System Rail Wear Survey
Track wear survey for benchmarking current condition and future maintenance planning.
Synopsis
To maintain track effectively, an understanding of the wear that has occurred is crucial so that maintenance can be undertaken in the right place and at the right time. A knowledge of the rate of rail wear also enables the client to define requirements for planned grinding and / or welding in terms of the required ground rail profile and also to plan for future replacement in the medium to long term.
Key Client Issues
- Without helpful information relating to the extent of rail wear that had occurred, our client could not establish whether the rail required any immediate maintenance, when future maintenance would be needed or if replacement was necessary. The key objective was to maximise rail life and minimise any rail replacement
- The prospect of rail replacement was costly and disruptive
- What length(s) of rail require grinding, and by how much? What would be the interval between initial and subsequent grinding?
- What length(s) of rail require weld repair?
- What is the rate of track wear?
- How could the client be sure that any maintenance undertaken would be to a suitable standard?
Solutions
Corus was asked to undertake a detailed track survey to establish the current track profile and hence the extent of wear that had occurred and to investigate the rate of wear. The survey data was analysed and the output from the analysis used to prepare a report to enable the client to manage the track asset with confidence - maximising rail life and minimising passenger disruption. Specifically Corus’ report provided the following key information:
- Details of where any track was beyond economic repair and therefore requiring renewal
- A map of the track, clearly identifying the locations and priorities for grinding as immediate, 1 year hence and so forth
- The optimum depth to which grinding should extend in each instance
- The locations requiring weld repair, prioritised as immediate, 1 year hence and so forth
Client Benefits
Our report enabled the client to:
- Implement a planned maintenance programme
- Define grinding requirements in terms of an achievable ground profile, working from a surveyed profile for the first time
- Define welding requirements to reinstate a serviceable track profile
- Manage maintenance resources more efficiently through targeted maintenance
- Reduce the risk of disruption for passengers.
- Quantify current and future rail replacement requirements
Finally, following maintenance, we undertook post-grinding and post-welding inspections to confirm whether the work completed satisfied the specification.
