R&D

The 2nd Japan-UK Ballasted Track Workshop Held in Scotland

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November 21, 2014
Railway Technical Research Institute

On October 16, 2014, the 2nd Japan-UK Workshop on Ballasted Track Maintenance was held in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Japan and UK have shared a number of problems regarding the maintenance of ballasted track, because the ground is soft in both countries compared to Eurasia continent. Given this situation, the first Japan-UK Workshop was held at RTRI in
November 2013. By sharing information between both countries’ researchers on a regular basis, this workshop aims to vitalize basic research of ballasted track and to explore possible topics for Japan-UK joint projects to improve maintenance efficiency.

The 2nd workshop was held at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and researchers from six universities in UK, three Japanese universities, JR East, JR West, and RTRI participated and made presentations. Presentations and discussions were
made on the broad range of topics including research reports on track inspections and derailment as well as on fundamental research such as dynamic properties of ballast. A keynote speech was made by a Japanese speaker.

Professor Peter Woodward of Heriot-Watt University who organized this workshop said, “this workshop was started following RTRI’s proposal made at the International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics held in 2012 in Hokkaido in which I participated. I am grateful that so many railway researchers from UK and Japan have come here, Edinburgh. I do hope to continue to have an opportunity like this to share our views and information.”

The next workshop is to be held in 2015 in Japan.

Outline of the 2nd Japan-UK Workshop on Ballasted Track Maintenance

Date: October 16, 2014
Venue: Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, the United Kingdom

Keynote 1:

Dr. Yoshitsugu Momoya, RTRI
“Recent study on ballasted track for safety and low maintenance”

Keynote 2:

Prof. Tatsuya Ishikawa, Hokkaido University
“Advanced laboratory tests on coarse granular materials for transportation facilities in cold regions”

Other presentations:

Prof. Joao Pombo, Heriot-Watt University
Mr. Hikaru Naganuma, RTRI
Prof. Clive Roberts, University of Birmingham
Prof. Kimitoshi Hayano, Yokohama National University
Dr. Louis Le Pen, University of Southampton
Dr. Cristian Ulianov, University of Newcastle
Dr. Andrew Dawson, University of Nottingham
Dr. Takashi Okayasu, Kyushu University
Dr. David Connolly, Heriot-Watt University
Prof. Simon Iwnick, University of Huddersfield
Mr. Masaki Sue, East Japan Railway company
Mr. Kiyotaka Ogiso, East Japan Railway company


* You can see all the photos and figures in the PDF file above.