Keywords: track buckling, rail stress, monitoring, alignment, restressing, continuous welded rail, business intelligence tool.

The East Japan Railway Company is committed to preventing track buckling incidents through track maintenance and to ensure safe and punctual transportation. To prevent such incidents, the maintenance department conducts inspection of continuous welded rail (i.e., inspection to estimate rail axial force based on rail-creep measured relative to fixed points along both sides of the track) and performs restressing of continuous welded rail as necessary. The aim of this maintenance work is to provide appropriate tension to the rails, thereby preventing track buckling in periods of extreme heat and rail breakage that may occur in the colder winter months. However, these inspections alone have not been sufficient to eliminate the occurrence of track buckling within our jurisdiction. Consequently, this study was to investigate the practicality of monitored alignment data to identify precursors to track buckling as a supplementary measure. Analysis of alignment data showed trends of increasing irregularities with rising seasonal temperatures, enabling accident prevention before track buckling occurs. A business intelligence (BI) tool based on these findings has been implemented in our service area, and this paper describes its role in the overall management system.

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