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  • SkyTrain: Moving from Reactive to Preventive Rail Maintenance Toward a State of Good Repair

    April 1, 2025 | Filed under: Bob Tuzik, Noise and Vibration, Rail Grinding, Rail Transit

    by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (February 2022). SkyTrain, Vancouver’s iconic rail transit system, is a system in motion. Since the opening of the original Expo Line, named and timed to coincide with Expo 86, SkyTrain, which moves more than 115 million commuters per year pre-covid, …

  • How Sound Transit Controls Train-Borne Noise

    March 31, 2025 | Filed under: Bob Tuzik, Noise and Vibration, Rail Grinding, Rail Transit

    by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (June 2023). Challenges abound in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of light rail lines in urban areas. Chief among them is controlling track- and vehicle-born noise, an important part of maintaining the support of an agency’s various stakeholders, …

  • Implementing Rail Grinding and Wheel/Rail Interface Optimization Programs on Heavy Haul and Transit Systems: Lessons Learned

    March 27, 2025 | Filed under: Noise and Vibration, Rail Grinding, Rail Maintenance

    by Jeff Tuzik Rail grinding continues to evolve. Though still a standard part of the track maintenance and optimization toolkit, grinding programs look very different than they did when grinding programs first became commonplace in the 1980s. Preventive grinding, for example, has gone from niche to mainstream; it’s the target …

  • Management and Maintenance: Capitalizing on Friction Modifiers

    March 18, 2025 | Filed under: Friction Management

    by Jeff Tuzik Steel-on-steel friction is tricky. Frictional forces mediate every interaction between the wheel and rail. Too much friction, and the system wears too quickly; issues like noise, truck-steering, and wheel-climb become more prominent. Too little friction, and traction and braking are negatively affected. Friction Management (FM) is the …

  • Better Track Geometry Through Better Ballast Maintenance

    January 29, 2025 | Filed under: Ballast, Tamping, Wheel/Rail Interaction

    by Jeff Tuzik Maintenance is a balancing act. Time is limited, budgets are limited, resources are limited. These limited resources and the pressure to make the most out of tight maintenance windows often drives an ethos that places a premium on the speed and performance of maintenance actions, personnel, and …

  • Assessing the Findings of a Derailment Investigation: Was the Right Cause Found?

    January 21, 2025 | Filed under: Derailment, Gary Wolf, Heavy Haul, Wheel/Rail Interaction, WRI Conference

    by Jeff Tuzik The Great Dismal Swamp. An ominous name. And in June of 2019, it was the site of a Norfolk Southern derailment. At NS, all derailments are investigated to determine the cause(s) and to provide data that could help prevent future incidents. Brad Kerchof, formerly Director of Research …

  • A Culture of Change: How the Railroad Industry Can Embrace an Evolving World

    December 30, 2024 | Filed under: Heavy Haul, WRI Conference

    by Jeff Tuzik Corina Moore is an agent of change. A champion of embracing change, too. Her transformative tenure as Ontario Northland’s Chief Operating Officer (2010 – 2014) and President and CEO (2014 – 2022) saw the railway emerge from divestment, deep financial woes, and an uncertain future to a …

  • Rail Grinding and Milling: How They Work, Where They Work

    December 10, 2024 | Filed under: Milling, Rail Grinding

    by Jeff Tuzik Rail grinding is a well-established maintenance practice with multiple preventive and corrective applications. Rail milling is a more recent (introduced roughly 25 years ago) addition to the rail maintenance toolkit but although it’s use in North America has been limited thus far, it is widely used in …

  • Wheel/Rail Profile Optimization on Wiener Linien’s Vienna Underground line U6

    December 6, 2024 | Filed under: Rail Transit, Wheel/Rail Interaction, Wheel/Rail Profile, WRI Conference

    by Jeff Tuzik One of the surest and most common signs that something is amiss at the wheel/rail interface is accelerated wear of the wheels, rail, or both. Occasionally the solution to the problem is straight-forward and site-specific. But more often, abnormal wear appears as a symptom of fundamental, systemic …

  • Examining the Role of Wheel/Rail Interaction in a Unit Train Derailment

    October 30, 2024 | Filed under: Derailment, Heavy Haul, Vehicle/Track, Wheel/Rail Interaction

    by Jeff Tuzik Derailments happen. The minor ones cause damage and disruption; the big ones make the news. While there are derailments attributed to a single vehicle or track cause, often, the cause is the result of a combination of vehicle- and track-related contributing factors, underscoring that vehicle/track interaction is a …

SkyTrain: Moving from Reactive to Preventive Rail Maintenance Toward a State of Good Repair

by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (February 2022). SkyTrain, Vancouver’s iconic rail transit system, is a system in …

How Sound Transit Controls Train-Borne Noise

by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (June 2023). Challenges abound in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation …

Protected: Vehicle Design: Managing Wheel/Rail-Generated Noise and Vibration from the Ground Up (Part 2)

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Protected: Vehicle Design: Managing Wheel/Rail-Generated Noise and Vibration from the Ground Up (Part 1)

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Implementing Rail Grinding and Wheel/Rail Interface Optimization Programs on Heavy Haul and Transit Systems: Lessons Learned

by Jeff Tuzik Rail grinding continues to evolve. Though still a standard part of the track maintenance and optimization toolkit, grinding programs …

Management and Maintenance: Capitalizing on Friction Modifiers

by Jeff Tuzik Steel-on-steel friction is tricky. Frictional forces mediate every interaction between the wheel and rail. Too much friction, and the …

Better Track Geometry Through Better Ballast Maintenance

by Jeff Tuzik Maintenance is a balancing act. Time is limited, budgets are limited, resources are limited. These limited resources and the …

Assessing the Findings of a Derailment Investigation: Was the Right Cause Found?

by Jeff Tuzik The Great Dismal Swamp. An ominous name. And in June of 2019, it was the site of a Norfolk …

A Culture of Change: How the Railroad Industry Can Embrace an Evolving World

by Jeff Tuzik Corina Moore is an agent of change. A champion of embracing change, too. Her transformative tenure as Ontario Northland’s …

Rail Grinding and Milling: How They Work, Where They Work

by Jeff Tuzik Rail grinding is a well-established maintenance practice with multiple preventive and corrective applications. Rail milling is a more recent …

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