We have 20,000 miles oftrack, which means we have a lot of steel rail.
借demand for train travel doubling in the past 20 years，它的维护和更新让我们比以往任何时候都畅销。
Our engineers are always improving how we look after the railway. With rail, this means trying our best to prevent problems like broken or buckled rail before they arise and ensuring it’s safe for passenger and freight trains.
How do these problems happen and how do we try to stop them?
On average, we record about 100 broken rails a year – a huge decrease from 20 years ago, when we recorded more than 900 in one year. Broken rail incidents exceeding 700 a year were typical in the 1980s while figures of 600 and up were common in the 1990s.
尽管铁路旅行飙升，但每年都会发生减少破碎轨道数量的成就 - 为我们的工程师提供轨道的追踪。
由于轨道中的小缺陷或导轨受到过度负载的情况而发生破碎的轨道。小缺陷可以在重复的载荷下生长 - 每年在繁忙的主线上每年超过300万车辆（车轮的一部分）通过轨道。
Imagine a wire coat hanger – you can bend it but if you do that too much, you’ll weaken the metal. It’s the same principle with rail – it has a certain amount of strength and ductility. Some of the rail strength is used during cold weather as the rail is under tension as it is stressed to prevent it buckling during hot weather.
需要强调，使轨道能够应对不同季节的不同温度。由于在攻击临界尺寸之前，需要识别和去除在轨道上施加在轨道上的高力，并且轨道面临失败的风险。
Why do we stress rails?
在工程条款中，强调是一件好事 - 它有助于我们保持铁路安全very hotor very cold temperatures.
如果英国夏季具有异常高的温度，我们必须规划强烈的热量，这可能导致轨道扩大。在轨道中的压缩力达到临界点的情况下，轨道可以突然扭曲侧向扭曲，如果距离枕头周围的镇流器没有充分限制，则引起扣。Read more about why we stress rails to prepare for hot summers.
如果我们计划压力轨道，为什么Rails有时会休息？
我们努力努力密切关注整个铁路，但有时候，事件发生了。通常，这是因为我们的过程中不幸失败了。
We investigate the incident and ask why it happened and how we could change our processes to prevent it from happening again.
我们如何修复一个破碎的铁轨？
In simple cases, we can clamp a broken rail and tell trains to slow down – known as a temporary speed restriction – until we can send engineers to fix the problem permanently. This limits disruption to passengers. However, it’s not always possible to do this – for instance, if the break is too big or at an angle and cannot be safely clamped.
A broken rail on a straight piece of track – known as a plain line – is easier to fix because it’s simple to replace a with a short length of new rail.
It’s usually the location of the rail that makes it more difficult to repair – parts of railway like switches and crossings have been built with bespoke machined rail or specifically designed cast crossings. This is rail specifically designed and manufactured for that precise location.
为什么？首先，因为某些地方有更多复杂的交叉点轨道。其次，由于我们的大部分铁路旧而设计随着时间的推移而改变，以提高可靠性和性能。
这意味着我们可以轻松快速地获取换轨以进行普通线路轨道，但我们必须常常制造制造商的定制轨道的更换，这需要时间。
Gallery: Our special Road Rail Vehicle (RRV) fixing broken rail and welding new rail
如果铁路一行突破，为什么它会在旁边的线路上延迟列车？
We knowdelaysare frustrating and we do everything we can to avoid them but we must always balance risk.
Safety is paramount – when we send our teams out to track to repair a piece of rail, we must create a safe environment around them. Increasingly, this means giving them more space around the line they’re working on, which may require speed restrictions on adjacent lines.
对于复杂的开关和交叉口，破碎的轨道可能会影响多条线，防止培训从一个轨道传递到另一个轨道。
我们如何改善？
As well as improving our processes for safety, we’re working towards a more standardised railway so that in future, we will be able to run a railway with far fewer bespoke sections of track.
This would mean we could potentially use 3D printing to make replacement components as and when we need it – something that’s expected to become more common in the automotive and aerospace sectors.
We currently keep a certain amount of spare rail and switches and crossings components for repairs but Britain’s railway has 20,000 miles of track and more than 19,000 junctions so we can’t keep spares for every part of it.
同时，我们显着改善了我们用于监测全国轨道状况的技术。我们所做的一件事是超声测试轨道 - 大黄色火车配有复杂的测试设备，以不同的角度向轨道发出高频声音，以寻找轨道内的小裂缝。
We also usePlain Line Pattern Recognition Technology (PLPR)结合轨道几何测量，通过分析轨道，紧固件，睡眠机和镇流器的高清图像，显着提高了我们的监控，检查和修复轨道故障的能力。
Read more about PLPRand watch this video to find out more: