Lateral Reinforcing Plate Field Test of a Sliding Track Panel System for a Ballastless Track Bridge

The Sliding Track Panel (STP) System is a method for installing Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) in a long-span ballastless track bridge, such as a truss bridge. The STP system aims to reduce additional stress generated on the rail due to track-bridge interactions. However, as the STP system eliminates longitudinal resistance by eliminating the sleeper fastener device installed on the existing ballastless track bridge, there is no buckling stability in the vertical and lateral directions. Therefore, a plan was devised to install a lateral reinforcement plate to increase the lateral resistance. This paper investigated the effect of increasing the lateral resistance of the reinforcing plate through a field test to determine the lateral resistance performance of the track panel.