Course Details

Railway Structures 1

Academic Year 2026/27

BNA002 course is part of 1 study plan

​ BPC-SI / K Summer Semester 3rd year

Transport terminology, basic concepts, transport strategies and development in the Czech Republic in line with EU guidelines. Transport infrastructure, links to the EU.

The development of the global railway network. The development and characteristics of the railway network in the Czech Republic, organisational and administrative structure. Basic classification of railway structures. Railway line construction, basic concepts, classification.

Railway track geometry components and alignment, rail track gauge, cant and twist, horizontal and vertical track alignment, track alignment design parameters for operation of tilting body trains
Geodetic surveying of track layout, track layout optimisation problems, geodetic layout and fixing of rail track alignment.
Clearances. The centre line distances in open track and in railway stations. Routing of railway lines, railway track design.

Quality of track geometric parameters – operation and maintenance.

Credits

4 credits

Language of instruction

Czech

Semester

summer

Course Guarantor

doc. Ing. Otto Plášek, Ph.D.

Institute

Institute of Railway Structures and Constructions

Forms and criteria of assessment

course-unit credit and examination

Entry Knowledge

Geodesy in Civil Engineering, coordinate systems, geodetic computations, measurement of directions and angles, distance measurements, height systems, height measurements, setting out of buildings, roads and railways, maps
Soil mechanics, classification of soils for engineering purposes, the shear strength of soils, stresses in soils.
Strength and elasticity of materials, basic principles of structural mechanics.
Basic terms, division of railway structures. Track alignment design parameters and its spatial position – basic terms.

Aims

The objective of the subject is to introduce students to the problems of railway track geometry components and alignment, railway track design and subdivision and construction of rail substructure and its construction layers and to practise acquires knowledge and skills.
A student acquires skills in railway track geometry components and alignment, railway track design and subdivision and construction of rail substructure and its construction layers.

Basic Literature

PLÁŠEK, Otto, Pavel ZVĚŘINA, Richard SVOBODA a Milan MOCKOVČIAK. Železniční stavby: Železniční spodek a svršek. Brno: Akademické nakladatelství CERM, 2004. ISBN 80-214-2621-7. (cs)
IŽVOLT, Libor a Stanislav HODÁS. Projektovanie, stavba, rekonštrukcia a modernizácia železničných tratí a staníc. Žilina: EDIS, 2020. ISBN 978-80-554-1703-5. (sk)
IŽVOLT, Libor, Stanislav HODAS a Janka ŠESTÁKOVÁ. Železničné staviteľstvo 1: Projektovanie, stavby a konštrukcie železničných tratí a staníc. 1. Žilina: EDIS, 2015. ISBN 978-80-554-1122-4. (sk)
ČSN 73 6360-1. Konstrukční a geometrické uspořádání koleje železničních drah a její prostorová poloha - Část 1: Projektování. 12.2020. Praha: ÚNMZ, 2020. (cs)
ČSN 73 6360-2. Konstrukční a geometrické uspořádání koleje železničních drah a její prostorová poloha - Část 2: Stavba a přejímka, provoz a údržba. 10.2009. Praha: ÚNMZ, 2009. (cs)

Recommended Reading

BONNETT, Clifford F. Practical railway engineering. 2nd ed. London: Imperial College Press, c2005. ISBN 1-86094-515-5. (en)
HANSMANN, Fabian, Wolfgang NEMETZ a Richard SPOORS. Keeping Track of Track Geometry: Basic- Error Detection- Correction - Quality. Leverkusen: PMC Media House, 2021. ISBN 978-3-96245-225-4. (en)

Prerequisites

Geodesy in Civil Engineering, coordinate systems, geodetic computations, measurement of directions and angles, distance measurements, height systems, height measurements, setting out of buildings, roads and railways, maps
Soil mechanics, classification of soils for engineering purposes, the shear strength of soils, stresses in soils.
Strength and elasticity of materials, basic principles of structural mechanics.
Basic terms, division of railway structures. Track alignment design parameters and its spatial position – basic terms.

Offered to foreign students

Not to offer

Course on BUT site

https://www.vut.cz/en/students/courses/detail/303841

Lecture

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, elective

Syllabus

  • 1. Railway track geometry components and track alignment design parameters within operation speed 160 km/h. Rail track gauge and gauge widening.
  • 2. Cant, distance-related cant gradient, time-related cant gradient, cant deficiency.
  • 3. Horizontal track alignment. Transition curves.
  • 4. Nonlinear transition curves.
  • 5. Compound curves. Transition curves connecting two circular curves. Reverse curves.
  • 6. Vertical track alignment, gradients, vertical curves.
  • 7. Track alignment design parameters for operation of tilting body trains.
  • 8. Routing of railway lines, railway track design.
  • 9. Geodetic surveying of track layout, track layout optimization problems.
  • 10. Geodetic layouts and fixing of rail track alignment.
  • 11. Clearances. The centre line distances in open track and in railway stations.

Exercise

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, compulsory

Syllabus

  • 1. Rail track gauge and gauge widening
  • 2. Cant, specifying of design of a section double track line.
  • 3. Circle curve, distance-related cant gradient, time-related cant gradient, cant deficiency.
  • 4. Transition curves, clothoid, cubic parabola. Calculations of track layout of a circle curve with transition curves.
  • 5. Compound curves. Transition curves connecting two circular curves. Reverse curves.
  • 6. Design of parallel tracks. Change of track axis distance.
  • 7. Design parameters regarding the tilting trains.
  • 8. Vertical track alignment
  • 9. Drawings elaboration
  • 10. Consultations
  • 11. Submitting of the study of a section of railway line, credit.