Abstract
This study discussed the effect on rail's axial force due to thermal and seismic loads according to supporting conditions of railway bridges; the considered supporting conditions are 1)simply supported, 2)roller at both ends, and 3)roller with horizontal spring at both ends. Closed form solutions are used to calculate the axial farces on rails. The roller at both ends of a bridge span decreases the compressive axial force on rail due to thermal load compared with the simply supported condition. However, the lateral springs at roller are not helpful to decrease the rail's compressive axial force.