Track Design Handbook for Light Rail Transit, Second Edition

The preferred formulas presented in Chapter 5 of the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering are based on a maximum rate of change of acceleration of 0.03 g per second. So, if the maximum lateral acceleration is 0.10 g, the spiral should be long enough that a train traveling at the design speed will take 3.33 seconds to traverse it, i.e.:

0.10 g 0.03 g/sec

= 3.33 seconds

Chapter 5 of the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering allows the jerk rate to rise to an absolute maximum of 0.04 g per second when realigning existing tracks if spiral length is constrained by geographic conditions. However, research associated with the introduction of high-speed passenger rail service in Europe and elsewhere has determined that the jerk rate can be much higheras high as 0.1 g per secondunder controlled circumstances, such as the rigid trackforms noted above. Hence, if both jerk and jerk rate are maximized, the length of the spiral, measured in time, could as little as

0.15 g 0.10 g/sec

= 1.50 seconds

However, spirals that short should only be employed under extraordinary circumstances after exhaustive investigation has documented that nothing else will work. Using the more conservative 3.33 seconds for the spiral length, the actual length of the spiral required is 3.33 seconds multiplied by the speed of the vehicle. Converting to miles per hour [kilometers per hour] the formula may be expressed as
L s (feet) = V(mph)(5280/3600) 3.33 = 4.89V (mph) 1000 L S (meters) = V(km/h) 3600 3.33 [ = 0.925 V(km/h)]

Assuming that 4 inches [115 millimeters] is the maximum allowable superelevation unbalance, a formula to determine the length of the spiral necessary to ensure passenger comfort can therefore be stated as:
Ls =

4.89 VEu or L s = 1.09VEu 4.5

0.925 VEu or Ls = 0.008VEu Ls = 115

As a review, the formulae immediately above are based on the parameters stated earlier: Max Eu = 4.5 inches [115 mm] Max Jerk = 0.10 g Max Jerk Rate = 0.03 g/s

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By contrast, the preferred formula given in the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Ls = 1.63EuV, is based on Max Eu = 3.0 inches [76 mm] Max Jerk = 0.10 g Max Jerk Rate = 0.03 g/s and the alternate acceptable AREMA formula, Ls = 1.22 EuV, is based on Max Eu = 3.0 inches [76 mm] Max Jerk = 0.10 g Max Jerk Rate = 0.04 g/s By carefully considering the ramifications of higher values of Eu, jerk, and jerk rate, it is possible to derive even shorter spirals. For example, if lateral acceleration is allowed to rise to 0.15 g (equivalent to 9 inches [230 mm] of unbalance less vehicle roll) and a jerk rate of 0.1 g/s is accepted, the formulae above would become:

Ls =

1.71 VE u or L s = 0.29 VE u 9.0 - 1.5

0.417 L s = 190 VEu or L s = 0.002VEu

As noted above, such extraordinarily short spirals should be used only after extensive investigation and documentation and only in embedded or direct fixation trackforms, where geometric deterioration is virtually impossible. Ordinary alignment work should use either the Ls = 1.09 VEu formula or its S.I. units equivalent. 3.2.5.4.2 Length Based upon Actual Superelevation This criterion evaluates twist of the vehicle measured over the distance between the trucks. AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 5, gives the following formula for determining the length of an easement spiral curve: Ls = 62 Ea [Ls = 0.75 Ea]

where Ls is in feet [meters] and Ea is in inches [millimeters]. The only variable in this AREMA formula is the actual superelevation; theres no consideration of speed. The factor of 62 in the U.S. traditional units version of the equation was empirically derived by one of the AREMAs predecessor organizations based on two considerations: 62 feet [19 meters] is roughly the distance between the trucks on a conventional passenger railroad car that is 85 feet [26 meters] long. Observations of such equipment revealed that satisfactory vehicle behavior could be ensured if the difference in track crosslevel from one truck to the other was limited to 1 inch [25 mm] or less. String Lining, the time-honored method for realigning railroad curves, is based on middle ordinate offset distances measured from the outer rail to the midpoint of 62-foot long chords.

Hence, by defining superelevation in terms of 62-foot increments, the AREMA formula used dimensions that were already very familiar to American trackmen. At the time when these

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Track Design Handbook for Light Rail Transit, Second Edition

guidelines we developed, much of the field supervision of track construction and maintenance was done by persons who might have had a high school education at most. Hence, unambiguous simplicity was best. For 6 inches [150 millimeters] of Ea, this AREMA formula produces a spiral 372 feet [113 meters] long. This results in a minimum ratio of superelevation change across truck centers of 1:744. This is an empirical value that accounts for track crosslevel tolerances, car suspension type, and fatigue stresses on the vehicle sills. Also note that the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering formula is applicable to both passenger and freight cars. Light rail vehicles have a far greater range of suspension travel than freight or intercity passenger cars. The magnitude of the LRV frame twist is relatively small compared to the nominal LRV suspension movement. The maximum actual superelevation runoff rate and minimum ratio of superelevation change across truck centers are thus not fixed values, but are functions of the LRV truck center distance. The twist-based formula is effectively based on the ability of the vehicle trucks to rotate in a vertical plane relative to the carbody they support. However, truck centers in light rail vehicles are much shorter than in railroad passenger cars. Hence, it is possible to replace the 62 feet in the traditional U.S. units version of the formula with the truck centers of the light rail vehicle. Most light rail vehicles have truck center distances in the range of 25 to 30 feet [8 to 9 meters]. Hence the value of 62 can be replaced by 30. More commonly, a value of 31 is used, half of 62, effectively hearkening back to the time-honored practice of curve string lining. Hence, a traditional formula that appears in many LRT design criteria manuals is Ls = 31 Ea [Ls = 0.38 Ea] However, the development of low-floor light rail vehicles with independently rotating wheels has changed the issues. Trucks with solid axles and conventional suspensions are generally sufficiently loose vertically to equalize the load on all four wheels when the track is twisting. The new trucks under low-floor cars are not necessarily as limber. It is therefore necessary to consider the short twist between one axle and the next on the same truck. The requirements vary by truck design, but, in general, the builders of low-floor cars require that track twist be limited to an appreciably greater degree than suggested by the traditional formulae above. A guideline that appears in some European criteria is that twist should not exceed a ratio of 1:400, as in 1 mm of crosslevel difference in 400 mm of track length. That works out to the following version of the equations: Ls = 33.3 Ea [Ls = 0.40 Ea] One U.S. transit property, having had appreciable problems with derailments of the center trucks of their partial low-floor LRVs, determined that part of the resolution was to establish a maintenance standard stipulating that superelevation transitions and other track twist situations should be no greater than 7/8 inch in 31 feet [about 22 mm in 9.45 meters]. That would be equivalent to Ls = 35.4 Ea [Ls = 0.425 Ea]

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However, that threshold is a maintenance standard, not a design and construction criterion. It therefore implies the threshold at which corrective maintenance actions are required and is not a desired design criterion to which the track should initially be constructed. One very large international carbuilder, so as to accommodate their 100% low-floor LRVs, stipulates that track twist should not result in a difference in gradient between one rail and the other greater than 0.2%. Using that as a guideline, the formulae above become Ls = 41.7 Ea [Ls = 0.50 Ea] resulting in minimum spirals about 33% longer than those required by the traditional formula. At the opposite end of the spectrum are various designs of vintage streetcars, such as operate on many legacy and heritage trolley operations. Data from San Francisco Muni suggest that their heritage PCC cars can reliably negotiate track twist about twice as severe as the traditional formula. However, while it may be tempting to use such values for a proposed heritage streetcar line, doing so is not recommended. The guideway on any rail transit line is far more permanent than any rolling stock that might run over it. Accordingly, the track alignment designer must anticipate that even if the rail transit service is initiated with rolling stock that is quite limber with respect to twist, it is very likely that some more restrictive vehicle might be used at some future date. A real danger is the possibility that the persons involved in that future vehicle procurement might not realize there is a twist limitation in the track. Sharp horizontal curves are visually apparent; high values of twist are more subtle and hence more likely to be overlooked as an existing condition to which a new LRV must comply. As a guideline, the following are recommended for defining minimum spiral length as a function of track twist: Desired minimum (Also, the absolute minimum for LRT tracks shared with freight trains): Ls = 62 Ea [Ls = 0.75 Ea] Absolute minimum for systems using 100% low-floor LRVs or which might use such cars in the future: Ls = 41.7 Ea [Ls = 0.50 Ea] The formula above can also be considered as an acceptable minimum for systems using only high-floor LRVs with solid axles. The absolute minimum for systems using high-floor LRVs and which cannot reasonably ever use low-floor cars because of infrastructure constraints (such as train-length high level platforms in subways) would be Ls = 31 Ea [Ls = 0.38 Ea]

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Track Design Handbook for Light Rail Transit, Second Edition

As with all criteria, use of absolute minimums is discouraged, and the track designer should use greater values whenever possible. Deliberate twist in the track can occur not only in superelevation transitions but also in embedded track whenever the track crosslevel transitions from a normal pavement crown (typically 2%) to a zero cross slope condition, such as might occur in advance of special trackwork. The requisite length of such twist transitions should be calculated in the same fashion as for spiraled superelevation transitions. In cases where the deck of an aerial structure is twisted so as to create a superelevated condition, the deck twisting will alter the profile grade line of the track and create additional actual superelevation in the track. So as to avoid rapid vertical accelerations, this induced superelevation, plus the normal Ea, needs to be factored into the determination of the minimum spiral lengths. 3.2.5.4.3 Length Based upon Both Actual Superelevation and Speed Prior to 1962, the AREMA (then AREA) Manual for Railway Engineering included only one formula for minimum spiral length. It considered how actual superelevation and train speed affected rotational acceleration as the rail vehicle was entering the curve. However, testing during the 1950s revealed that this formula, which ignored superelevation unbalance, could result in spirals with jerk rates in excess of the desired maximum. Because of this, the old formula based on Ea and V was dropped and replaced with those currently in the manual.[8], [9], [10] A decade later, the Federal Railroad Administration implemented the Track Safety Standards, formally known as 49 CFR 213. Among many other things, the FRA standards establish safety criteria for the maximum allowable track twist at various track classes, each class being based on maximum allowable train speed. Track twist can be the result of superelevation transitions, track that is out of crosslevel, or both. Based on the FRAs minimum standards and other factors, each railroad establishes their own criteria for track safety, maintenance, and construction. The construction standards are based on what is achievable when building track so as to provide better than the minimum desired ride quality results at a given speed. The maintenance standards establish a threshold at which corrective action is recommended so as to keep ride quality above a desirable level. Safety standards establish a threshold at which either corrective action or a reduction in train speed is mandatory. Amtrak has a very comprehensive set of such standards in their field handbook, Limits and Specifications for the Safety, Maintenance and Construction of Track (MW-1000).[16] The values that Amtrak uses for twist in new track construction are based on the FRA track speed classifications. The track class of most interest for purposes of rail transit design is Class 3, which accommodates passenger rolling stock at up to 60 mph [97 km/h]. For Class 3, MW-1000, Subpart C, Paragraph 59.1, requires the design value of twist to be no greater than a inch in 31 feet [13 mm in 9.45 meters]. Plugging those values into a equation in the format of Ls = f V Ea and solving for f results in Ls = 1.03 V Ea [Ls = 0.0076 V Ea]

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where Ls = spiral length in feet [meters] V = speed in mph [km/h] Ea = actual superelevation in inches [mm] In contrast to that, the MW-1000 criteria for Class 9 track (200 mph) allows twist to be up to only a inch per 31 feet [6mm in 9.34 meters]. However, because of the much higher train speed, that actually allows twist to occur over a much shorter period of time and resolves into the following formulae: Ls = 0.62 V Ea [Ls = 0.0046 V Ea]

The smaller value of f in that equation results in shorter spirals than those required by the MW1000 at slower speeds. This apparent conundrum is because the specified rates of change of crosslevel per length of track are already extremely conservative compared to the FRA safety limits. Use of the more conservative rates could, at extremely high speeds, result in impossibly long spirals. One European standard[17] (as promulgated by LibeRTiN, the Light Rail Thematic Network) stipulates that acceptable track twist (including superelevation transitions) can be related to track speed in terms of a ratio in the following format: 1:10 V This essentially dictates that the longitudinal distance (in millimeters) necessary to achieve 1 mm of crosslevel is equal to 10 times the velocity (in km/h). This formula is proposed for speeds greater than 30 km/h; at lower speeds a straight 1:300 ratio is proposed. If the LibeRTiN formula is expressed in the format of Ls = f V Ea, substituting 300 mm for Ls, 1 mm for Ea, and 30 km/h for V and converting each of those into feet, inches, and mph respectively, results in a value of f = 1.34. Hence, the LibeRTiN formula can be expressed in the following form: Ls = 1.34 V Ea where Ls = the spiral length in feet [meters] Ea = the actual superelevation in inches [millimeters] V = train speed in mph [km/h] As a guideline, the following formulae are suggested for minimum spiral lengths when considering both actual superelevation and speed: Desired minimum: Ls = 1.34 V Ea Acceptable minimum: Ls = 1.03 V Ea Absolute minimum: Ls = 0.62 V Ea [Ls = 0.0046 V Ea] [Ls = 0.0076 V Ea] [Ls = 0.0100 V Ea] [Ls = 0.0100 V Ea]

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