AS 7508 Track Forces and Stresses

The closing date for comments – Tuesday 5 May 2026

The draft AS 7508 Track Forces and Stresses is now open for  Public Consultation.

How this product helps the rail industry

This Standard helps industry manage the risk of accelerated degraded condition of track infrastructure and derailments through rolling stock engineering performance requirements.

It describes the requirements to limit the forces and contact stresses exerted on the track by rolling stock and aligns with AS 7630 Track Classification. These performance requirements allow rolling stock operators to assess the safety and maintenance impact and interface with track infrastructure during the rolling stock certification process based on the planned operation of rolling stock.

About

This review has aligned this Standard to the updates to AS 7630 Track Classification Standard, reviewed the vertical force calculations and inputs and had a general evaluation to update requirements.

Predominately focused on rolling stock requirements, the review process involved infrastructure experts to ensure a robust assessment that considered the unique relationship between the wheel rail interfaces.

How to contribute

AS 7508 Track Forces and Stresses is available for public consultation for 60 days. All interested parties are encouraged to provide comments during this time.

It is available to download here.

To make comments on the draft, please use the commenting tools in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to comment in-line with the text. If needed you can find instructions here.

Please return your PDF with comments to jmatheson@ariso.org.au by Tuesday 5 May 2026.

As the rail industry’s only accredited Standards Development Organisation (SDO), ARISO collaborates with government, rail operators and industry leaders to improve the efficiency and harmonisation of the Australia’s rail network, ensuring national interoperability, safety and sustainability into the future.