Designing railway formations for the future

Extracted from text ... Why should we be designing railway formations for the future? Not too long ago it was thought that once a railway is built, it would exist forever and there would be no need to consider its future performance. With the birth of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link and the extensive upgrading and rehabilitation on South Africa's heavy-haul coal export line (COALlink), railway formations have become a focus for consultants, researchers and academics in the civil engineering field in South Africa. The authors address various issues related to the design of railway formations and their performance into the future THE SIGNIFICANCE ..