Daniel Pyke
Member
Sometime ago I suggested I would write some explanations about rail (the things wheels roll on not the whole industry). Ok it was quite some time ago I admit!
So I've finally started to do some short blog type posts and the 1st of 5 of these are exposing some of the myths I get to hear about rail.
Have a look and see what you think. All comments gratefully recieved and if you have ideas/requests for future articles then let me know.
Original article with pictures.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-myths-rails-part-1-daniel-pyke?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Text below for reference:
So I've finally started to do some short blog type posts and the 1st of 5 of these are exposing some of the myths I get to hear about rail.
Have a look and see what you think. All comments gratefully recieved and if you have ideas/requests for future articles then let me know.
Original article with pictures.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-myths-rails-part-1-daniel-pyke?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Text below for reference:
Firstly an introduction to this brief series of articles. I'm going to be talking about railway rails, not hand rails, not shopping rails, I'm talking about the things trains and trams run on.
Myth 1. - All rails are essentially the same aren’t they?
- No they most certainly are not!
They may all look similar when standing at the train platform or peering out of the carriage window, but looks can be deceiving.
First there is the myriad of different profiles of rail. Rails come in a surprisingly wide variety of shapes and sizes. My current catalogue covers over 100 widely varying shapes and sizes.
There is an array of international specifications, containing many different steel grades with varying properties. Many manufacturers, including my employer, also have their own proprietary rail grades to add to the possible selection too.
In short, one rail can be completely different to another and perform very differently in service. Choosing the right rail can make a vast difference to the life and maintenance required and therefore the life cycle cost.
I am a strong advocate of grade selection as a critical part of the design/redesign process as it can make a huge impact on the maintainability of the track and its life cycle cost. Rail grade selection must take into account many different factors from the track geometry, the traffic density and axle loadings, and even down to the installation and maintenance methods employed.
I’ve tried to capture some generic advice in our rail grade selection diagram below, but this is by no means exhaustive and further explanation is on our website - if further advice is needed then get in touch and I or some of my colleagues can assist. If I was to write an article on rail grade selection - it would probably be a very long one! It's safe to say though that the best rail for a tramway is unlikely to be the best one for a heavy freight route.
Does it really make a big difference which rail grade you select?
- Yes it most certainly does.
I have worked closely with network owners, operators and maintainers monitoring track and quantifying results of changing the rail grade used with some pretty startling results. Life cycle cost savings of over 40% have been achieved and frequently rail life has been doubled (or more) in troublesome locations. My record for life extension is currently 23 times the life of the former rail, but I'll save the explanation of that for a separate article. Aside from the projects I've directly been involved in there are numerous industry projects which support the findings - Innotrack gave typical rail life cycle cost savings of 35%, and the upcoming results from the Sustrail project are likely to quantify even higher savings. Sadly you can't make these savings in all cases, but using the right rail in the right place is obviously critical for a cost-efficient railway.
Aside from the massive cost savings achieved, it also improves the safety and maintainability of the asset, keeping people and maintenance equipment off the track, increasing its availability to do what it's designed for – carrying revenue-earning traffic.
I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into the world of rail and I hope you'll continue to follow me for the rest of the series. If you have any comments, questions or even a request for a future article then please let me know.
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