Special aspects of railway track operation on the sections of heavy haul train traffic

The running of heavy haul trains in the Russian Federation railway allows significantly increasing the railway carrying capacity, ensures timely delivery of ore, coal, mineral fertilizers, and petroleum products from their production sites to their processing sites or loading aboard ships. Increasing the weight of the train is implemented in two ways: by the increasing the train length to 100 conventional cars or more, and by the increasing the load on the axle. In Russia the train weight increases mainly due to its length. Most railways in the Russian Federation have heavy traffic sections. A heavy traffic polygon with a length of more than 21,000 km is introduced. The article deals with the features of railway track operation in the conditions of heavy haul long-component trains and notes their influence on the state of infrastructure objects. The author analyzes the general problems, typical for almost all sections of heavy haul traffic on the railroads of the Russian Federation, and gives opinions on the reasons for their appearance in the article. The paper thoroughly explores the problems of the upper structure of the track and the roadbed and presents data on the roadbed defects and deformations at heavy haul operation polygons. It considers the features of operation of a “heavy haul” railway track on the Sverdlovsk railway. Special attention is paid to mountain sections with long ascents, where the movement of heavy haul trains is possible only with the addition of sand under the wheels of the locomotive. The author makes suggestions about the need to develop regulatory documentation on the construction of a railway track and its maintenance in conditions of heavy haul operation, preparation of infrastructure facilities for the organization of heavy haul operation.