Technologies for Railway Infrastructures

The railway consists of linearly continuous structures like road. However, its alignment is restricted both vertically and horizontally compared to that of road. Therefore, it contains relatively large number of tunnels and bridges to overcome tough topography. Even at plain area, railway requires structures including viaduct, embankment, and cut. These structures are called 'civil structure'. As representative of those civil structures, tunnel and bridge are explained in this chapter.

Track structure contains rail, track slab, and various equipment to fix the rail. Track structure is finally installed on the civil structure after the several processes of manufacturing. Here, details about track structure for high speed rail and conventional rail are explained.

JRTT has developed and introduced machineries specifically for railways, which are used to install rails during track construction and overhead wires during electrical construction. Theses machineries enable us to perform construction work safely and efficiently.

Station has a role of landmark at the region so that various functions such as symbolic feature embodying harmonization with surrounding landscape and local uniqueness, 'universal design' considering accessibility for rail users, and comfort as a place in daily life are expected. Responding to these requests, JRTT developed so called 'Hybrid Structure', which is a concept of well-integrated combination of civil work and architecture to realize cost-efficient station building with excellent figure. The Hybrid Structure has been applied to some station buildings along the viaduct. Along with them, 'eco-friendly station' is also requested strongly as a recent trend. JRTT is developing proactive measures in this field to deal with global warming issues.

To secure safety operation with services of high quality, constant development of new technology is essential in any fields of railway engineering. In the field of electric engineering, technicians consistently make efforts to improve energy-saving, safety operation, reliability, rapidity, and travelling stability. Nevertheless, demands from both passengers for convenient mobility and rail operators for better performances of facilities have been stronger day bay day. In this trend, role of electric engineers in railway system has been more crucial.