On the Derailment of Rail Vehicles Through Turnouts: A Review of Derailment Causes and Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper presents a review of causes and mechanisms associated with the derailment of rail vehicles in turnouts. The paper makes use of several recent studies of derailment causes in both transit and freight rail environments and addresses those factors that contributed to the derailments. This specific area of focus is that of track caused derailments for the several classes of rail vehicles together with remedial actions that can be taken to prevent future occurrences.