Train and track interactions during services normally generate substantial forces on railway tracks. Such forces are transient by nature and of relatively large magnitude and are referred to as impact loading. There has been no comprehensive review of the typical characteristics of the loading conditions for railway track structures, in particular, impact loads due to the wheel/rail interaction, published in the literature. This paper presents a review of basic design concepts for railway tracks, abnormalities on tracks, and a variety of typical dynamic impact loadings imparted by wheel/rail interaction and irregularities. The characteristics of typical impact loads due to wheel and rail irregularities, e.g. rail corrugation, wheel flats and shells, worn wheel and rail profiles, bad welds or joints, and track imperfections, are presented with particular emphasis on the typical shapes of the impact load waveforms generally found on railway tracks. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Innovative digital twins (DTs) that allow engineers to visualise, share information, and monitor the condition during operation is necessary to optimise railway construction and maintenance. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an approach for creating and managing an inventive 3D model simulating digital information that is useful to project management, monitoring and operation of a specific asset during the whole life cycle assessment (LCA). BIM application can help to provide an efficient cost management and time schedule and reduce the project delivery time throughout the whole life cycle of the project. In this study, an innovative DT has been developed using BIM integration through a life cycle analysis. Minnamurra Railway Bridge (MRB), Australia, has been chosen as a real-world use case to demonstrate the extended application of BIM (i.e., the DT) to enhance the operation, maintenance and asset management to improve the sustainability and resilience of the railway bridge. Moreover, the DT has been exploited to determine GHG emissions and cost consumption through the integration of BIM. This study demonstrates the feasibility of DT technology for railway maintenance and resilience optimisation. It also generates a virtual collaboration for co-simulations and co-creation of values across stakeholders participating in construction, operation and maintenance, and enhancing a reduction in costs and GHG emission.