TieLifeTM
Tie Maintenance and Replacement Planning System
TieLife. utilizes statistical and empirical techniques for determining rail degradation based on actual inspection information. TieLife. calculates remaining life of each homogeneous track segment, e.g., each mile, based on current tie condition, past and future traffic history, timber characteristics, tie replacement history, operating environment, etc. Life calculations include both mean (average) tie life and distribution about the mean so as to allow for specific determination of tie replacement requirements, by segment. TieLife. Calculates next tie gang due date for each segment and develops a short, medium, and long term maintenance and replacement plan.
| The analysis steps utilize tie
condition data taken from ZETA-TECH’s
TieInspect tie condition inspection system or
from other appropriate tie condition data bases.
This data includes poor, marginal and good tie
condition together with curvature, track class,
and track feature information. This data is
combined with traffic data, track and
geographical information to calculate the rate of
future tie degradation on a per mile (or other
appropriate segment) basis. The actual tie
degradation behavior is based on failure
distribution behavior as developed by the US
Department of Agriculture Forest Products
Laboratory. TieLife uses this degradation
information, in conjunction with its own
proprietary tie life model to calculate the rate
of tie failure as a function of key track,
traffic and geographic parameters (e.g. climate).
Based on these rates, and predefined
safety/maintenance thresholds, a forecast tie
gang date can be determined for each track
segment. The main menu allows the user to select files to analyze, perform analysis steps, edit analysis parameters, and generate reports. Several data tables are required as input, and the output is stored to separate tables for further analysis and reporting. A milepost can be selected, analyzed, and the results dynamically shown |
| One of the
interesting and unique features of TieLife. is
the ability to edit several analysis parameters
in order to understand the effects these
parameters have on the resulting tie life. An
example is the tie replacement thresholds which
have a direct impact on tie gang schedules. As
can be seen below, TieLife™ generates a
mile-by-mile tie gang schedule based on these
user-defined thresholds Other reports are available
through TieLife™ (not shown) including
complete tabular forecast by segment, summary tie
requirements by year, and a host of others along
with complete query capabilities. |
 |
TieLife™ generated tie gang schedule
Milepost |
ZETA-TECH
Associates, Inc. |
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