Interface - The Journal of Wheel/Rail Interaction

EDITORIAL

Managing the Basics
July 2010

As previous issues of Interface Journal have shown, managing the wheel/rail interface is a complex process. Procedures such as rail grinding, are required to maintain the desired rail profile shape — an essential component of wheel/rail interaction.

Rail grinding has been shown to effectively control rail surface conditions by removing corrugation, plastic deformation and rolling contact fatigue cracks that can reduce the service life of rail. Coupled with an effective friction management program, rail grinding can effectively double the life of rail in track. Grinding can also help to manage vehicle steering forces that affect vehicle/track performance and component life. Grinding cannot, however, correct all track ills.

“Grinding will not compensate for wide gauge, or correct tipped rail,” Norm Hooper points out in Part 2 of “Successful Grinding: Starting with the Basics.”

“In fact,” he says, “profile grinding tipped rail can cause serious steering problems if the rail is re-set to the proper cant without an immediate re-grind. Grinding also will not improve the ride quality, if the track has poor crosslevel or alignment.”

Hooper considers some of the “truths” about track and maintenance procedures, and provides recommendations on how Maintenance Departments can make the most of grinding and other maintenance procedures.

Rail Grinding on Union Pacific
Union Pacific looks at its rail grinding program as a way to control rail wear, and to extend the asset life of rail and other track components. And with more than 30,000 miles of mainline track, there are a lot of assets to protect. In order to do so, UP makes a concerted effort to manage the work flow.

In their article on “A measured Approach to Improvements in Rail Grinding,” Mike Gilliam and Russell Rohlfs report on how UP has worked to increase awareness of the importance of grinding to operations and the dispatching center management. “We have set goals for grinding permit time, and discuss them daily on system conference calls in much the same way that we manage track curfews for large renewal gangs. This creates accountability for maximizing on-track windows.”

UP is also working with its service providers to improve the grinding process, including identifying the appropriate grinding speeds and cycles, metal-removal rates and pattern selection.

“For every mile of curve rail that is saved, 1.25 miles of new rail can be added,” the authors point out. “The ability to lay rail out-of-face, rather than skipping around to lay various curves, can significantly improve the efficiency of maintenance.”

Rail Transit
In this month’s article on “Engineering the Wheel/Rail Interface for Rail Transit,” Editorial assistant, Jeff Tuzik provides a roundup of the key points that were made by speakers at Advanced Rail Management’s Rail Transit 2010 seminar on Wheel/Rail Interaction. Some of the issues covered at the seminar devoted to rail transit applications include noise and vibration, corrugation and wheel/rail profile design on new and existing rail transit systems.

Tuzik reports that many of the wheel/rail interface issues that affect new transit systems are well understood, and can be dealt with in a cost-effective manner during the design phase. “Proper pre-engineering of the interface requires a comprehensive understanding of vehicle/track dynamics, however, and the balancing act that managing the numerous forces that are involved represents,” he says. “Challenging though managing them may be, the consequences of ignoring the effects of these forces are too great to ignore.”

Regardless of the issue, ARM’s annual Wheel/Rail Interaction seminar examines the current technologies and maintenance practices in order to better optimize and maintain the wheel/rail interface.

Enjoy the issue.

Bob Tuzik
Publisher