Wagon squeal – is noise costing us money?

Squealing noise resulting from freight wagons that exhibit poor curving ability is a significant issue for railways located within residential areas. Poor curving ability is typically due to a combination of insufficient bogie rotation and low warp stiffness which together lead to a high angle of attack – the angle of the axle alignment of train wheels relative to the rail. Railway operators practice a range of measures to manage this issue, but ultimately, well designed and maintained bogies are the key to optimised performance. This paper considers the problem of wheel squeal and its cause. Exploration of the performance objectives of freight wagon bogies, focussing on the domestic market, but informed by international practices, is used to establish an understanding of current freight bogie design approaches. The main types of intermodal bogies in operation, along with their advantages, limitations and improvements are presented. The capital, maintenance, operational and third party costs for the operation of intermodal bogies in Australia are subsequently evaluated. These findings are finally drawn together to identify if noise arising from the railways as a result of wheel squeal is costing us money.

Media Info

  • Pagination: 8p. ; PDF
  • Monograph Title: Maintaining the momentum: CORE 2016: conference on railway excellence, 16-18 May 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

  • TRT Terms: Noise
  • ATRI Terms: Noise
  • Subject Areas: Environment;

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01636845
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: ARRB
  • Files: ATRI
  • Created Date: May 30 2017 3:28PM