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 Preventive rail grinding is a well-established practice for extending rail life. And by optimizing wheel/rail interaction and controlling the development and growth of surface damage like rolling contact fatigue, rail grinding has proven itself to be one of the industry’s best tools for managing one of its …
by Bob Tuzik Gary Wolf, president of Wolf Railway Consulting, is the recipient of the 2023 Worth Award. The award, presented by Wheel Rail Seminars at the annual Wheel/Rail Interaction conference in June, is named for Art Worth, who was Manager of Standards and retired as Senior Manager – Advanced …
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 Among the most significant forces that freight railroads contend with in daily operations are buff and draft (or compressive and tensile) forces between cars within train consists. These forces are mediated by various damping technologies, braking and acceleration practices, and by train make-up. When these forces aren’t …
by Jeff Tuzik Seattle’s Link Light Rail, operated by Sound Transit, is a fairly young system. And by most standards, a small system. But it’s also a sophisticated system, and it’s growing fast. The system currently operates 25 miles of track and is in the midst of expanding to 50 …
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 …
By Jeff Tuzik The State of Good Repair is a goal, but it’s also a process. It’s achieved through a series of instruments and instrumental decisions that aim to report on the health of a system from the most granular component level, to the broadest holistic overview. This Part 2 …
by Jeff Tuzik Transit systems around the world, despite their differences, all contend with the same issues to some degree. Issues like vehicle- and ground-borne vibrations, excess noise, and timetable delays often rise in priority as they generate increasing numbers of complaints. These issues are often symptoms that can be …
A pair of speakers from different continents discuss the benefits of autonomous track geometry collection and the advantages of monitoring revenue-service vehicles’ response to track conditions in this first installment of topics covered at this year’s annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Conference in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. By Bob Tuzik Brad Kerchof wasted …