Transition zones are amongst the major causes for disruption of the railway infrastructure. The project IN2ZONE aims at improving the availability of railway infrastructure, by laying the foundation for the design of the next generation of railway transition zones for the next 40 years. The innovation potential of IN2ZONE is shown in the following table:
Redefine the design,
construction and operation of transition zones
IN2ZONE will investigate the development of novel modular transition zones that
are fast/straightforward to install and upgrade. This will lead to a reduction of the costs associated with the construction and operational cost of transition zones
Maintenance free transition
With the self-correcting principles developed in IN2ZONE, the need for transition
zone maintenance will be greatly reduced. Further, the condition monitoring system will help realise just-in-time maintenance
Reduce the environmental
impact and carbon footprint of transition zones
IN2ZONE aims to use new materials transition zone construction, including many
that are recycled (e.g. reclaimed asphalt pavement). This will lead to a reduction of the environmental impact and carbon footprint of transition zones, whilst improving
the resilience against the challenges posed by climate change.
numerical model of transition zones
The numerical model developed in the project will be validated and adjusted with
experimental results from a real transition zone built under laboratory conditions. This will allow, for the first time, to have a numerical model of transition zones,
that is fully validated on a set of controlled full scale laboratory experiments.
Digital revolution on railway
IN2ZONE will develop a condition-based monitoring specification that facilitates
an “Industry 4.0” application. This has the potential to be the starting point for the digital revolution within the railway infrastructure sector, that will ultimately lead to smart railway infrastructure.
Enabling technologies in
railway infrastructure: data assimilation and multisensory
The development of an embedded/integrated automatic monitoring system for
transition zones that combines sensor data at various spatial and temporal scales while reducing uncertainty by using data assimilation techniques such as multi- sensor data fusion. Combined with advanced numerical modelling of the railway track and subsoil this integrated approach will provide a continuous assessment of the performance of transition zones.