearing arrangements and introduction of switch expansion joints (SEJ). Rail structure interaction (RSI) analyses were carried out using industry standard finite element method (FEM) software package and also as per the requirements of UIC 774-3R code of practice. The present paper further studies the resulting additional stresses and displacements due to the above RSI analyses for various options to arrive at acceptable solution satisfying UIC 774-3R codal requirements.

track, continuous welded rails, rail interaction, switch expansion joints, rail free fasteners