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[quote user="mudchicken"]Going back to the concrete tie analogy, you ought to see what happens with unconfined slab track in tension[/quote] Ballastless track has the same challenges as concrete highways. So the problems are not new and there are solutions: Joint spacings limiting the tensions to values smaller than the concrete's tensile strength. To avoid misalignment at joints dowels or tongue and groove constructions can be used. The top-down production has a number of advantages. Being manufactured in precast concrete plants you usually can produce higher concrete strenth parts than in-situ. The rail fastenings can get inserted into the formwork with only little tolerances. On site large slabs are easier to align than single rail fasteners. You need a good compacted subroadbed for slab track. Slab track is not a rigid system but an elastic slab on elastic foundation. Slab track is not a new method. In Germany there are about 800 miles especially on high speed rail lines with more than 190 mph. In China the German company Max Boegl  built approximately 3,700 miles of their slab system for high speed lines. Part of it was the line Beijing - Shanghai: <a href="https://max-boegl.de/en/downloads-en/108-ffb-slab-track-boegl-1/file.html">https://max-boegl.de/en/downloads-en/108-ffb-slab-track-boegl-1/file.html</a> I think it is an interesting reed with design details and subroadbed requirements. It is just one of a number of systems I choose it here because of the good documentation. The slab track spreads the wheel loads far better than ballasted track. There is less maintanance needed to keep high speed travel comfortable. The costs for slab track are approximately 40%-50% higher than ballasted track. The maintenance costs are less than 10% of ballasted track. Break even is said to be at about 25 years depending on system and unexpected damages. The life span is an estimated 60 years. Additional disadvantage, the slab track is about 5 dB(A) louder. The slab track is currently not a solution for every track problem but for special purposes. Regards, Volker
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