Reliability analysis and maintenance decision for railway sleepers using track condition information

This paper describes the development of a model which can be used to evaluate the reliability of a sleeper system when the sleeper condition is known. Two cases that are of particular interest to the railway industry are investigated. These are the failure of a sleeper system caused by at least two consecutive failed sleepers and by at least three consecutive failed ones, respectively. A model to optimize sleeper maintenance is proposed, which minimizes the number of sleepers restored during immediate maintenance subject to meeting the requirements of reliable and safe sleeper operation. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the model.