Dynamic Investigations of Railway Bridges

Over the last decades, the cruising speed of railway traffic has increased considerably within Europe. Apart from the technological developments achieved in the field of high-speed trains, several measures were required on the railway track. A location with large curve radius and proper superelevation is required in addition to a sufficient longand short term stability of the superstructure also in view of high dynamic loads. Whereas these requirements usually are met on the free track, on railway bridges resonance effects may cause serious problems in terms of dynamic response. Triggered by these aspects, a specific chapter in Eurocode 1 is dedicated to dynamic calculations of railway bridges. In the presented paper current knowledge derived from dynamic investigations of bridges is summarised.