EUROPEAN STANDARD DRAFT

NORME EUROPÉENNE prEN 16432-1

EUROPÄISCHE NORM
March 2015

ICS 93.100

English Version

Railway applications - Ballastless track systems - Part 1:

General requirements

Applications ferroviaires - Systèmes de voie sans ballast - Bahnanwendungen - Feste Fahrbahn-Systeme - Teil 1:
Partie 1 : Prescriptions générales Allgemeine Anforderungen
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This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for second enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC
256.

If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which
stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language
made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United
Kingdom.

Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are aware and to
provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without notice and
shall not be referred to as a European Standard.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION

COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels

© 2015 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 16432-1:2015 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
 prEN 16432-1:2015 (E)

Contents Page

Foreword ..............................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................4
1 Scope ......................................................................................................................................................5
2 Normative references ............................................................................................................................5
3 Terms and definitions ...........................................................................................................................6
4 Symbols and abbreviations ..................................................................................................................7
5 External action .......................................................................................................................................7
5.1 Railway traffic loading ...........................................................................................................................7
5.2 Substructure........................................................................................................................................ 10
5.3 Environmental ..................................................................................................................................... 13
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6 System requirements ......................................................................................................................... 15

6.1 Track geometry ................................................................................................................................... 15
6.2 Track stability ...................................................................................................................................... 15
6.3 Structure gauge .................................................................................................................................. 15
6.4 Design life ............................................................................................................................................ 15
6.5 Maintainability ..................................................................................................................................... 16
6.6 Sustainability....................................................................................................................................... 16
6.7 Noise and vibration............................................................................................................................. 16
6.8 Derailment ........................................................................................................................................... 16
6.9 Electrical interfaces ............................................................................................................................ 16
6.10 Fixing of equipment ............................................................................................................................ 18
Annex A (informative) Rail temperature increase by using eddy current brake ...................................... 19
A.1 Determination of rail temperature increase using chart Figure A.1 .............................................. 19
A.2 Determination of rail temperature increase using functions of rail heating and cooling ........... 19
Annex B (informative) Technical definitions ............................................................................................... 22
B.1 Track circuit bond ............................................................................................................................... 22
B.2 Detection loop or transmission loop ................................................................................................ 22
B.3 Balise (Eurobalise).............................................................................................................................. 22
B.4 Wheel sensor....................................................................................................................................... 23
Annex C (informative) Technical definitions ............................................................................................... 24
C.1 Rail-to-rail electric insulation ............................................................................................................ 24
Annex ZA (informative) Relationship between this European Standard and the Essential
Requirements of EU Directive 2008/57/EC ....................................................................................... 25
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................... 30

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Foreword

This document (prEN 16432-1:2015) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 256 “Railway
applications”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This document is currently submitted to the second CEN Enquiry.

This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the
European Free Trade Association, and supports essential requirements of EU Directive(s).

For relationship with EU Directive(s), see informative Annex ZA, which is an integral part of this document.

This European Standard is one of the series prEN 16432 "Railway applications – Ballastless track systems"
as listed below:

— Part 1: General requirements;

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— Part 2: Subsystems and components;

— Part 3: Acceptance.

Note: Due to fact that the EC has not yet been able to confirm the financial commitment for the New
Approach Consultants’ work in 2015, there are currently no New Approach Consultants in place for 2015.
Therefore the provisions of CEN-CENELEC Guide 15 cannot be met.
This shall not prevent the processing of draft standards nor the offering of harmonized standards to the
European Commission. In particular, draft standards can be sent to vote without Consultant assessment.
This note will be removed from the Foreword of the finalized publication.

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Introduction

This European Standard is intended to be used by customers, designers and specifiers of the ballastless track
system as well as for reference and development by suppliers and construction contractors.

The content and relationship between part 1, 2 and 3 are shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 — Structure of prEN 16432-1, -2 and -3

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 prEN 16432-1:2015 (E)

1 Scope

This European Standard defines the general requirements concerning the design and acceptance of
ballastless track systems.

It does not include any requirements for inspecting, maintaining, repairing and replacing ballastless track
systems during operation.

This European Standard is applicable for high speed and conventional railway applications up to 250 kN axle
load. This standard applies to ballastless track systems including:

— booted systems;

— embedded rail systems;

— other fastening systems.

The requirements of this standard apply to ballastless track systems including:

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— plain line track as well as switches and crossings and rail expansion joints;

— various substructures like embankments and cuttings, tunnels, bridges or similar, with or without floating
slabs;

— transitions between different substructures;

— transitions between different ballastless track systems;

— transitions between ballasted and ballastless track systems.

NOTE Requirements for characterisation of the substructures listed above are included in this standard. Design of
the substructures is covered by other European Standards, e.g. EN 1992-2, EN 1997-1, etc.

2 Normative references

The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

EN 1990, Eurocode - Basis of structural design

EN 1991-2:2003, Eurocode 1: Actions on structures - Part 2: Traffic loads on bridges

EN 1997-1, Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design - Part 1: General rules

EN 1997-2, Eurocode 7 - Geotechnical design - Part 2: Ground investigation and testing

EN 1998-1, Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 1: General rules, seismic
actions and rules for buildings

EN 50122-1, Railway applications - Fixed installations - Electrical safety, earthing and the return circuit - Part
1: Protective provisions against electric shock

EN 50122 (series), Railway applications - Fixed installations - Electrical safety, earthing and the return circuit

EN 13146-5, Railway applications - Track - Test methods for fastening systems - Part 5: Determination of
electrical resistance

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EN 13231-3, Railway applications - Track - Acceptance of works - Part 3: Acceptance of reprofiling rails in
track

EN 13481-5, Railway applications - Track - Performance requirements for fastening systems - Part 5:
Fastening systems for slab track with rail on the surface or rail embedded in a channel

EN 13803-1, Railway applications - Track - Track alignment design parameters - Track gauges 1435 mm and
wider - Part 1: Plain line

EN 13803-2, Railway applications - Track - Track alignment design parameters - Track gauges 1 435 mm and
wider - Part 2: Switches and crossings and comparable alignment design situations with abrupt changes of
curvature

EN 13848-5, Railway applications - Track - Track geometry quality - Part 5: Geometric quality levels - Plain
line

EN 13848-6, Railway applications - Track - Track geometry quality - Part 6: Characterisation of track geometry
quality
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prEN 14363:2013, Railway applications - Testing and Simulation for the acceptance of running characteristics
of railway vehicles - Running Behaviour and stationary tests

EN 15273-3, Railway applications - Gauges - Part 3: Structure gauges

prEN 15528:2013, Railway applications - Line categories for managing the interface between load limits of
vehicles and infrastructure

prEN 16432-2:2014, Railway applications - Ballastless track systems - Part 2: Subsystems and components

3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.

3.1
design life
assumed period for which a ballastless track system, or part of it, is to be used for its intended purpose with
planned maintenance but without major repair

3.2
Electromagnetic Compatibility
(EMC)
ability of equipment or system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing
intolerable electromagnetic disturbances to anything in that environment

3.3
floating slab/mass spring system
track system where a designed elasticity is introduced between the ballastless track system and substructure

EXAMPLE For vibration mitigation.

3.4
slab
element between rail with fastening system or embedded rail and substructure. It is a component of the
ballastless track system and may include sleepers, beams etc.

EXAMPLE The element can be made of concrete or asphalt.