Track transitions in railways: A review

Track transition zones are discontinuities along the track structure which can potentially be vulnerable to geometry and material deterioration causing increased maintenance costs. This paper provides an explanation about track transitions in railway structures and summarises the main problems and alternative solutions. The various numerical models employed in the design and calculation of these transitions are presented along with a classification of the most popular approaches. In the last part some remarks about the different construction methods presented are given and to conclude some guidelines for future work are suggested.