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 …
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 …
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 …
by Jeff Tuzik Part 1 of this article focused on past and present research into wheel condition and behavior monitoring via wayside-based continuous measurement systems. Using an overlapping combination of strain gauges and load cells, such systems can measure a wide range of dynamic wheel forces, and parameters like wheel …
by Jeff Tuzik Some challenges in the railroad industry are local, some are universal. Brazil’s MRS Logística has met its share of both. Their efforts to maintain, modernize, and optimize their network over the past 30 years highlight the importance of approaching all challenges from a system-wide perspective, and of …
by Jeff Tuzik Areas of track that are subject to high impacts and dynamic loadings, such as turnouts, diamond crossings and other special trackwork, bridges and bridge approaches, high-degree curves, and highway/rail grade crossings are challenging to manage. Maintenance requires attention, resources, and significant ongoing investment. With more than 30,000 …
By Jeff Tuzik On freight railroads, rail is generally the largest single asset, capital expenditure, and one of the primary costs. From a maintenance perspective, rail is subject to wear and defect development, both of which can be actively managed in a number of ways. From an accounting perspective, rail …
By Jeff Tuzik Railroads around the world have many standards for wheel and rail hardness, with varied theories regarding the interaction of harder and softer steels. And while it is intuitively apparent that harder materials should wear less, last longer and generally provide a net benefit to systemic resilience, the …
Presenters at the 2022 Wheel/Rail Interaction conference looked at heat and track configuration issues as they relate to derailment potential in heavy-grade, high-tonnage territory. They also looked at the role of Operating parameters in derailment potential, and at the findings from 20 years of investigations into derailments. By Bob Tuzik …
by David C. Lester Dave Peltz is literally a rocket scientist. Although he is now Chief of Global Technology for GE Transportation’s (now Wabtec’s) Intelligent Control Systems Division in Melbourne, Fla., he spent time with the U.S. Air Force as a satellite communications systems engineer for the Mill Star satellite …