This article describes the current method of calculating the Hertzian contact stress and the corresponding shear stress occurring in the rail head at the rail-wheel contact and highlights the false sense of security that this approach creates among experts. The authors then present a method that is easy to implement in spreadsheet software and provides realistic results. In light of the results obtained, it is shown that it is not possible to prevent defects induced by the occurring stresses but only to keep them within limits by means of rail machining, which is a realistic objective, without significantly limiting the throughput capacity of the railway track. The combined effects of rail machining and natural wear cause the cross-sectional area and inertia and thus, the load-bearing capacity of the rails to decrease continuously. If the limit is exceeded, the rails may be installed again in less heavily used track sections and continue functioning. At the end of their service life, the track owner sells them as used rail scrap. If possible, recasting them as electro-steels, can significantly reduce the production costs and the amount of CO2 emitted during production.

The construction industry is considered an activity responsible for both significant CO2 emissions and material flows. Providing affordable, decent, and sustainable habitats is, however, a fundamental human need. Therefore, the chapter aims to analyse the environmental impacts of construction and energy upgrades of detached family dwellings typical in Hungary. For the analysis of environmental impact, the concept of ecological footprint (EF) was used. The main advantages of this method are that (1) results can be compared to the upper limits of sustainability, (2) figures are rather easy to understand for each stakeholder, and (3) the concept may take into consideration all impacts of human activities. The chapter, however, analyses only the EF of material use of constructions. The sample consists of data on five detached family houses, representing the housing in Hungary: (1) a new two-storey family house with a gable roof, (2) a new family house made of timber, and (3) an energy upgrade of a typical family dwelling built between 1950 and 1990, called “Hungarian cube”. The results show that the construction of new detached family dwellings has a significantly higher ecological footprint than renovating an existing one. Using non-conventional construction materials (e.g. timber), however, can decrease the ecological footprint of construction, but useful lifetime should be considered more deeply in this case. Volatile energy prices have highlighted the importance of the energy efficiency of the housing stock. Newly built dwellings have outstanding insulation and, therefore, have nearly zero emission during operation, but they are not the means of affordable housing due to their construction costs, and the construction itself has a significant environmental impact which is not outweighed by the energy savings during the useful lifetime. Therefore, retrofitting and even extension of dwellings can better contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Since the 1990s, tramway transport in East-Central Europe has been experiencing a renaissance. In urban planning practice, there has been a growing trend towards the displacement of individual motorized transportation, thereby reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, creating the foundations of a healthier, more liveable urban environment. In the major cities, large-scale investments have recently been carried out or are being planned. Most of the investments focused the modernization and renovation of existing line sections, but there are also examples of new lines being built. Due to the increasing demands placed on rail transport (reduction of noise and vibration loads, as well as of life cycle costs), the use of embedded superstructures is gaining ground in Poland as well. These superstructures are excellent from a technical point of view and have a lower environmental impact in terms of noise and vibration, but the cost savings and ecological footprint reductions vary between designs. Our research proposes a standardized approach to measure environmental impacts of urban railway projects using ecological footprint (EF) calculation. As a result of our previous studies, we found that the ecological footprint of a design built with B3 rails is significantly smaller than that of a design built with 59Ri2 rails. In our current study, we have investigated how the ecological footprint of the design with the more favourable ecological footprint changes when it is modified to meet the environmental considerations. We examined the additional environmental impact of reducing noise and vibration. In our research we present an example from Krakow to illustrate the practical application.

Transport systems, including railways, are an important part of everyday life in modern societies. Whether it is passenger or freight transport, railways are an environmentally friendly solution with their robust throughput capacity and modern electrified lines. The significant changes in transport needs over the last fifty years have partly modified its role, increasing both track speed and axle load. Head Checks (HC) appeared on the MÁV (Hungarian Railway Corporation) network in the early 2010s. This phenomenon had been an unknown problem in Hungary before. Several cases abroad (e.g., a train derailment at Hatfield station in 2000 with four fatalities) have highlighted the extreme danger of this phenomenon. Materials and railway track experts at Széchenyi University have been working on the subject of HC defects in rail heads for several years. The results of research work carried out for MÁV Zrt. form the base of this article. The novelty of this article is the complexity consideration. Not only the structural changes of the rail material were investigated, but also the time/traffic load-dependent crack evolution was mathematically described. Based on the strategy outlined in the report of the research work, MÁV has taken up the fight against HC cracks, which were initially proliferating. The modern laboratory test in this article is based on the tests of Csizmazia and Horvát (2014). The stresses causing damage were investigated previously by Horváth and Major (2023). The economic analysis is based on Róbert Horváth's own calculation results.

The European urban landscape has been constantly evolving in the last 70 years since the Second World War. Thus, European cities are developing their own public transport networks. Urban rail transportation, namely trams, can be considered a mobility option with (1) high capacity, (2) relatively low life-cycle cost, and (3) low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission. Developing green urban transport systems requires, however, using a more comprehensive and complex approach. To do this, infrastructure operators should consider the environmental aspects of construction projects in the decision-making process. This article analyses the construction and maintenance issues of a very common and widespread tramway superstructure from the environmental point of view, using the methodology of ecological footprint calculations. Considering environmental impacts is highly recommended as early as the design stage by selecting the most suitable construction materials and technologies. Therefore, structural and vibration-damping solutions are compared that are equivalent in terms of technical suitability to highlight CO2 emissions and ecological footprint during the production and life cycle of each building material. The results suggest that a multi-directional assessment can help to develop a more sustainable, liveable and environmentally friendly urban transport without major trade-offs. The article also shows how the ecological footprint of the designed track structure changes when it is optimised to minimise the environmental impact. Such a change could result in a reduction of up to 20 % in the ecological footprint.