In accordance with the Work Plan of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock for 2022, on 4-6 May 2022, an expert meeting was held in the videoconferencing mode on subtopic 2.2 “Consideration of a set of issues on the track formation and engineering structures” of subject 2 “Railway track and engineering structures”, which was attended by the representatives from the following OSJD railways: Byelorussian Railway (BC), National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC, Republic of Bulgaria), “Hungarian State Railways” Co. (MAV Co.), “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company” JSC (“KTZ NC” JSC), Railway of Moldova State Enterprise (CFM), Russian Railways OJSC (RZD OJSC), Railways of Slovak Republic (ŽSR), Railway Infrastructure Administration of the Czech Republic (SŽ), as well as by the representatives from the OSJD Committee.

Under the agenda, the meeting participants deliberated a number of issues related to the use of new technologies in the construction, operation and maintenance of elements of track formation and engineering structures.

Development of the information material on the subject “Use of drones to monitor the engineering structures”

As a leading duty holder – MAV Co. delivered its information material on the subject “Use of drones to monitor engineering structures”, in which it was narrated in detail about the history of the use of drones, as well as their timely use in the railway sector.

The information material included the experimental use of drones in practice for the inspection and monitoring of the technical condition of bridges and assessing the consequences of railway track destruction by mud stream on the MAV Co. network; the economic advantage of using drones; the legal regulation of use of drones and technical conditions for their application.

Presentation of the information material on the subject “Protective structures for the railway tracks (protective fences, protective safety nets)”

The experts were made acquainted with the information material by the leading duty holder – ŽSR on this subject, taking into account the types of structures and materials used in the technological process, etc.

The ŽSR representatives informed the meeting participants in detail about the scope of application of protective structures on the sections of Railways of the Slovak Republic. The experts pointed out that the issue was relevant in those countries in which railways run through the mountainous terrain.

The meeting participants included the continuation of work on the given subject in the draft Work Plan of the OSJD Commission for 2023, supplementing the information material with some data on the functioning structures and the structures that were in use, received from the railways participating in subtopic 2.2.

Continuation of work on the information material on the subject “Conditions for rolling stock running on the railway bridges and determining the traffic speed depending on the technical condition”

Due to the fact that it was impossible for the leading duty holder – the “Ukrzaliznytsia” JSC to continue its work on the information material on the said subject, the meeting participants proposed to put off its deliberation until 2023, having included work on the given subject in the draft Work Plan of the OSJD Commission for 2023.

The final decision of the “Ukrzaliznytsia” JSC will be taken at the annual meeting of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock (8-10 November 2022).

Drafting a leaflet with the working name “Recommendations for the use of noise barrier walls, their design, functionality and operation”

The leading duty holder – SŽ (Railway Infrastructure Administration of the Czech Republic) submitted a draft leaflet developed in collaboration with ŽSR, which describes the types of noise barrier walls, the acoustic requirements and their assessment methods, the elements of structures and the particulars of technical parameters as well as the work and maintenance experience in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.

In the course of the discussion held, the meeting participants approved the contents of the draft leaflet and suggested that it should be finalised by adding to it illustrative pictures containing basic parameters and solution versions of operational tasks in terms of noise barrier walls.

The experts continued their work on the draft leaflet “Recommendations for the use of noise barrier walls, their design, functionality and operation”, having included this work into the draft Work Plan for 2023.

Examination of the current leaflets on subtopic in terms of their applicability and relevance

The leading duty holder – MAV Co. submitted its generalised material that includes information on examination of the current leaflets under subtopic 2.2 “Consideration of a set of issues on the track formation and engineering structures” of subject 2 “Railway track and engineering structures” in terms of their applicability and relevance, taking into account comments and proposals submitted by NRIC, “KTZ NC” JSC and RZD OJSC.

The information material is a detailed examination conducted on the leaflets under subtopic 2.2, taking into account their applicability on the railways participating in the subtopic.

The experts invited the railways to send their comments so that the leading duty holder MAV Co. should be able to finalise the received comments in order to submit to the OSJD Commission working body and those participating in subtopic 2.2 for consideration the consolidated finalised version of the examination of the cur- rent leaflets under subtopic 2.2 before 1 September 2022, which would be further deliberated at the annual meeting of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock.

Continuation of work on the information material under subject “Laying of cable routing in the existing track formation and the railway track sections being newly constructed” (in view of practical experience)

The leading duty holder – SŽ (Railway Infrastructure Administration of the Czech Republic) submitted its information material regarding this subject, which included a piece of information prepared by the duty holder ŽSR.

The submitted material contained a practical experience and solution for the laying of cable routes on the newly constructed and existing lines of railway infrastructure in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.

The information material also included some solutions for cable routing in the special cases of track formation when it had no required sizes.

Additional conditions for the implementation of such solutions would be produced so that the track formation bearing capacity should be not disturbed.

The expert meeting stated that it took note of the information material that would be applied as recommendations for designing the cable routes in the existing track formation and the railway sections being newly constructed.

Continuation of work on the information material under subject “Repairs of metal superstructures of railway bridges by using welding with high-frequency mechanical peening”

Due to the fact that it was impossible for the leading duty holder – “Ukrzaliznytsia” JSC to continue work on the information material under subject “Repairs of metal superstructures of railway bridges by using welding with high frequency mechanical peening”, the meeting participants proposed putting off its deliberation until 2023, having included work on the given subject in the draft Work Plan of the Commission for 2023.

The final decision of the “Ukrzaliznytsia” JSC will be taken at the annual meeting of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock (8-10 November 2022).

Finalisation of the draft leaflet “Recommendations for ballastless bridge deck structures used on the railway bridges”

Since the leading duty holder – “Ukrzaliznytsia” JSC sent the updated version of the draft leaflet in November 2021, the document did not include the submitted proposals, in particular those from “KTZ NC” JSC, which were accounted due to technical matters.

The meeting experts requested the leading duty holder to take into account the said proposals, but if it was not feasible to do it they suggested that the finalisation of the draft leaflet would be deferred for the next year, having included the given work in the draft Work Plan for 2023.

The meeting participants were informed about the advantages of resources of the OSJD Website, including those within the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, and the work carried out to update the portal of the OSJD Website. The meeting participants held a practical training.

Consideration of proposals made by the railways participating in subtopic 2.2 in order to include them in the draft Work Plan for 2023

The expert meeting discussed and agreed the draft Expert Work Plan on subtopic 2.2 “Consideration of a set of issues on the track formation and engineering structures” of subject 2 “Railway track and engineering structures” for 2023 with its further submission to the annual meeting of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock for consideration and inclusion in the general draft Work Plan of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock for 2023.

The final date and venue of the meeting will be agreed at the annual meeting of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock in November this year.

Other issues

The OSJD received a letter from “KTZ NC” JSC to deliberate the issue of railway track drifting with sand, which was introduced to all experts participating in the meeting.

In the course of discussion, the experts suggested as follows:

- as no experience is available in this issue under subtopic 2.2., the experts recommended the working body of the OSJD Commission to request all the OSJD railways for their advisory opinions of the fight against sand drifts of the railway track;

- it is recommended transmitting a request to international organisations dealing with similar issues, such as UNESCAP, OTIF, UIC and other.

The experts also addressed the PKP JSC to resume the work of PKP PLK representatives in expert meetings on subtopic 2.2.