Railways Engineering: Review of Rail Networks in Three Countries

This report analyzes and discusses the design specifications and other factors related to railways of Singapore, UAE and Egypt. It covers the network length, track components, standards of track design, salient features and landscape of railway network, largest railway project and existing plans, and railroad infrastructure organization chart.

Running Head: RAILWAYS ENGINEERING
Railways Engineering: Review of Rail Networks in Three Countries
Name of the Student
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Abstract
Various countries use different types of rail transit system depending on several factors like
landscape, daily load, demands, priorities, budget and others. Moreover, the demands in the
country also determine the overall lengths of the rail networks as well as the design
specifications of the rail tracks. In this report, the design specifications and other factors related
to railways of Singapore, UAE and Egypt have been analyzed and discussed.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Analysis of Railway Network and Infrastructure in Three Countries.......................................3
2.1 Singapore...............................................................................................................................3
2.1.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation.......................................................................3
2.1.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan.........................................................................4
2.1.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors....................................................4
2.1.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track....................................................................5
2.1.5 Maximum Annual Traffic...............................................................................................5
2.1.6 Track Components..........................................................................................................5
2.1.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design..........................................5
2.1.8 Standards of Track Design..............................................................................................6
2.1.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network....................................................7
2.1.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans.................................................................7
2.1.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart..................................................................7
2.2 The United Arab Emirates.....................................................................................................8
2.2.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation.......................................................................8
2.2.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan.........................................................................8
2.2.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors....................................................9
2.2.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track....................................................................9

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2.2.5 Maximum Annual Traffic...............................................................................................9
2.2.6 Track Components..........................................................................................................9
2.2.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design..........................................9
2.2.8 Standards of Track Design..............................................................................................9
2.2.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network....................................................9
2.2.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans.................................................................9
2.2.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart................................................................10
2.3 Egypt....................................................................................................................................10
2.3.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation.....................................................................10
2.3.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan.......................................................................11
2.3.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors..................................................11
2.3.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track..................................................................11
2.3.5 Maximum Annual Traffic.............................................................................................12
2.3.6 Track Components........................................................................................................12
2.3.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design........................................12
2.3.8 Standards of Track Design............................................................................................12
2.3.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network..................................................12
2.3.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans...............................................................12
2.3.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart................................................................12
3.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................12

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References......................................................................................................................................13

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1.0 Introduction
Railway networks vary widely between different countries in terms of construction
design, infrastructure, standards and others. For the purpose of the study, the railway networks in
three different countries namely Singapore, UAE and Egypt have been discussed and analyzed.
2.0 Analysis of Railway Network and Infrastructure in Three Countries
2.1 Singapore
2.1.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation
The main public transportation in Singapore is roadways. Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is
the largest rail network system of the country. There is also LRT (Light Rail Transit) that is
currently under operation in Singapore.

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2.1.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan
Figure 1: Railway Network Map of Singapore (LRT and MRT)
(Source: Henderson 2014)
The future plans include the development of the Thomson-East Coast Line that will also
continue into Malaysia, extension of the Thomson-East Coast Line to Changi Airport, Jurong
Region Line, Cross Island Line and West Coast Line among others.
2.1.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors
The total length of the passenger corridor network of Singapore is 199.6 km. There is no
existing freight corridor present in the Singapore system and the entire network is used for public
transport.

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2.1.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track
The total length of MRT in Singapore is 199.6 km.
The total length of LRT in Singapore is 28.8 km.
2.1.5 Maximum Annual Traffic
The maximum annual traffic is noticed in East West Line and it carriers around 172.4
million gross tons annually.
2.1.6 Track Components
The material types and specifications for the track design are as follows.
Rail and Rail Joint – Singapore uses conventional steel rails that are used worldwide.
The type of rail joint used is suspended joint system.
Sleeper – Two sleepers are used to suspend the ends of the rails and some parts of the rail
are cantilevered.
Ballast – In MRT track ballast of crushed stones are used whereas the LRT system
consists of ballast-less tracks.
2.1.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design
The main governed factor in Singapore rail is the daily passenger count transported
through each line of the entire network.
Friction Angle for Ballast:

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where q/p is the stress ratio, (1-dv/d1) is the dilatancy, and f is the basic friction angle,
which excludes the effects of both dilatancy and particle breakage.
Maximum bearing capacity of the ballast qmax:
where  is the bulk unit weight of ballast, B is the length of the sleeper, L is the width of
the sleeper,  is the angle of effective shearing resistance of the ballast, and Nq, N and S are the
bearing capacity factors.
The track used in Singapore is Standard Gauge i.e. 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in).
2.1.8 Standards of Track Design
In the Singapore rail track design, Codes of Practice issued by the Standards, Productivity
and Innovation Board (SPRING Singapore are generally followed. If these codes are not
applicable, standards issued by British Standards Institution (BSI) are used.

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2.1.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network
The railway network system is entirely on a coastal area and hence, the designs are made
so that the rail track can withstand the weight of the trains even on the coastal ground that is
much softer than mainland soil.
2.1.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans
The largest railway project currently under construction is Thomson-East Coast Line and
existing plans include the Jurong Region Line, Cross Island Line and West Coast Line among
others.
2.1.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart
Figure 2: Organization Chart of Singapore MRT

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(Source: Raj et al. 2017)
2.2 The United Arab Emirates
2.2.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation
The most popular public transport in UAE is taxi. Buses are also quite popular in the
country.
2.2.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan
Figure 3: Proposed Rail Network Map in UAE
(Source: Taha and Allan 2017)
The railway network in UAE is currently under construction and will cover the major
cities of UAE as well as other Gulf countries.

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2.2.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors
The total length of the network will be 1200 km.
2.2.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track
Since the network is under construction, the exact lengths are not yet specified.
2.2.5 Maximum Annual Traffic
The network is currently under construction.
2.2.6 Track Components
The network is built for high speed trains and hence, the components of the track will be
such designed to suit the high speed requirements.
2.2.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design
The track is still under construction and the critical parameters have not yet been
published.
2.2.8 Standards of Track Design
STN 73 6360 standard will be followed for the high speed railway line.
2.2.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network
The railway network is to be built in desert and coastal landscape and hence, suitable
design actions must be taken accordingly.
2.2.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans
The existing plan in to complete the railway network construction in 3 phases.

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2.2.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart
Figure 4: Organization Chart of UAE (Etihad Railways)
(Source: Najar and Al Rahbi 2017)
2.3 Egypt
2.3.1 Brief Summary of Public Transportation
The most popular public transport in Egypt is railways.

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2.3.2 Railway Network Map and Future Plan
Figure 5: Rail Network Map in Egypt
(Source: Badr-El-Din and Fathy 2015)
2.3.3 Network Length for Passenger and Freight Corridors
The total length of the network is 5083 km and there are no separate corridors for
passenger and freight.
2.3.4 Network Length for City and Urban Track
There are no separate networks for city and urban areas.

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2.3.5 Maximum Annual Traffic
The maximum annual traffic is between Cairo and Aswan and the annual traffic is 172.4
million gross tons.
2.3.6 Track Components
The track components of the country are similar to that used in Singapore MRT.
2.3.7 Governed Factors and Critical Parameters of Track Design
The governed factors and critical parameters of track design have been developed based
on estimated traffic and the landscape terrain in each part of the rail network.
2.3.8 Standards of Track Design
Italian standards of track design are followed in Egypt.
2.3.9 Salient Features and Landscape of Railway Network
The railway network in Egypt is entirely on the desert landscape.
2.3.10 Largest Railway Project and Existing Plans
There are no existing railway projects or existing plans in Egyptian railway.
2.3.11 Railroad Infrastructure Organization Chart
There is no specified organization chart for Egyptian Railways.
3.0 Conclusion
In this report, the rail networks of Egypt, UAE and Singapore have been analyzed and
discussed. Singapore has mainly high speed rail as well as light rail transit whereas Egypt has
regular railways system. UAE railway system is still under construction.

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References
Ali, M.A.M. and El Sayed, M.A., 2015. Evaluation of the Environmental, Social Effects for the
Egyptian National Railways Restructuring. Journal of Transportation Technologies, 5(01), p.24.
Badr-El-Din, A.H. and Fathy, R.A., 2015. Egypt National Railways: ICT Can Save Egyptian
Lives. IBIMA Business Review, 2015, pp.1-16.
Eltayeb, N., 2018. Evaluating the Service Quality of Egypt National Railways from Tourists
Perspective. International Journal of Heritage, Tourism, and Hospitality, 11(2/2).
Henderson, J., 2014. 13 Railways as Heritage Attractions: The Malaysia–Singapore
Line. Railway Heritage and Tourism: Global Perspectives, 37, p.190.
Najar, M.E.M. and Al Rahbi, A.K., 2017. Investigation Future Planning Of Railway Networks In
The Arabs Gulf Countries. International Journal of Transport Development and
Integration, 1(4), pp.654-665.
Raj, N., Sharma, R., Majumdar, S., Singh, R. and Gehlot, A., 2017. An Optimized Approach: Air
Energy Trap System in Railways for Power Generation. In Proceeding of International
Conference on Intelligent Communication, Control and Devices (pp. 959-964). Springer,
Singapore.
Sone, S., 2018. Comparison of the technologies of the Japanese Shinkansen and Chinese High-
speed Railways. In China's High-Speed Rail Technology (pp. 67-87). Springer, Singapore.
Taha, B. and Allan, A., 2017. Case study: Identification of optimal railway line extension to link
Dubai EXPO 2020 site with Dubai Metro Red Line-a sustainable example.

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Zamberi Ahmad, S. and Ahmad, N., 2016. Etihad Rail: a new way to change a business
landmark in the United Arab Emirates. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 6(3), pp.1-16.