Rail maintenance: past experience paves the way for future rail grinding applications

Rail grinding has become an essential part of modern track maintenance. Looking back to when grinding was a simple action to remove surface irregularities, such as corrugation, one can realize the enormous progress achieved. First, the 'hardware' - the grinding machines - has developed in two ways: On the one hand, the machines have become flexible tools capable of producing any desired target profile, on all types of rails and in almost all situations, including critical areas in turnouts. On the other hand, the incorporation of more powerful grinding motors and specially developed grinding stones has multiplied metal removal capacity and greatly increased production rates. Even more striking is the development of the specific 'software'. Whereas originally metal removal aimed at the elimination of corrugation, it soon became clear that an appropriate transverse profile of the rail was just as important. Further investigation into the transverse plane of the railhead led to the introduction of asymmetric rail profiling, at first on heavy haul railroads. Later, other rail profiles were created for various purposes, such as the reduction of lateral wear, the control of surface fatigue and the modification of equivalent conicity to ensure vehicle stability. In Europe in particular, grinding has established its strategic place among other well-known track maintenance activities. This means that rail re-profiling is no longer seen as a corrective action of measured defects or as a single preventive action for the initial grinding of new rails. Today grinding is perceived in relation to tamping work, and increasingly as a cyclically programmed action designed to keep rail surface damage and fatigue at low levels. The introduction of new measurement systems for continuously recording during grinding the longitudinal and cross-section rail profiles and, most recently, for monitoring rail surface fatigue has vastly improved understanding of the work process. Growing experience permits fine-tuning of existing rail grinding methods so as to minimize metal removal and optimize rail service life.

• Record URL:
  • http://railknowledgebank.com/Presto/content/Detail.aspx?q=KFBhcGVyLlRpdGxlOihwYXN0IGV4cGVyaWVuY2UgcGF2ZXMgdGhlIHdheSBmb3IgZnV0dXJlIHJhaWwgZ3JpbmRpbmcgYXBwbGljYXRpb25zKSk=&ctID=MTk4MTRjNDUtNWQ0My00OTBmLTllYWUtZWFjM2U2OTE0ZDY3&rID=NjMz&qcf=MTk4MTRjNDUtNWQ0My00OTBmLTllYWUtZWFjM2U2OTE0ZDY3&ph=VHJ1ZQ==&bckToL=VHJ1ZQ==&
• Authors:
  • Schoech W
• Conference:
  • AusRAIL PLUS 2007, 4-6 December 2007, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Publication Date: 2007

Media Info

• Pagination: 6p.
• Monograph Title: AusRAIL PLUS 2007, celebrating the past, creating the future, 4-6 December 2007, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction management; Maintenance management; Railroad rails
• ATRI Terms: Maintenance management; Maintenance method; Railway track
• Subject Areas: Construction; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01516868
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 4 2014 7:56PM