Overview of issues and research related to special trackwork for shared high-speed-rail passenger and heavy-axle-load freight operations

Special trackwork, including turnouts and crossing diamonds and their components, plays a vital role in railway infrastructure by providing route flexibility to trains as they travel across a network. As the interest in shared rail corridors involving heavy-axle-load freight traffic and high-speed-rail passenger traffic grows, special trackwork represents a significant challenge due to diverging loading characteristics and design priorities. This paper presents an overview of the issues related with special trackwork for shared rail corridors, as well as an in-depth analysis of the relevant research to date. The relevance of different shared operation types and research needs are also presented. This study can be used to assist in the planning of new passenger services on freight rail lines, or vice versa, in the USA, and may also be relevant to shared rail corridor development in other countries.