Evaluation and maintenance method for general speed railway turnouts based on multi-source data

In recent years, with the increasing passengers' requirements for safety and comfort, as well as the measures of increasing revenue and reducing the expenditure of railway company, more efficient, more scientific and more comprehensive requirements have been put forward for the maintenance of railway turnouts. This paper develops a maintenance strategy based on the Turnout Service State Indicator (TSSI), derived from an analysis of multi-source data concerning turnout conditions. The weights of critical indicators affecting turnout conditions are determined using Analytical Target Cascading (ATC) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Subsequently, turnouts are classified into four categories-great, good, general, and poor-based on their TSSI values, guiding specific maintenance strategies. The proposed assessment method was validated using data from four sets of turnouts collected on actual tracks, showing consistency between the assessment results and field technicians' evaluations. A comparative analysis of the ATC and AHP suggests that the latter provides a more scientific and objective assessment of turnout conditions. The established methods for evaluating the service state and deciding on turnout maintenance actions have been proven feasible and practical through field validation. These methods can be broadly applied to maintain general speed railway turnouts to enhance repair efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.