Madelene Sandbom is the leader for Work package 5 (WP5) in In2Track3, which deals with tunnels and bridges.
– Most of the projects in WP5 started off already in In2Track1 and now we are beginning to see results, she says.
WP5 is organized in 5 tasks with 3 subtasks each, making a total of 15 tasks. 10 partners are working with the project, where Trafikverket in Sweden is taking a leading role.
2 of the main tasks are researching monitoring and improvement of tunnels. 2 of the tasks are researching monitoring and improvement of bridges. And 1 task works with bridge dynamics and high-speed low-cost bridges.
Madelene Sandbom who is the WP5 leader is confident that the project holds the time schedule.
– We have already delivered the mid-term report and we are keeping the time schedule for the project, Madelene Sandbom says.
The biggest win with the project for Europe is that the railway system will be more effective, safer and cheaper, according to Madelene Sandbom.
– WP5 provides new solutions for monitoring and improvements of tunnels and bridges which will contribute to a more effective maintenance of the railway system with less disturbance in traffic. This will also be more cost efficient because there will be less need to build new, but rather maintain the existing system of tunnels of bridges, she says.
WP5 includes many interesting topics such as new methods to replace damaged lining in railway tunnels, systems for maintaining the drainage system in long tunnels and improvement of bridge service capability, all with minimal impact on traffic.
One specific project that is very interesting are the so called digital twins, ie virtual models that reflects the real life tracks and bridges. In the work package, optical monitoring methods like photogrammetry are used to create visual models of existing structures to be studied and updated over time. This will provide objective information of visible changes in the structure. Also, PORTO and IP in Portugal and KTH in Sweden develop a global framework for a digital twin model integrated with a developed fatigue capability system. This will provide a visualization of a bridge’s state in terms of fatigue damage.
– Now we are reaching the final in the projects in WP5 and we are performing tests in operational tracks, Madelene Sandbom says.