Browsing by Author "Singo, Mlemba Allan"

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    Assessment of the Tanzania railway bridges management system a case study of Tanzania central railway line
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2015) Singo, Mlemba Allan
    Following declining of railway transport in Tanzania contributed by infrastructure deterioration including bridges, it was necessary to evaluate the performance of existing Bridge Management System (BMS) in terms of its suitability to the organizational set up of RAHCO and its conformity to international standards. Evaluation of existing BMS was done through five approaches: an interview with management, a critically study on the current BMS, bridges field visual assessment, conducting non-destructive tests and structural analysis. Observation indicated the existing BMS does not suite the organization set up of RAHCO (custodian) because it was designed for operations under of TRC (operator). In terms of its conformity to international standards, the BMS is facing two major problems namely, modules sequence and sensitivity to prioritization. Visual field assessment discovered unattended growing deteriorations to bridge elements which affect the service condition of bridges. Bridge rating condition indicated that three out of seven observed bridges were between fair and poor condition. Non-destructive test in conjunction with structural analysis results indicated that if maintained these bridges were capable of supporting both RL and RU loading conditions. Based on the results of assessment above, it was revealed that there was poor performance of the existing BMS, thus making the safety of railway transport in alarming state. Modifications have been proposed to the current BMS to suite both RAHCO Organization set up and International standards requirements.