Railway Track & Structures - June 2008 - (Page 56)

Grinding and profile information) • Corrugation measurement (rail surface corrugation information) 2. Supplement these data with manual and visual inspection data. Several classes of rail condition data are not currently measurable by inspection technology. Use of track inspectors to monitor the overall condition of the track allows for the inspectors to find defects before the next rail-related inspection or find defects that otherwise would not be found by the inspection systems. This includes: • Broken rails • Rail surface fatigue (rolling contact fatigue, surface fatigue, spalling, shelling, etc.) • Rail wear and flow condition. 3. Analyze data and compare to railway standards. Data are analyzed at several levels. At the basic level, they are compared to the railway standards on a “go/no go” basis. If they exceed the standards, then appropriate action is taken. If not, they are left for the next inspection. Note there are usually two levels of standards used: 1) Maintenance standards, which indicate that work must be scheduled or planned 2) Safety standards, which usually require immediate action. The most common standards used are wear standards, internal fatigue defect standards and surface fatigue defect standards (corrugations, wheel burns, etc.) At the next level of analysis, the data are used to predict rate of degradation and failure and to predict short-, medium- and long-term maintenance and replacement requirements. This is illustrated in Table 1 and Figure 1 for definition of short- and medium-term rail replacement locations. 4. Use analyzed data to define maintenance activity. A direct result of the analysis process noted in Step Three above is the definition of maintenance requirements and specific maintenance activities. This includes location and schedule of maintenance activity. For longer-term planning, it also includes budget analysis and forecast of budgetary requirements. The most common rail maintenance activities are rail grinding, rail lubrication and rail relay or replacement. Figure 1. Sample rail replacement forecast chart. also measure track geometry and, in some cases, rail corrugations. These data, in turn, can be used directly or through an appropriate set of rail degradation and maintenance planning analysis software to plan rail maintenance and/or replacement actions. Such maintenance planning packages as ZETA-TECH’s RailLife, RailWear, and GrindManage software use these data to include: • Rail profile data • Left and right rails • Rail corrugation data • Laser-based information about corrugation location and relative magnitude • Internal rail defects • By defect type • Broken rails • Rail installation history • Annual traffic levels • Curvature. to plan rail grinding programs and for overall rail management. Thus, the integrated process used in rail management is a multi-step process, as follows: 1. Collect rail condition data from inspection systems. Rail condition data are collected from the different test and inspection systems used and recorded into a database for analysis and follow up action. Inspection systems include: • Ultrasonic testing (defects by type) • Rail profile measurement (rail wear Figure 2. Sample of grinding plan using GrindManage. 56 Railway Track & Structures June 2008 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - June 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Grade Crossings Provide Interface Between Railroads, Public Grade-Crossing Equipment & Materials Guide Fastener Suppliers Getting a Grip Grinding Plays Part in Rail Maintenance Big Picture Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Website Directory Advertisers Index Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - June 2008

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