GEOMETRIC DESIGN 2– GMD 711S

RAILWAY ALIGNMENT AND GEOMETRIC

DESIGN
 RAILWAY ALIGNMENT AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN
• Railway alignment involves two components;
– Railway route – The places where the railway line passes,
– Geometric features – The geometry of the railway line,
• Horizontal Alignment, and
• Vertical Alignment

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 RAILWAY ALIGNMENT AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN
• Basic requirements of the railway alignment
– Purpose of the new line
– Integrated developments
– Shortest route
– Maximum safety and comfort
– Economic considerations
• Minimum cost of construction – (Construction cost)
• Minimum cost of operation – (Operational cost)
• Minimum cost of maintenance – (Maintenance cost)

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 RAILWAY ALIGNMENT AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN
• Therefore when planning and selecting the alignment, it is important to consider;
– Important cities and towns
– Major crossings and bridges
– Mountainous sites
– Problematic land areas
– Cost of the land
• Design elements for the geometric design include;
– Horizontal alignment
o Tangent sections (straight sections)
o Circular curves (radius of curve and degree of curve)
o Superelevation (or cant)
o Transition curves
o Widening of track (on horizontal curves)
o Track
Geometric Design and platform clearances
2 – GMD 711S 4
 RAILWAY ALIGNMENT AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN
• Design elements for the geometric design include;
– Vertical alignment
o Gradients
o Vertical curves
o Grade compensation
• Geometric design of railway is important for the following reasons;
– Smooth and safe running of trains
– Maximum speed
– Allow for heavy axle loads
– Avoid accidents and derailments
– Less maintenance efforts
– Aesthetics
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 HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
• Important elements of horizontal alignment
– Circular curves
– Superelevation
– Transition curves
1. HORIZONTAL CIRCULAR CURVES
• These are used to provide a change of direction of movement as seen on the plan
• Care is to be taken when introducing horizontal curves for;
– Possibility of derailment or overturning
– Unequal distribution of load
– Prevent the use of heavy locomotives (rigid base)
– Running not smooth due to curve resistances

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 HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
• For these reasons, curves should not be provided at the following locations
– Bridges and their approaches
– Tunnels and their approaches
– Viaducts and their approaches
– Level crossings
– Deep cuttings
– Steep gradients
– Approaches to the stations
• A curve is described or designated by its
– Radius, or
– Degree of curve
• The chord definition for the Degree of Curve is used for railway engineering
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 THE ARC DEFINITION OF THE DEGREE OF CURVE
• The degree of curve is the central angle formed by an arc of 100 feet long at
the centre of the circle (100 m arc has also been used)
• This definition is commonly used in highway design
• Degree of curve and Radius of a circle

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 THE CHORD DEFINITION OF THE DEGREE OF CURVE
• The degree of curve is the central angle formed by two radii drawn
from the centre of the circle to the ends of a chord 100 feet long (or
100 meters)
• This definition is commonly used in railway practice
• Relating Degree of curve and Radius of a circle

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 THE CHORD DEFINITION OF THE DEGREE OF CURVE
• EXAMPLE:
• Determine the radii of circular curves whose curvatures are;
a. 1o15’00”
b. 3o36’00”

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 THE VERSINE OF A CURVE
• A versine of a curve is the longest distance of the curve from its long chord
(distance between the midpoint of a curve and the midpoint of its long
chord)
• The versine is the perpendicular distance of the midpoint of a chord from the
arc of a circle
• It is another useful parameter in railways horizontal alignment design
• Relating Degree of curve and Radius of a circle

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 THE VERSINE OF A CURVE

• As v is small, it is normally measured in centimetres. The equation

above becomes;
12.5c2
• v=
R
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 THE VERSINE OF A CURVE

• When a defined length of the chord (e.g. 20m) is used in the field
the degree of curve can be calculated if the value of the versine is
measured
• The normal practice is to use a length of 11.83 m, which makes D =
v when v is measured in centimetres

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• Definition of cant
– This is the difference in the height between the outer and the inner rail on a horizontal
curve
• It is provided on a curve by raising an outer rail over the inner rail
• This is done in order to eliminate or reduce the effect of centrifugal force as the train
traverses the horizontal curve, which;
– Exerts horizontal force on the outer rail and so increasing load on it
– Creates unequal distribution of the forces on the rails
• The raising of the outer rail causes the train to exert a force in the inwards direction (i. e.
the centripetal force)
• The inner rail is taken as a reference rail and it is maintained at its original level (control
profile)
• The inner rail is also referred to as the gradient rail
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 FORCES ON A VEHICLE ON A SUPERELEVATED (OR CANTED) TRACK

Force = Mass X Acceleration

Where F = centrifugal force. (
Tones or Tons).
W = weight of the vehicle.
(Tones or Tons)
g = acceleration due to gravity.
( Meter/sec2 or ft/sec2 )
R = radius of curve. (Meter or
feet).
e = superelevation in mm,
V = speed in kmph,
R = Radius of curve in meters,
G = dynamic gauge in mm

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• Objectives of providing cant therefore are;
– To counteract the effects of the centrifugal force
– To provide equal distribution of the wheel loads on both rails
– To provide smooth transit, thus improving passenger comfort
– To reduce wear and tear of the rails and the rolling stock

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• Cant is calculated using a speed referred to as an equilibrium speed of the train
• Decision on what the equilibrium speed should, be lies of the decision of the design
engineer
• One way of determining it is by using of the weighted average speed if trains of multiple
speeds will be expected to use the track
– It can also be decided to be the speed of the most frequent trains
– The weighted average speed is calculated from

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• EXAMPLE 01:
• A curve is designed for 50 trains that pass with daily frequencies
and speeds as shown below. Calculate the weighted average speed
for the section.
Number of Trains 12 10 8 7 5 4 4
Speed (km/h) 55 60 70 75 80 90 100

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• Cant is calculated using a speed referred to as an equilibrium speed of the train
• When a train traverses at a speed higher than equilibrium speed, it will require a higher
value of cant (i.e. higher than the cant for equilibrium speed)
• The difference between the two values of the cant is called Cant Deficiency
– This deficiency means that there is an extra centrifugal force which is not counteracted
by the cant
– Therefore cant deficiency must be limited otherwise it may result in the overturning of
the faster moving trains

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• For a train that traverses at a speed lower than equilibrium speed, it will
require a lower value of cant
• The difference between the two values of the cant is called Cant Excess
– This results in a higher centripetal force on the train causing the train to lean
towards the inside of the curve
NEGATIVE CANT
• This happens on a branch line when it meets a main line at a curve

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 PROVISION OF THE SUPERELEVATION (OR CANT)
• EXAMPLE 02:
• A standard gauge railway track is designed for train speed of 120
km/h. A 3.5 degree curve is suggested to be used at some point.
Calculate the cant needed for the trains to travel along the curve
without reducing the speed.

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 TRANSITION CURVES
• These are curves used to connect the straight section of the track (tangent) at one end and
the circular curve at the other end
• This eliminates the ‘kink’ formed when a circular section (of finite radius) is directly
connected to straight section (of infinite radius)
• Such a kink will;
– Cause distortion of the track alignment
– Affect the stability of the rolling stock
– Cause discomfort as the train enters or leaves the curve (the jerking of the train; its
magnitude depends on the speed of the train and the radius of the curve)
• For these reasons, transition curves are provided so as;
– To reduce the radius of curvature at a uniform rate (from infinity at a tangent to the a
finite radius of a circular curve, R)
– To allow smooth traversing of the train
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 TRANSITION CURVES
• For these reasons, transition curves are provided so as;
– To allow smooth traversing of the train
• Uniform introduction of the centrifugal force and vice versa
– To provide a platform to introduce or provide cant at a constant rate
• To be able to fulfill these transition curves need to meet the following
requirements;
– They must be tangential to the straight line of the track
– They have to join the circular curves tangentially
– The curvature should increase at the same rate as the cant that is being
introduced
– The length should be adequate to attain the full superelevation

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 THE NEED FOR THE TRANSITION CURVE

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
• Vertical alignment has two important elements;
– Gradients
– Vertical curves
1. VERTICAL CURVES
• These are curves provided in the vertical plane to connect two tangents of
different gradients
• They may take one of the two shapes;
– A Summit (or Crest) Curve
– A Sag (or Valley) Curve
• They are to be provided where algebraic difference between the grades is
greater than or equals to 0.4%
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 TYPES OF VERTICAL CURVES – SUMMIT CURVES

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 TYPES OF VERTICAL CURVES – SAG CURVES

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
• Unlike the case of highway design, sight distance is not a criterion used to determine the length of
the vertical curves for railways
• Two aspects have been used in the design of vertical curves;
– The rate of change of gradient per station (30.5 m or 100 ft station)
• 0. 10% for crest on main track
• 0. 05% for sag on main track
– The vertical acceleration (new approach)
• For passenger railways (Urban RT), comfort is the main factor considered
– Vertical acceleration used is 0.183 m/s2 (0.6 ft/s2)
• For freight railways, lower vertical acceleration of 0.0305 ms‐2 (0.1 ft/s2) is used to avoid stresses
on couplings (especially in sag curves)
• Different approaches (equations) have been used to calculate lengths of the railway vertical curves
• Modern couplers can accommodate shorter vertical curves and railway agencies have modified
equations to find the lengths of the curves
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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
• It is a common approach to calculate the length based on circular curve
• L = Rθ
L is the length of vertical curve
R is the radius of vertical curve (minimum values being defined)
θ is the difference in percentage of gradients
• However the shape of the curve is parabolic (quadratic parabola)
• For practical purposes, provision of vertical curves should avoid;
– Overlapping of the vertical curves
– Vertical curves within turnouts
– Vertical curves within the limits of horizontal curves

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
2. GRADIENTS
• These are used to accommodate the rise or fall in the level of the railway track
• Gradients can be either;
– Rising gradient, which rises the track in the direction of movement (normally taken to
be positive)
– Falling gradient, which causes the track to go down in the direction of movement
(normally taken to be negative)
• In railway engineering, four types of gradients are distinguished;
– Ruling Gradient
– Momentum Gradient
– Pusher (or Helper) Gradient
– Station Yard Gradients

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
2. GRADIENTS
a. Ruling Gradient
• This is basically the design gradient in a section (i.e. steepest gradient)
• It determines by the maximum load a locomotive can haul with the maximum permissible
speed
• The power of the locomotive that will be put into service on the track plays an important
role in making a decision on the ruling gradient
– The locomotive must have sufficient power to haul the whole load over the ruling
gradient at the maximum permissible speed
• Once it is specified for a given section then all other gradients should be flatter than the
ruling gradient (after making compensation for curvature)
• Consideration on the ruling gradient should also be on its length

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
2. GRADIENTS
b. Momentum Gradient
• This is a gradient steeper than the ruling gradient in a section
• Where this gradient is provided, it should be preceded by a falling gradient or plain track for a
train to gain momentum
• This momentum gives additional kinetic energy for it to rise such gradient (for a certain length
of the track)
• On sections with such gradients, obstructions like signals should not be provided to stop the
train
c. Pusher (or Helper) Gradient
• This is a steep gradient that requires an extra locomotive to push the train
• Such gradients may be provided in mountainous or hilly areas to reduce the overall cost by;
– Avoiding heavy cutting (hence reducing construction cost)
– Reducing the length of the railway line
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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
2. GRADIENTS
d. Station Yard Gradient
• These are gradients provided in the station yards
• The main purpose of these gradients is to drain the rain water
• Gradients in the station yards are made very flat in order to avoid;
– Wagons from rolling and moving away due to strong winds and the effects
of gravity
– The extra effort needed to start a locomotive (from rest)
• Flat gradients of 1 in 400 to 1 in 1000 can be used

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
3. GRADE COMPENSATION
• Track profile may result in additional resistances a train has to overcome
• These can be due to either;
– Gradient – Resulting in Grade Resistance, or
– Curves – Resulting in Curve Resistance
• If the two features (gradient and horizontal curve) are provided together, there will be a
substantial amount of extra pull needed to overcome these tractive resistances
• For this reason, a gradient on a curved portion of a track is normally reduced in the ruling
gradient
• This is called Grade Compensation whose aim is to allow a train to maintain its speed
• A gradient after compensation becomes flatter than the ruling gradient
• Grade compensation is expressed as percentage per degree of curve

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
3. GRADE COMPENSATION
• EXAMPLE:
• Grade compensation on standard gauge tacks is 0.04% per degree of curve.
• Calculate the steepest gradient on a 2o curve if the ruling gradient is 1 in 200.

• Ruling gradient: = 1 in 200 = 0.5% = 0.005

• Compensation for 2o curve: = 0.04 x 2 = 0.08% = 0.0008
• Compensated gradient: = 0.5% ‐ 0.08%= 0.42% = 0.0042 = 42 in 10 000 = 1 in 238

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
4. TRACK CLEARANCES
• Clearances are necessary for safe operations
• Clearance envelope for the size of the train is based on dimensions of;
– Locomotives
– Wagons
– Potential large loads
 The requirements for clearances are set by the railway agencies
 For horizontal Clearance:
• It is constant along tangent track
• Additional clearance are required in;
– Curves for car end swing and car overhang
– Superelevated tracks to provide room for cant

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 VERTICAL ALIGNMENT OF RAILWAYS
4. TRACK CLEARANCES
For vertical clearance:
• It is constant along tangent track
• Additional clearance are required;
• In sag vertical curves
• In superelevated tracks
• For specialised equipment (e.g. double‐deck passenger coaches)
• To provide threshold for future track maintenance and equipment changes

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 RAILWAY STATIONS AND YARDS

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
• A railway station is a rail facility built to allow trains to regularly stop to load or unload
passengers and/or freight
• There is a range of objectives for providing the railway stations, which include;
– Exchange (i.e. loading and unloading) of passengers and goods/freight
– Controlling the movements of trains
– Allowing trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other on single line tracks
– Allow faster trains to overtake slower ones
– Refuelling the locomotives and replenishing amenities for the passengers like water
and food
– Attach or detaching coaches or wagons to trains
– Providing facilities for changing of locomotives and train crew/staff
– Providing facilities for repairing the engines and changing their directions
– To enable sorting out of wagons and coaches to form new trains
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 RAILWAY STATIONS
• There is a range of objectives for providing the railway stations, which include;
– Providing facilities and give shelter to passengers in the case of emergencies such as
floods and accidents, which may disrupt traffic
• To be able to perform the functions or meet their objectives, stations need to be provided
with various requirements, which include
– Requirements for the passenger
• Waiting rooms and retiring rooms,
• Refreshment rooms and tea stalls,
• Enquiry and reservation offices (i.e. ticket office" or "booking office), (Sometimes)
Ticket machines
• Bathrooms and toilets,
• Drinking water supply,
• Platform and platform sheds,
• Access roads and parking
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 RAILWAY STATIONS
• To be able to perform the functions or meet their objectives,
stations need to be provided with various requirements, which
include
– Requirements for traffic
• Goods sheds and platforms,
• Station buildings for accommodation and offices
• Signals and signal cabins,
• Reception and departure lines and sidings,
– Requirements for the locomotives, coaches, and wagons
• Locomotive shed(s),
• Fuelling and watering facilities,
• Turntable,
• Inspection
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 RAILWAY STATIONS
• The amount and type of the requirements provided will depend on the type
of the station in question (including the number of signals required)
• Railway stations can be classified according to their;
– Operations ‐ Operational considerations where stations are divided into
• Block stations

• Non‐block stations

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
1. Block stations
• These are stations where drivers have to get permission to proceed
• This ensures suitable intervals are provided between the running trains
(An example of minimum signal requirements for a block station (for passengers)

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
2. Non‐block stations
 These are stations that are located between two block stations
 May not be provided with equipment or staff for controlling the movements
of the trains
 Trains can be stopped by flag signals only
• The second method of classifying railway stations is according to their;
– Functions ‐ Functional considerations where stations are divided into
• Wayside stations
• Junction stations
• Terminal stations

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
1. Wayside stations
• These are of the following types
– Halt stations
• They are the simplest type of stations where trains can stop on the
railway lines (i.e. may not be provided with sidings)
• They also do not have yards, station buildings or staff
• Few selected passenger trains normally stop for short time at these
stations
– Flag stations
• These are more important as stop‐over for trains than a halt
• They are provided with station buildings and staff
• They may be provided with sidings for wagons destined to a station
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 RAILWAY STATIONS

1. Wayside stations
• These are of the following types
– Crossing stations
• These are stations that are provided with facilities for crossing
• They are important stations on single track systems
• They are provided with at least one loop line to allow another train if one track is
already occupied by a waiting train
• Normally a waiting train is kept on the loop line to allow a through train to pass on
the main line

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
2. Junction stations
• These are stations where three
or more lines from different
directions meet (i.e. two or
more rail routes meet)
• Such a station can be a
terminating station or an
en‐route station
• It is important to provide
facilities for interchange of
traffic between the main line
and branch line(s) at these
stations
Geometric Design 2 – GMD 711S DÜSSELDORF HAUPTBAHNHOF – A JUNCTION 47
STATION
 DÜSSELDORF MAIN STATION (HAUPTBAHNHOF)

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
3. Terminal stations
• These are stations where a railway line or one of its branches terminates (the
later is also referred to as terminal junction)
• In such stations, receiving lines terminate in dead ends
• Provision for the locomotive of the arriving train to turn around and move to
the rear of the train need to be made

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 RAILWAY STATIONS
3. Terminal stations
• At the stations, the sidings may also be provided with;
– Derailing devices
• This may be provided in the form of the switch or blocks, which do not
allow a rolling stock to go beyond it
• Example
– Sand humps
– Fouling marks

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 STUTTGART MAIN RAILWAY STATION (HAUPTBAHNHOF)

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 INFRONT OF THE RAILWAY STATION

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 STATION PLATFORMS
• These are areas provided along the rail tracks at railway stations, metro
stations or tram stops, used by passengers to board or alight from trains or
trams
• They may be provided as low‐level, rail‐level or high‐level platforms
• Larger stations with a large number of sidings, multiple platforms are
provided
• The height of rail level platforms coincides with the rail level
• Platforms are also provided for goods (goods platforms)
• Platforms need to be long enough to accommodate the longest passenger
train
• It is common to provide a ramp at both ends of the platform of suitable slope
(e.g. 1:6)
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 HIGH LEVEL PLATFORM

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 LOW LEVEL PLATFORM AT TRAM STATION

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 RAILWAY YARDS
• This is an area consisting of a network of railway tracks, sidings, and
sheds for storing, maintaining, and joining locomotives and
carriages

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Geometric Design 2 – GMD 711S 57