Investigation of “Open” Superstructure Tramway Tracks in Budapest
, Dmytro Kurhan 2, Mykola Sysyn 3 and Szabolcs Fischer 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
General comments
The paper is interesting and of high practical value. The authors study the process of tram track degradation taking account of the track age, track loading, and type of the track, both of ballast superstructure and of slab superstructure. It is done with use of experiments based on measurements of track imperfections represented with track gauge, horizontal symmetric lateral irregularities, and longitudinal alignment understood as vertical irregularities. The measurements concern the city of Budapest with high importance of tram transport for its functioning. These measurements were performed for selected sections of seven tram routes of different superstructure. Four of them are ballast superstructures while three are slab superstructures. The authors call them the open and paved tracks (superstructures), respectively.
The important contribution are conclusions from those measurements that generally show connection between track deterioration (actual state) and track loading and age. Thanks to different track ages, track loading and superstructure construction interesting variable observations were possible. Generally, it has been shown that older track with lower loading can be in the same condition as new track with higher lading. Despite some similar results can be found in the literature, the result by the authors is still valuable and original. This is because every city or even tram route possesses its individual characteristics concerning track degradation, for example due to different construction, rolling stock, and climate conditions. There is no number that could be indicated as that comprehensive. Simply, the more similar results we have the better.
It is suggested to the authors to change title of the paper slightly. In current form it could be a bit misleading. The term “… open superstructure ..” is emphasized in the title. It is inconsistent, because both the open and paved superstructures are equally investigated in the paper.
Detailed comments
Pages 3-10. Figures 1-8.
The authors should refer directly to these figures (cite these figures) in the text. It is obligatory in the professional papers. Besides, it could seem that the figures are not necessary if there is no reference to them in the text.
Page 3. Lines 107 and 118.
It is rather obvious that word “slab” in these lines must be replaced with “sleeper”, please.
Page 4. Line 128 and Page 5. Line 128.
As before, replace “slab” with “sleeper”, please.
Page 4. Lines 124 and 133, Page 6. Line152, and Page 9. Line 166.
It is suggested to use consequently words gradient or/and elevation instead of rise. It seems that rise is better suited for natural hills or mountains (natural rise) rather than to elevations being result of road or track construction. Besides, rise always means increase, that means that we are climbing the hill but are not descending from the hill. Favorably, both gradient and elevation seem to be neutral in this respect. Generally, the authors should decide if they concern the cases of climbing and descending the hill or not and as a consequence it should be equally taken or not into account while describing all the sections from #1-#7.
Page 9 and 10. Figures 7 and 8.
Figures 7 and 8 are identical. It seems to be some mistake. If not, just one figure would be enough, eventually with proper references and some explanation.
Page 11. Line 207.
This reviewer is involved in rail vehicle and infrastructure for more than 30 years, however, he is not sure what the term “flange gauge” means in this line. The first his connotation is with rolling stock wheels but not with infrastructure. Provide some short explanation in the brackets, please.
Page 12. Lines 218 and 220.
It is suggested to connect “alignment” and “longitudinal level” with lateral and vertical track irregularities, respectively. It does not have to be formal, it is just to give better idea about the measured quantities to less professional readers, please.
Page 23. Figure 26.
There is no blue broken line in this figure. There must be some error. Correct it, please. If the lines overlap provide proper information in the text.
Page 24. Figure 27.
There is no blue solid line in this figure. There must be some error. Correct it, please.
Page 25. Figure 29.
There is no blue broken line in this figure. There must be some error. Correct it, please.
Page 25. Lines 416-425.
Both paragraphs in these lines seem to be repetition of the information already given in the introduction. The authors can either remove these paragraphs or reformulate them so that no so strong feeling about identity of them with the previous text takes place.
Author Response
See attached PDF file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
1- English is not smooth and needs to be reviewed to become more fluent.
2- Just to say what can be seen from the measurements is not enough for a scientific paper. The data should be used to define an estimation of deterioration rate of each geometry index based on age and the traffic level. There should be a difference between a paper and a report.
Author Response
See attached PDF file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Abstract: must be rewritten. The abstract must cover the problem statement, the objectives, the methodology and the findings. The results must be highlighted. The major values (numbers) must be included within the abstract to expose the results.
Citations: there is a clear exaggerate in citations. For example,
((((((
Nowadays, the 28 electric energy consumption also a key issue all over the world, in this way the energy 29 efficiency and the electric, electric-hybrid service of the fixed-rail vehicles is vital [3–6]. 30 The backbone of urban public transport in most cities is guided land transport [7–10]. As 31 more and more people live in cities, the infrastructure must work together with those who 32 participate in public transport. So, it is also particularly important to develop and imple-33 ment safety-promoting systems that allow the detection, recognition and tracking of pe-34 destrians, vehicles and cyclists near the tramway [11–18]. )) ))
15 citations for simple facts.
The citations must be double checked and minimized.
Author Response
See attached PDF file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
