UIC, coordinator of MAINLINE the European research project on railway infrastructure, maintenance, renewal and improvement, is pleased to host its Final Workshop at Paris UIC HQ.
The project started in October 2011 for three years, with a total budget of 4.4 million euros and a funding support of 2.9 million euros from the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme.
The consortium brings together key partners from both the Sustainable Bridges and INNOTRACK projects, together with new partners with specialist knowledge of railway assets, degradation mechanisms and environmental impacts. The 19 partners come from industries, infrastructure managers, universities, SMEs and governmental organisations.
MAINLINE stands for Maintenance, renewal and improvement of rail transport infrastructure to reduce economic and environmental impacts. The MAINLINE project was initiated by UIC in order to develop methods and tools that will contribute to a more cost efficient and effective improvement of European railway infrastructure based on whole life considerations. The objectives were to:
- Facilitate the use of improved assessment and life extension without increasing risk
- Improve existing knowledge on damage and deterioration mechanisms in order to significantly reduce their effect on asset performance
- Identify and implement new cost effective replacement/renewal construction methods and logistics
- Identify and compare new surveying and monitoring technologies
- Develop methods to determine the whole life environmental and economic impact.
During the workshop the final results and practical outputs were presented and distributed to the participants, including:
- A Life Cycle Assessment Tool (LCAT) that will evaluate whole life environmental and economic impact for maintenance and renewal activities of three assets – bridges, track and earthworks – and the corresponding user manual
- A Guideline to the application of new technologies to extend the life of elderly rail infrastructure
- A Guideline for replacement of elderly rail infrastructure
The project final results are available on the website http://www.mainline-project.eu/and summarised in the MAINLINE final book: http://www.mainline-project.eu/IMG/pdf/mainline_final_book.pdf.
The consortium has produced 32 deliverables, of which 26 are public. The final report including a final publishable summary and a plan for the use and dissemination of foreground will be available in November.
