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 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 …
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 in …
Part 2. Friction Management, Vehicle Suspension and Measurement Systems By Bob Tuzik, April 2014 Part 1 of this article explored advances in metallurgy, wheel/rail profile design and maintenance practices. Part 2 continues the theme, examining the technologies and techniques that have shaped our understanding of wheel/rail interaction. While the practice of …
By James R. Hornaday, Jr. In many ways, rail is the most important component in a railroad system. The economic value of installed rail is usually the most costly asset listed in any railroad’s financial accounts. The financial stability of a railroad is often determined by how well that installed …
By James R. Hornaday, Jr. See Part 1 of this article. Contrary to many railroaders’ and rail mills’ opinions, there are no innocuous inclusions in rail. Any simple oxide particle, any complex oxide particle, any sulfide particle, or any complex oxide-sulfide particle in a rail will initiate a crack in …
By Gary Wolf • March 10, 2005 With the approach of spring, a trackman’s thoughts turn to the potential for sun kinks. Some call them thermal misalignments, some call them track buckles, some call them sun kinks. But no matter what you call them, their effects can be characterized in …
By Huimin Wu and Semih Kalay • October, 2009 Wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of rails and wheels are common problems under heavy-haul operations. Increasing axle loads can increase the capacity of a railway system, but also can increase the stress state of the system. A root cause of RCF …
By Huimin Wu and Semih Kalay • January 2010 See Part 1 of this article here. What are the differences between rail shapes that produce higher contact conicities and those that produce lower contact conicities? The profiles shown in Figures 1a and 1b illustrate the differences that can result in significant …