A Health Evaluation Model Based on Matter Element Analysis for Railway Track Grids

A comprehensive and intuitive understanding of railway track health is crucial for railway managers to ensure operational safety and rational allocation of maintenance and repair resources. A health evaluation model based on matter element analysis for railway track grids is proposed. The model divides a continuous railway track line into adjacent "segments" of the same specific length, called "track grids". A comprehensive evaluation model for track health is established using the matter element analysis method in extension theory. The model fully considers the objectivity of expert knowledge and data and uses an improved entropy weight method to determine indicator weights. By evaluating the entire system or a single index, maintenance measures can be enacted appropriately. The proposed model’s effectiveness is verified through the collection of real condition data of 1447 track grids on a railway line in western China.