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 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 …
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 …
by Jeff Tuzik Wheel/rail interaction doesn’t end at the wheel and rail. Sometimes it doesn’t even begin there. The lateral and vertical forces that affect the wheel/rail interface owe much to the design of cars and couplers — design choices that might seem ancillary to the subject, but are in …
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 Rail corrugation is a common phenomenon. It’s found on both freight and transit lines around the world. The mechanisms behind corrugation are well understood, and there are many tools and techniques available to mitigate and remedy corrugation and its underlying causes. But this hasn’t always been the …
By Jeff Tuzik This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of Mass Transit. Friction management is a well-established technology in the rail transit industry. Its significance is such that it is considered one of the five pillars of wheel/rail interface management Davey Mitchell, Commercial Manager of Friction Modifier at …
by Jeff Tuzik “Engineers predict things,” said Cory Hogan, Director of Vehicle Dynamics Studies at Ensco Rail Inc. As computing power and modelling have become more sophisticated, engineers have increasingly used digital-twins to model vehicle, track, and component behavior with incredible fidelity. Like engineers, digital twins can be great predictors. …
By Jeff Tuzik Transverse defects are among the most costly and dangerous rail defects that freight railroads contend with. Across all Class 1 railroads, transverse defects are responsible for roughly 31 percent of broken rails system-wide; so mitigating the growth of transverse defects and detecting their presence via internal flaw …