By Jeff Tuzik (See Part 1) The benefits of taking a proactive approach to wheel/rail interface management are well known. Year after year at Wheel Rail Interaction conferences, speakers have extolled the benefits of moving away from costly reactive maintenance strategies. The “firefighting” method of moving from one critical exception to …
By Jeff Tuzik (Continue to Part 2) Proper management of the wheel/rail interface is a daunting process. It involves elements of design and planning, automated and manned inspection, corrective and preventive maintenance and data management, to name only a few. Managing the systemic health of a railroad means understanding processes that range from the …
By Jeff Tuzik Maintaining a state of good repair (SGR) weighed heavily on the minds of those in attendance at the 2015 Rail Transit Wheel Rail Interaction Conference, as transit properties will be required to meet requirements established by the Federal Transit Administration as early as next year. SGR – …
WRI 2014 Heavy Haul: Part 2 (See Part 1) by Jeff Tuzik Wheel/rail interaction impacts virtually every aspect of railroading, including operational safety and efficiency, the effectiveness of vehicle and track maintenance and maintenance planning. WRI affects the bottom line, too. When things go wrong, the culprit is often somewhere …
by Jeff Tuzik It wasn’t so long ago that measurement technology referred to calipers, gauges, or other tools. And it wasn’t so long ago that the data railroads collected on their properties was measured in pages instead of gigabytes. Now, the data flows constantly. Automated measurement technologies, both vehicle- and …
by Jeff Tuzik Raw data by itself doesn’t always help much. In fact, it can be a burden. Extracting actionable information from raw data is an issue that the railroad industry has grappled with for years. (See WRI 2008: Data to Information) And as measurement and monitoring technologies have advanced, …
WRI 2014 Heavy Haul: Part 1 by Jeff Tuzik A lot has changed since the early days of wheel/rail interface management. New technologies present new opportunities and challenges, while legacy systems are continually honed and adapted to new practices. Automated inspection technologies and data management are only the latest …
by Jeff Tuzik The 20th annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Conference drew a record number of attendees and speakers from around the world. They came to contribute to and draw from the growing body of knowledge on wheel/rail interaction. Since the conference began 20 years ago, the industry has come a …
By Ryan McWilliams and Eric Eberius Gauge corner cracking (GCC) of the rail from rolling contact fatigue (RCF) is a dangerous and costly form of rail damage. Unfortunately, it’s also notoriously difficult to measure. And as GCC becomes more prevalent on rail systems around the world, accurate measurement is an …
by Brad Kerchof and Huimin Wu Railroad track people know that track degradation is a complex and constant problem. Because so many variables affect track strength, correcting problems when they arise, and correcting them effectively, is no easy task. Norfolk Southern’s Research and Tests Department recently concluded a series of tests …