Railway Track & Structures - October 2007 - (Page 37)

Risk management Managing risk boosts track safety Improving track safety with new-generation risk management tools reduces accidents substantially and adds to effective service life of track materials. by Allan M. Zarembski, Ph.D., P.E., FASME and Vice President and General Manager Joseph W. Palese, PE, MSCE, MBA Senior Director Engineering and Technology, ZETA-TECH: A Harsco Track Technologies Business Unit Figure 1. FRA-reported track-caused derailments, 2004-06. s railroads continue to work to reduce track-caused derailments, a new generation of innovative risk management techniques has been introduced to help railroads locate and identify potential derailment sites.1 These new techniques focus on the derailment causes themselves and develop specific risk management tools that quantify and analyze the “risk” for each key derailment or accident area. This has led to the development of risk-based tools to identify high-risk locations in the track and provide guidance for improved inspection and/or preventive maintenance to reduce that level of risk. This is accomplished by quantifying the specific level of risk and analyzing those factors that increase or decrease this “risk” for each key track failure modes. Track-caused derailments represent 40 percent of all FRA reported derailments.2 A As seen in Figure 1, the major failure types identified under the track-caused derailment category are broken rails, track geometry, turnout, and roadbed. In each of these cause areas, research has resulted in new risk-based tools aimed at helping maintenance officers pinpoint potential derailment location and take action to reduce the risk of a derailment. These include risk-based tools that look at: • Broken-rail risk: To quantify the risk of occurrence of a broken rail/broken-rail derailment with a focus on adjusting ultrasonic test schedules to reduce that risk. • Track geometry defect risk: To quantify the risk of occurrence of a critical geometry defect (FRA violation) with a focus on adjusting track geometry car test schedules to reduce that risk. • Vehicle/track geometry risk: To identify and prioritize locations with track geometry conditions that have a high potential for vehicle/track geometry-related derailments. • Turnout condition: To quantify the condition of a switch (turnout), calculate a level of risk and provide prioritized ranking to the railroad for maintenance and safety intervention. • Track buckling risk: To identify and prioritize locations of high potential buckling risk for follow-up maintenance action. Broken-rail risk management Broken-rail derailments represent a major track-caused derailment category with a high potential for injury, death and damage due to the sudden and potentially catastrophic nature of this failure. As can be seen in Figure 1, FRA statistics show that 350 to 400 derailments a year occur, with reported costs on the order of $100 million. In addition, Railway Track & Structures October 2007 37 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - October 2007 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Crossties by the Billions Provide Essentials for Full Support Modern Tools Manage Risk M/W Challenges: Better Management of Thermal Forces in CWR TTCI Celebrates 25 Years as Facility, 10 as Part of AAR Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Website Directory Advertisers Index Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - October 2007

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