Keywords: software, track works, forecast, track equipment, speed restrictions, continuous welded rail.

Until this year, maintenance track works affecting stability on continuous welded rails (CWR) were forbidden during the "hot season" (a period of the year arbitrarily defined from meteorological observations, depending from the region) on the French network. However, meteorological observations show that high critical temperatures may be reached outside of the "hot season" and, on the contrary, during many weeks during the "hot season" (especially on rainy weather) the risk for CWR is very reduced and even non-existent. Further to these considerations, it was decided to allow maintenance track works during the whole year, but with technical restrictions (survey, speed restrictions, etc.) linked to the real rail temperature, track equipment and layout of the line.

Decision making tools were realised during recent years for the short term maximum rail temperature forecast (for the present day from the morning value), middle term forecasts (for the coming thirteen days), and long term forecasts (any day of any year). Many publications have already been presented on this subject [1,2,3]

For completing these works and give to the person in charge of maintenance all the necessary elements to minimise the risks before beginning maintenance track works (from years before and during the scheduling phase as well as up to the beginning of the works), a software was developed.

This software CALEPIN (CAlcul Lrs En Période d'Intervention) allows the integration of all existing softwares, and all standards in a single software, according to the following scheme:

• Configuration by the operator of the concerned track works (date, type and location),
• Automatic download of data from the databases (track equipment and layout of the line),
• Verification by the operator of data coherence, possible corrections, and addition of singular points,
• Verification by the software of the conformity of the track equipment to the SNCF standard, and graphic display (with no automated processing in the case of non-conformity)
• Processing for each area and period of temperature thresholds (thresholds implying survey and speed restrictions).

In a second step, software for rail temperature forecasts will also be integrated in Calepin to give a direct quantification of the risk towards CWR stability. A first "beta" version of the software will be deployed on an experimental site during the spring of 2012.

1

P. Pouligny, E. Laurans, L. Girardi, J. Colibri, "Improving track stability and track maintenance operations through enhanced air and rail temperature forecasts", World Congress in Rail Research, Paris 2011.

2

L. Girardi, D. Boulanger, J. Colibri, M. Fumey, C. Mangone, P. Pouligny, J.M. Balabaud, J.M. Pissot, J. Plu, "Long and short term rail temperature forecasts for track works planning and rail stress control", International Heavy Haul Association Conference, Calgary 2011.

3

L. Girardi, D. Boulanger, E. Laurans, P. Pouligny, Y. Xu, J. Colibri, "Rail temperature forecasts over different time-ranges for track applications", 5th IET Conference on Railway Condition Monitoring and Non-Destructive Testing, Derby 2011. doi:10.1049/cp.2011.0609

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