Don Eadie
L.B. Foster Company
Richard Stock
L.B. Foster Company
Abstract:
Sustainable Rail Condition Management by Top of Rail Friction Control: Technical and Economic Aspects
Rail condition management and rail profile restoration are associated with significant cost factors for infrastructure owners. The deliberate addition of a water based, drying friction modifier into the tribological system between wheel and rail provides the necessary means to mitigate key mechanisms associated with rail profile deterioration (e.g. corrugation, wear, plastic deformation, rolling contact fatigue). Besides the technical improvements factors by integrating top of rail (TOR) friction management into the maintenance strategy, the economic impacts of this sustainable approach will also be analyzed in this paper. Considering cost factors like grinding and availability of grinding services, premature replacement of track components, track access times, train delays, etc… actual maintenance strategies will be compared to several proposed scenarios that include TOR friction control as a key component. But also other measures (e.g. rail grades) to reduce rail profile deterioration will be taken into consideration for this comprehensive analysis.