Presentations and Papers
Summary - Rail Maintenance - at the Core of Vehicle Rail Interaction
Presenter: Wolfgang Schoech
Rail is the basic element of railway transportation. Its role of guiding vehicles and distributing loads has not changed its basic configuration since the beginning of railroading; only profiles are now heavier and material strength has increased. Rails undergo wear and fatigue and are usually changed when reaching the wear limits or suffering from an increasing number of internal flaws. Present steel grades have reduced wear development enormously and they resist surface fatigue in a much better way – provided the rails are maintained properly by grinding.
Many railways started rail grinding based on condition monitoring of corrugation development and then changed to a more pragmatic cyclical approach, based mainly on experience, as rolling contact fatigue was virtually impossible to monitor. Today new recording systems are available to follow crack reduction during grinding. It is important to note that rail maintenance plays a key role in all sorts of rail transportation, even such different environments as heavy haul, high speed or urban transit systems require basically the same treatment.
In the past decade much practically applied research work has been undertaken in order to optimize rail maintenance. Various target profiles for grinding within suitable tolerances have been developed to assure load distribution with minimized contact stresses and correct vehicle behaviour. Cyclical interventions provide regular but limited metal removal to keep surface fatigue and profile deterioration under control. Integration of rail maintenance work in the context of other track work, such as tamping is gaining ground. Strategically organized grinding campaigns may furthermore provide also economic benefits.
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