An Australian railway bridge management framework Online publication date: Sat, 26-Jul-2014
by Dwayne Nielsen; Gopinath Chattopadhyay; Dhamodharan Raman
International Journal of Strategic Engineering Asset Management (IJSEAM), Vol. 1, No. 3, 2013
Abstract: A large number of Australian railway bridges were constructed over 80 years ago and have become increasingly costly to maintain. Infrastructure managers are under pressure to maintain bridge structures to a specified performance level with less maintenance funding and fewer resources. Currently, some rail operators maintain bridges through generic asset management systems which are simplistic and only address immediate operational issues. This is despite the fact that a life cycle cost analysis is proven to strategically maintain bridge assets and reduce costs over their operational life. A new bridge management system (BMS) framework which consists of a life cycle cost analysis and strategy model is proposed in this paper. The model can provide solutions at the element, bridge and network levels. A brief background is provided on Australian railway bridge operational history. Finally, a new maintenance cycle is proposed and its components are discussed.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Strategic Engineering Asset Management (IJSEAM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook