Interface - The Journal of Wheel/Rail Interaction

BOOK REVIEW: RAIL GRINDING

The What, Where, Why and How of Rail Grinding
The Art and Science of Rail Grinding, by Allan M. Zarembski
Book review by Bob Tuzik • March, 2006

If you’re like me, your filing cabinet is stuffed with articles from various publications. If you’re organized, you may have a specific folder or binder with articles on rail grinding clipped from magazines or copied from conferences. There are also printed copies of the electronic files downloaded and stored on your computer. If you’re lucky, you can find them when you need them. But even if you can, chances are you won't find what you're looking for. You’ll find a paper on the use of grinding to eliminate corrugation in Australia, another on preventive approaches to rail profile grinding in North America, a brief article on transit grinding in Europe. What you won't find is a comprehensive, one-stop shop that covers the A - Z of rail grinding.

Not to worry.

Allan Zarembski’s The Art and Science of Rail Grinding, has pulled together the what, where, why and how of rail grinding into one text for you. The book, published by Simmons Boardman Books, Inc., one of the largest publishing houses of railway-related books and training materials, looks at the evolution of rail grinding from the early 20th century to today.

The Art and Science of Rail Grinding draws extensively on a series of "Technical Notes" and seminars that Zarembski, President of ZETA-TECH Associates, Inc., compiled while Director of Research and Development of Speno Rail Services and later as a consultant to Pandrol Jackson, Inc. As such, there is plenty of good information in the chapters on the history and evolution of rail grinding equipment. This information has been annotated and updated, incorporating information on current grinding technology and practices in North America and other parts of the world.

While not all of the information is new, it's current. Even those who have been exposed to rail grinding throughout their careers will learn much about the mechanics of rail grinding equipment and programs, the nuts and bolts of their configuration, profiles and patterns, and the composition of the grinding stones — their structure, bond, grade and grit, and the surface conditions that they leave.

As a good resource should, The Art and Science of Rail Grinding devotes a chapter to "Rail and Rail Problems," good information on the types and causes of rail defects, and the surface and profile conditions that make rail grinding necessary. The chapter covers the evolving load environment and the wheel/rail stresses associated with it. The chapter also examines internal and surface defects, their manifestations, such surface batter and flow, corrugation and shelling, and the grinding techniques used to combat them.

Zarembski charts the evolution from defect-elimination grinding to maintenance grinding and how the concurrent use of profile control has resulted in a significant broadening of the use of rail maintenance grinding techniques to increase the service life and reduce the overall cost of maintaining and replacing rail in track. He points out how rail profile grinding has led to improvements in wheel/rail dynamic interaction behavior, and the reduction of wheel/rail forces in both the vertical and horizontal planes.

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