THE USE OF A MOBILE RAIL ANALYZER SYSTEM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED RAIL GRINDING PLANNING

This paper discusses the evolution and use of the RA-204 Rail Analyzer as a tool for planning a rail grinding program. The RA-204 rail analyzer vehicle has been in use on major railroads since 1984. Three aspects of the measurements that have been used in relation to grinding are: The corrugation (or roughness) index, the radius of the rail running surface, and the inclination of the running surface (angle). The paper describes and shows in detail the behavior of these three aspects on particular curves and segments of tangent track. Through an extensive optimizing process using a large number of actual curve grinding examples, software was developed to forecast the grinding required in terms of the speed, the number of passes, and the patterns required. The result has been the creation of a grinding planning tool that can be used to reduce the subjectivity in rail grinding decision making.