Steel railway bridge deck design for noise emission and maintenance cost reduction

Recently, new developments in steel railway bridge deck design have been induced by noise emission and maintenance cost reduction. The tendency is towards simple and smooth deck designs because they need less maintenance to prevent corrosion. In addition, composite and concrete deck systems are designed for minimum noise emission and lower (track) maintenance costs. Traditional deck designs, consisting of cross and longitudinal steel beams with bridge sleepers on top of them, frequently give problems with respect to fatigue. Therefore, the bridge sleepers were replaced by new special silent longitudinal deck sections enhancing the lifetime of these bridges. In this paper, the developments in steel railway bridge deck design to meet noise emission and maintenance requirements for new and existing steel railway bridges are illustrated. These developments bring new opportunities for the use of steel as a construction material for railway bridges.