NGP 4.0 Solid Reinforced Concrete Structure
In the course of implementation of the large-scale Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway project, a rail slab for high-speed railway lines was designed in Russia to ensure stability and safety at speeds over 250 km/h.
NGP 4.0 rail slab is a solid reinforced concrete structure to bear rails using high-precision elastic fastenings. This type of track ensures outstanding stability of geometry and high durability, which is of paramount importance for high-speed railway lines, where the load on the infrastructure is significantly higher compared to traditional lines.
The use of rail slabs will reduce operating costs and improve passenger comfort due to lower vibration and noise. In addition, the NPS technology ensures high precision and installation speed with minimum follow-up adjustment of the track, because the integrated polymer layer allows replacement of the rail slab without destroying the foundation.
The Russian design has no global equivalents, and it is tailored to the domestic P65 rail and 1,520 mm gauge. NGP 4.0 is designed for large temperature differences from -50 °C to +50 °C, with a service life of at least half a century without overhauls.
The manufacturing accuracy of such a slab is down to half a millimeter. Each of them is RFID-tagged at the factory: an electronic certificate containing all the information about the basic unit of the mainline, including the concrete composition and three-dimensional coordinates of the position on the line.
Interest in such structures is growing amid discussions of new high-speed rail projects, including routes connecting the country's largest cities. Experts note that the choice of ballastless track technology is a key factor in achieving the reliability and competitiveness of future high-speed railway lines.
