Stochastic track irregularities influence additional dynamic forces developed in the vehicle-track interaction that lead to faster deterioration of track. For economical track maintenance it is important to understand the relationship between the irregularities recorded by conventional track geometry measuring car and the resulting dynamic vehicle responses. This paper focuses on the correlation between lateral and vertical axlebox accelerations and differently processed track geometry parameters based on a real measurement run on straight track. Decolouring of chord-offset measurement results was performed and derivatives of track geometry parameters were calculated for comparison. Those track geometry parameters have been selected which provide the most accurate information about the recorded wheelset accelerations caused by track geometry irregularities, e.g. second order derivative of cross level.

The performance and sensitivity of smartphone sensors developed rapidly in recent years. Due to their accessibility and low costs compared to other industrial solutions, the use of smartphone sensors has become more and more common. In this article, the validity and reliability of a smartphone application in railway track geometry estimation are tested on a conventional rail line. This work focused on Galaxy S-series smartphones of Samsung and proposes an evaluation of the onboard sensing capabilities of their inertial sensors with the comparison of synchronous measurements by a multi-functional Track Recording Vehicle equipped with a contactless Track Geometry- (TGMS), and a Vehicle Dynamic Measuring System (VDMS). The raw accelerometer recordings showed a high-degree correlation with VDMS in both signal magnitude and waveform. The accuracy of gyroscope angular tracking in heading and pitching angle calculation was in the range of 0.2°–0.6°, which allowed the acceptable estimation of the central angle and the radius of horizontal curves. Based on the kinematic analysis techniques, the roll flexibility coefficient of the vehicle was determined, which allowed calculating the cross-level and the twist of the track. Furthermore, the local extreme values of the roll-rate gyro correlate with the isolated track geometry defects of the track twist gathered by TRV’s TGMS. Despite its limitations, the application of smartphones represents a prospective technological opportunity to explore new approaches and support rail asset management.

Track geometry measurements are essential for day-to-day activities of railway maintenance and play an important role in vehicle-track simulations. The generally applied forms of longitudinal level and alignment recordings do not reflect the real shape of the track. Both the versine measurement method and the band-pass filters according to European regulation cause significant amplitude modification and pattern change. In addition, the distortion behavior of repetitive and isolated defects is fundamentally different. In this contribution, simulated measurements of various reference shapes, which represent repetitive and isolated track deformations, were investigated. Comprehensive functions for amplitude change and for other distortion factors were developed with analytical and numerical methods. For chord measurements, rules were found for zero points and distortion-free ranges. Regarding the standardized filters, a significant amplitude reduction of isolated defects was observed in all wavelength ranges. Since derailment and track degradation depend not only on the amplitude of the defect, also the derivatives of the original and filtered forms of reference shapes were investigated and, as a new approach, the defect features called 'hypothetical additional force', 'speed of hypothetical wheel lift-off', 'hypothetical deterioration impulse' and 'hypothetical deterioration energy' were introduced.

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