The paper reports on the results of the modal identification of several small to medium span railway viaducts. The identification was based mainly on the free vibration of each structure immediately after the train passages. The non-linear behavior of some components, namely the ballast and the aged bearing supports, conditioned the evolution of the free vibration signals, which showed increasing values for the eigenfrequencies and lower values for the damping as far as the vibration amplitude decreased. An estimate for the ballast shear stiffness and for the influence of the superstructure (track plus ballast) in the overall dynamic behaviour could also be obtained from the measurements evaluation.
