Links Geotechnics with Railway Track Engineering and Railway Operation

Good railway track and railway operations depend on good geotechnics, in several different ways and at varying levels.

Railway Geotechnics covers track, track substructure, load environment, materials, mechanics, design, construction, measurements, and management. Illustrated by case studies, with an emphasis on the geotechnical aspects of railway engineering, it discusses these topics from a historical perspective. It also presents the methodologies and best practices developed over the past 20 years.

This book:

• Emphasizes the practical aspects and best practices for railway track and substructure
• Contains guidelines for design, construction, and maintenance of railway track and substructure
• Provides many examples and case studies

Railway Geotechnics is written primarily for professionals and graduate students, and begins with the fundamentals and basic principles, leading in to practical applications. The authors bring considerable experience and expertise, with many years of research and development, academia, railway operations, and consulting.

Dr. Dingqing Li is executive director and senior scientist, Government Programs and Engineering Services, with the Transportation Technology Center, Inc, a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads. He has more than 25 years of research, testing, modeling, consulting, and academic experience in railway engineering, and has published more than 200 technical papers and reports. Dr. Li received his Ph.D in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1994, and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Central South University in China. Dr. Li is a registered professional engineer, and is a member of AREMA and ASCE.

Dr. James (Jim) Hyslip is president of HyGround Engineering (Williamsburg, Massachusetts), where he provides consulting services in the areas of railway and geotechnical engineering. Dr. Hyslip has more than 25 years of experience in railroad engineering and geotechnical consulting, including positions as track supervisor (roadmaster) and engineer of soil mechanics at the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). Additionally, he was a geotechnical engineer with GeoMechanics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Dr. Hyslip has engineering degrees from Bucknell University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is registered in the USA as a professional engineer.

Dr. Theodore (Ted) Sussmann is a civil engineer with a focus on railroad geotechnical infrastructure engineering. He has 20 years of experience in characterizing track materials and structural response for safety and reliability evaluation, life-cycle cost assessment, and maintenance planning to support infrastructure sustainability. Dr. Sussmann teaches civil engineering at the University of Hartford, and has led track research at the Volpe Center. He was a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he received his B.S.C.E. (Magna Cum Laude), M.S.C.E., and Ph.D. Dr. Sussmann is also a member of ASCE, AREMA, Tau Beta Pi, and Chi Epsilon.

Dr. Steven Chrismer is a senior mechanical track and vehicle engineer with LTK Engineering, where he specializes in dynamic vehicle-track interaction and track engineering. Dr. Chrismer has 33 years of rail industry experience mainly devoted to developing railway geotechnology for freight loading, including heavy haul, for the Association of American Railroads Research and Test Department. He has also worked for Amtrak, where he applied railway geotechnology to high-speed passenger service. He is chairman of the AREMA High Speed Rail Systems Committee, and is a registered professional engineer.