By Dr. Wolfgang Schoech • July, 2007 Rail grinding practices and requirements have evolved over the years. In the past, rail grinding programs were controlled by railway personnel who were responsible for selecting the sites, choosing the number of grinding passes and determining when a program was finished. Today, grinding programs …
By Radovan Sarunac and Peter Klauser • July, 2007 Low-speed wheel-climb derailments are certainly not a new phenomenon. Investigations into the likely causes have long since identified the primary factors. Sometimes, however, old lessons need to be relearned. While all aspects of wheel/rail interaction, which includes wheel/rail profiles, friction, track geometry, …
By Bob Tuzik • July, 2007 You’ve heard it before, you’ll hear it again. Delegates to the 13th Annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Seminar presented by Interface Journaland Advanced Rail Management heard it time and again over the course of the seminar: The wheel/rail interface is a system. And when there are problems, as …
By B. McGuire, R. Sarunac, R. B. Wiley and P. Klauser • April, 2007 Part 1 of this article examined ways in which the use of vehicle performance detectors is steadily growing on North American freight and high-speed passenger railways. With the installation of a Wayside Wheel/Rail Load Detector on …
By Jude Igwemezie, Ph.D., P.Eng • April, 2007 Part 1 of this article examined the contact and dynamic stresses generated by the wheel/rail contact loading environment. Part 2 examines the stress cycle at any point on the running surface of the rail as the wheel approaches it. Stress in the …
By Edgar Fischmeister, Markus Ossberger, Roman Pongracz and Paul Mittermayr • April, 2007 Measurement is an essential aspect of optimizing wheel/rail interaction on urban transit systems. After extensive research and development work, Wiener Linien, the Vienna (Austria) Urban Transit System, implemented an integrated wheel/rail measurement system that enabled the railway to closely monitor …
By B. McGuire, R. Sarunac, R. B. Wiley and P. Klauser • April, 2007 The use of vehicle performance detectors is steadily growing on North American freight and high-speed passenger railways. With the installation of a Wayside Wheel/Rail Load Detector (WRLD) on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the trend …
By Jude Igwemezie, Ph.D., P.Eng • January, 2007 Rail represents a significant part of any railway’s investment in annual track maintenance. At the end of its useful life, the scrap value of rail can be as little as 15% to 20% of its original cost. Proper management of this precious asset …
By Bob Tuzik • January, 2007 Friction control plays a major role in reducing wear, noise and vibration, and managing wheel/rail interaction on rail transit systems. Controlling friction has become more achievable with the advent of engineered friction modifiers and improvements to wayside and onboard application systems for both traditional lubricants …
By Roy E. Smith • March, 2006 The introduction of new, low-floor vehicles into existing North American transit systems has provided an attractive means of meeting current operating requirements. By the same token, their introduction has created a number of vehicle/track compatibility issues—particularly when these modern cars are introduced into older …