by Jeff Tuzik Some information in this article has been updated since the original publication date. Internal rail flaws and defects are an unfortunate but unavoidable part of railroading. All railroads have them. All railroads have to repair them. Defect remediation, which involves cutting out the affected rail and replacing …
by Jeff Tuzik In the railroad industry, friction management takes many forms. Managing friction through the application of lubrication and friction modifier products is a key component of maintaining an optimized wheel/rail interface. North American railroads typically use some combination of gage-face lubrication and top-of-rail (TOR) friction modifiers on various …
by Jeff Tuzik Track geometry inspection has always been an intrinsic part of railroading. That hasn’t changed and never will. But the way inspections are performed and the data they yield is changing rapidly. Automation is one of the biggest factors in the change, but the sophistication of inspection technologies …
by Jeff Tuzik Squats and studs (squat-type defects) are a topic of discussion and debate in the world of wheel/rail interaction. Their similarity in appearance leads many experienced track people to misidentify them, and the urgency with which they need to be addressed. As previously reported in Squats & Studs: Emergent …
by Jeff Tuzik Wheel Rail Seminars named Mike Roney, Principal of Iron Mustache Consulting, and retired General Manager, Track and Structures and Chief Engineer with Canadian Pacific, the recipient of the 2025 Worth Award. The award, presented at the annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Heavy Haul conference, is named for Art Worth, the …
by Jeff Tuzik Derailments have many causes. Some are fairly simple and straightforward, others involve a complex combination of factors and circumstances. Determining the root causes is what keeps derailment investigators busy, and what helps railroads avoid such derailments in the future. Over the years, and over the course of …
by Jeff Tuzik As Wheel Rail Seminars prepares to host it’s 30th annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Conference in Kansas City, it’s worthwhile to look back on how the “narrow” field of wheel/rail interaction has broadened and matured over the decades. The field of wheel/rail interaction is highly targeted; focusing on the …
by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (February 2022). SkyTrain, Vancouver’s iconic rail transit system, is a system in motion. Since the opening of the original Expo Line, named and timed to coincide with Expo 86, SkyTrain, which moves more than 115 million commuters per year pre-covid, …
by Bob Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (June 2023). Challenges abound in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of light rail lines in urban areas. Chief among them is controlling track- and vehicle-born noise, an important part of maintaining the support of an agency’s various stakeholders, …
By Jeff Tuzik This article was originally published in Mass Transit (June 2024) in conjunction with the annual Wheel/Rail Interaction Rail Transit conference. In part 1 of this article, a group of experts, including a transit operator, three vehicle manufacturers, and a noise and vibration consultant, examined how to mitigate wheel/rail-generated noise at the …