IF articles

The adoption in 2008 of Ministerial Decree

of the Minister of Infrastructure dated 14.1.2008

“Approval of new technical standards for constructions”

and of the Circular Letter of 02.02.2009 N. 617: Instructions

for the application of New technical standards for

constructions” has constituted a decisive step, in our

country, for the alignment of national technical rules to

the Eurocodes. The design of infrastructures, particularly

the railway ones, suffered considerably from the new regulatory

framework and demanded a substantial upgrading

of railway Instructions.

The revision of the 44F instruction relating to fatigue

of railway bridges is introduced in this context.

In this article, that aims at introducing the reading of

the complete version of the text of the “Specification for fatigue

testing of railway bridges”, the main innovations introduced

in the field of fatigue assessment will be illustrated.