MANAGING RAIL DETERIORATION

Rail deterioration is an inevitable consequence of the wheel/rail interaction. Uncontrolled deterioration can, however, lead to gauge corner shelling, rail surface corrugation or excessive side wear with the potential for catastrophic rail failures. In this paper the authors use experience gained at MTR Corporation in Hong Kong to review the causes of rail deterioration and the methodologies employed to manage it with the objective of lowering the incidence of rail defects and overall rail maintenance costs. MTR Corporation has been working in partnership with BHP Institute of Railway Technology at Monash University, Australia to identify some of the causes of rail profile deterioration on MTR Corporation tracks and to devise strategies to reduce the rate of deterioration. Several modifications to the components and rail maintenance procedures were implemented. A Rail Management Model was developed to assist MTR Corporation to pro-actively manage the rails instead of using traditional reactive methods. The implementation of technical improvements at the wheel / rail interface have enabled MTR Corporation to significantly reduce levels of rail deterioration and undesirable events such as gauge corner shelling. Through a comprehensive structured programme MTR Corporation has managed to extend the life of its rails whilst reducing wheel wear and railhead defects with resultant savings in rail maintenance and renewal costs. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123713.