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Issues and challenges with logistics of rail maintenance

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES WITH LOGISTICS OF RAIL MAINTENANCE

S. Kumar*, G. Chattopadhyay**, V. Reddy** and U. Kumar*

*
Division of Operations and Maintenance Engineering,
{saurabh.kumar, uday.kumar}@ltu.se
**
Queensland University of Technology School of Engineering Systems,
{g.chattopadhyay, v.reddy}@qut.edu.au

ABSTRACT
Detection and rectification of rail defects are major issues for all rail players around the
world. Some of the defects include worn out rails, weld problems, internal defects,
corrugations and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) initiated problems such as surface cracks, head
checks, squats, spalling and shelling. If undetected and/or untreated these can lead to rail
breaks and derailments. There are challenges to the infrastructure maintenance people with
logistics for effective inspection and cost effective rectification decisions. If these issues are
addressed properly then inspection and rectification decisions can reduce potential risk of rail
breaks and derailments. Inspite of continuous efforts by all rail operators around the world to
reduce costs, a substantial amount of railway budget is spent on inspection and maintenance
of rails. These costs are further increased by inaccurate logistics decisions related to
maintenance and inspection personnel, equipment, and planning. This paper addresses the
issues and challenges related to logistics of rail maintenance with an aim to reduce costs and
risk related to rail operations.

Keywords: Rail Inspection, Rail Maintenance, Logistics, Cost, Risk.

1. INTRODUCTION

Detection and rectification of rail defects are major issues for all rail players around the
world. These defects include worn out rails, weld joint problems, internal defects,
corrugations and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) initiated problems such as surface cracks, head
checks, squats, spalling and shelling. If undetected and/or untreated these can lead to rail
breaks and derailments.
In this paper, issues related to rail maintenance, the risk and cost and the challenges in
current scenario are discussed. Section 1 introduces an overview of rail defects. Section 2
focuses on the main issues related to risk and cost based rail inspection and maintenance
procedures. Section 3 describes use of logistics as a tool for risk and cost reduction and the
challenges in front of rail players. The concluding section discusses summary and scope for
future work.

2. ISSUES RELATED TO RAIL MAINTENANCE

Some of the defects found in rails are listed in Tables 1 and 2.

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

Table 1: Causes of defective Rails (Sawley and Reiff, 2000)

Railway First Second Third Fourth

Rail track Squats Vertical/transverse Horiz./longitudinal Bolt holes 9.6%
(99/00) 21.7% 20.1% 12.5%
SNCF (1999) Squats Internal fatigue 11.5% Shells Thermite welds
23.4% 8.4% 4.7%
HSPC (1999) Thermite welds Wheel burns Horizontal split webs Bolt holes
31.5% 17.2% 13.3% 11.3%
NS Insulated Joints Transverse defects Thermite welds Fatigue Failure
(1997) 59.4% 18% 15% 5.2%
DB Thermite welds Sudden fracture 18% Fatigue Failure Electric bonds
(1996) 29% 16% 4%
Banverket* Transverse fracture Welded joint 32.7% Horizontal defect Vertical split
(1998) 55.1% 6.1% 2.0%
HH1 (1999) Vertical split heads Thermite welds 20.3% Detail fractures Bolt holes
34.7% 13.1% 12.2%
HH2 (1999) Transverse defects Thermite welds 15.5% Wheel burns Shells
23.6% 13.2% 9.6%

Table 2: Causes of Broken Rails (Sawley and Reiff, 2000)

Railway First Second Third Fourth

Rail track Vertical/transverse Thermite welds Bolt holes 14.9% Horiz./longitudinal
(99/2000) 39.5% 22.4% 7.4%
SNCF (1999) Thermite welds 35.3% Internal fatigue Squats Rail manufacture
18.6% 8.8% 6.1%
Banverket* Transverse fracture Vertical split Welded joint Horizontal defect
(1998) 44.1% 19.4% 19.4% 17.2%
HH2 (1999) Transverse defects Thermite welds Bolt holes 5.8% Flash welds
37.9% 35.6% 5.6%

Some of the issues related to inspection and maintenance are covered in the following section.

2.1 Rail Inspection

The effectiveness of rail inspection depends on the efficiency and accuracy of the inspecting
equipments. It also depends on skills and experience of inspectors. Errors in inspection are
important issues and its reduction is a big challenge. This mainly depends on the
technological limitations of the inspection equipments and the skill level of the rail inspectors.
Figure 1 shows the venn diagram of inspection and detection, rail breaks and derailments. The
venn diagram shows the percentage of defect detected by different inspection procedures. By
improving the inspection techniques and more efficient equipments, reduction in undetected
defects and false detection is possible.
Many rail players follow in-house inspection; in this inspection process the skilled
personnel as well as required equipments are company employed/owned. Outsourced
inspection is also followed widely, in which the inspection process is outsourced to various
ancillary companies. The advantages and disadvantages of inhousing and outsourcing are
discussed in section 3.

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

Needs to be
decreased

Figure 1. Venn diagram of inspection and detection, Rail breaks and derailment
[Chattopadhyay, et al, 2005]

Inspection is also governed by weather conditions. In cold countries, inspection of rail

becomes difficult and costly affair in winter. Another important issue is management of rail
traffic during inspection. Some of the rail routes are so busy that it becomes very difficult to
stop train traffic and do rail inspection and maintenance, in these routes rail inspection and
maintenance is done during night time. The workers and inspectors have to be paid more for
working during night hours. Still it is a challenge to effectively carry out inspection and
maintenance procedures keeping optimal rail inspection and maintenance cost and minimal
traffic disruption.

2.2 Rail Wear

Wear occurs due to interaction of rail and wheel. It includes abrasive wear and adhesive wear.
Jendel, (1999) defined the concept of mild and severe wear. Mild wear takes place slowly but
severe wear is often much faster, similar to adhesive wear. Severe wear is predominant in
curves and dry conditions (Olofsson and Nilsson, 2002). Mild wear is observed at the wheel
tread and rail crown, and severe wear is observed at the wheel flange and gauge face.
Zakharov, (2001) classified wear mode in rails as mild, severe and catastrophic. The basis of
this classification was characterized by different wear rate, surface and wear debris form and
size. Wear debris in the size range of 1000 µm, 500 µm and 300 µm are categorized into mild,
severe and catastrophic wear respectively.
Three commonly used techniques which are followed for rail-wheel lubrication are:
• Top of rail lubricators
• Wheel flange lubricators
• Wayside lubricators
• On board lubricators
In Sweden, about 3000 wayside lubricators are installed, and the total investment cost
excluding the annual maintenance cost is about US $ 7.9 million (Waara, 2000). Railways
around the world are spending such high cost for rail lubrication because if it is neglected, rail
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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

replacement would be the ultimate solution, which is far more costly. Lubrication helps to
reduce rail gauge face wear and reduces energy or fuel consumption along with noise
reduction.
However, excessive lubrication leaves residue behind that builds up on the rails and
wheels, resulting in potential environmental hazards. Excessive lubrication also reduces
friction more than required which increases the train’s braking distance, this may build up risk
in safe operation of trains. If we look on the other side, according to American Association of
Railroads, 2 billion US$ are spent in excess on ineffective lubrication (Diamond and Wolf,
2002). The issue of effective lubrication of rails depends on the lubrication techniques used.
Designing better and cost effective lubrication techniques and implementing them is a major
challenge to the rail players around the world. In many of the wayside lubricators, optimum
frequency of lubrication needs to be modeled based on detailed analysis so that it reduces
derailment risk and rail/wheel damage and at the same time it is also cost effective. “Effective
lubrication can only be enforced if adequate monitoring methods are available.” (Peters and
Reiff, 1989), thus the sensors to actuate the lubricators should also be sensitive enough to
optimize lubrication frequency. Weather conditions are of particular concern to these
lubricators. The applicator nozzles when not used for a long time in summer starts clogging;
this leads to improper functioning of the lubrication system. This problem is frequently faced
in many parts of Australia, where summers are hot. Lubricators need to be cleaned before the
start of winter in cold countries like Sweden as well. This procedure is important as the
nozzles of these lubricators may clog in winter due to no lubrication during winter. It takes
two persons one and half to two hours in Sweden to clean up wayside lubricators. If it is done
on the site then it costs US $ 360 /service (2 personnel x 2 hours and one car for
transportation). If it is done at depot the cost could be different. The cost to maintain the
lubricators cost around US $ 900 - US $ 1500 /year/apparatus (the lubricators are used only
for six months as there is no lubrication during winter) this includes fill up and maintenance
of lubricators (Chattopadhyay, et al, 2004). Biodegradable lubricants are also being used by
various rail operators but the economic side of their implementation is still an issue. Cost
effectiveness of lubricants is analysed by condition monitoring of lubricant properties and
prediction of remaining useful life of the lubricant so that frequent oil change is avoided
(Kumar et al, 2005).

2.3 Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF)

In the late 1990s RCF defects accounted for about 60% of defects found by East Japan
Railways, while in France (SNCF) and UK (Railtrack) the figures were about 25 and 15%,
respectively. RCF is a major future concern as business demands for higher speed; higher axle
loads, higher traffic density and higher tractive forces increase (see Cannon et al, 2003).
Analysis and modelling of RCF initiated defects have been done by many researchers,
[see, Ringsberg and Bergkvist (2003), Ishida, et al (2003), Fletcher and Beynon (2000),
Sawley and Kristan (2003) and Jeong (2003)] to find out ways to reduce the initiation and
propagation of these defects. Lubrication reduces wear rate and damage to the rails but on the
other hand it also causes fluid entrapment in cracks that leads to crack pressurization and
reduces the crack face friction that allows relative shear of the crack faces. This accelerates
crack propagation. Presence of manufacturing defect in rail subsurface and the direction of the
crack mouth on the rail surface are both responsible for guiding crack development direction
(see Bower and Johnson, 1991 and Bogdanski et al, 1997) Presence of water, snow or
lubricant on the rails may increase crack propagation rate. When these minute head checks are
filled with water or lubricants they don’t dry up easily. During wheel rail contact, these
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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

liquids get trapped in the crack cavities and build up very high localized pressure which may
even be greater than the compressive stress. If head checks are in the direction of train traffic,
crack growth takes place due to liquid entrapment, but when head checks are in opposite
direction of train traffic, the liquid is forced out before its entrapment.
Rail grinding removes surface metal from the rail head. Grinding is done by a series of
rotary abrasive grinding stones mounted at different angles on a rail car to give the rail head
its required profile. It is done mainly with intensions to control RCF defects and rail wear.
Rail grinding became increasingly recognized for controlling RCF defects from 1980
onwards, prior to that it was mainly focused on corrugation removal. At that time barely 15%
of Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) grinding budget was devoted to treatment of RCF
compared to 60% on control of corrugation. In the late 1990s, grinding as a treatment of RCF
of rails became a more established approach and began to be adopted on some European
railways. It is now widely followed in Europe. The annual grinding budget in North America
for larger railways is about US $ 500 per kilometer of track, this means that on a system with
20 000 km of track, the grinding budget is about US $ 10 million. This figure includes all
costs associated with grinding (Cannon et al, 2003).
Rail grinding has two approaches, corrective and preventive grinding. Corrective grinding
requires deep and infrequent cuts where as preventive grinding requires thin but more
frequent cuts (Kalousek, et al, 1989). Generally the minimum interval for rail grinding is in
the range 10–15 million gross tones (MGT). The Swedish national rail administration,
Banverket follows preventive grinding on new rails within one year or after 5 MGT of traffic
load. Later on regrinding is done in a cyclic manner called maintenance grinding, when
grinding is done specifically to remove severe irregularities or defects in certain areas of the
rail section, it is termed as corrective grinding according to Banverket. But the issue of
having optimal grinding frequency depending on weather conditions is still a challenge for
rail players.

2.4 Rail Welding

Small imperfection in welds can cause cracks to initiate. A defect free weld requires skilled
workforce, better weld material and better welding techniques along with better welding
equipments. In Sweden inspection, welding and rectification process becomes a costly affair
due to snow and ice in winters. Most of the defects which do not pose immediate risk of
damage to rail assets or derailment risk are deferred till the end of winter.
Rail players are always in difficulties to decide between outsourced maintenance or in-
house maintenance, depending upon the capability, cost effectiveness, skill availability,
availability of equipments and technology. Risk and cost are analyzed by rail infrastructure
operators in maintenance decisions. It covers rail lubrication, rail grinding and rail weld.
Other important issues are:
• Rail material
• Rail traffic density and axle load
• Track geometry

2.5 Rail Rectification and Replacement

Safety and integrity of rail sections are maintained by rail rectification, replacement and
rerailing. Rail rectification is done where minimal repair is required, this may be in the form
of small rail section replacement less than 110 meters of rail, rail welding and fastening of

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

fish plates where required. If the rail is replaced for rail length greater than 110 meters then it
is known as rail replacement. Major overhauling of rails, is known as rerailing.
Rail replacement is based on a number of responsible factors. Even now, rails are often
replaced based on their life or MGT. Finding out optimal rail replacement interval which is an
issue for rail players. This also depends on the wear limit and fatigue. Weather condition is
also an important factor. In cold countries like Sweden, rail replacement and rerailing could
only be done in summers.

Issues

Rail False
Inspection Detection Inhouse
Inspection

Rail Traffic Outsourced

Technological Weather Skill Level of Inspection
Limitations Conditions Management Inspectors
During
Inspection

Rail Rail
Wear RCF Welding
Rail Material
Used
Rail Rail Level of Skilled
Lubrication Grinding Workforce Inhouse
Maintenance

Lubrication Grinding Welding

Rail Traffic Techniques Techniques Techniques
Density Used Used Used

Lubrication Grinding Weld

Frequency Frequency Characterstics

Axle Load Lubricant Weather Weather Outsourced

Type Used Conditions Conditions Maintenance

Weld
Lubricator
Material
Maintenance
Track
Geometry Weld
Weather Quality
Conditions

Rail Rectification Rail Replacement

Inhouse
Replacement/Re
Weather Conditions ctification
Weather Conditions

Wear Limit Wear Limit

Outsourced
Replacement/Re
Logistics of Equipments Used ctification
for Rail Replacement

Figure 2. Issues related to rail maintenance

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

These issues are captured in Figure 2 for detail analysis of challenges for cost effective
decisions in logistics planning related to rail track maintenance.

3. CHALLENGES WITH RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE OPERATORS

Logistics of Rail Maintenance is a big challenge for rail players. Reliability and availability of
the equipment, capability of equipment, availability of skilled personnel and rail track are
essential to meet these challenges and are shown in Figure 3.

Technology used for

Reducing risk of rail inspection and rail
breaks and derailments maintenance

Achieving cost Skill of personnel

Rail Inspection effectiveness in rail
and Maintenance grinding, inspection and Selection of rail
Challenges lubrication material and lubricant
Challenges with
Reliability and safety of
Availability of rail track logistics
rail operation
and traffic delay

Inhousing and Frequency of rail

outsourcing of rail inspection, grinding,
maintenance lubrication and
replacement

Weather conditions

Figure 3. Challenges related to rail maintenance

Logistics is defined as systematic and careful organization of a complicated activity so that

it happens in a successful and effective way (Cambridge dictionary, 2006). The equipments
and skill required to operate those equipments should be available on time so that systematic
inspection and maintenance is carried out effectively. The operating environment has
influence on reliability and safety. Selection of material and proper spare part control is also
important. Forecasting of required support/spare parts based on technical characteristics helps
to avoid unplanned disruptions or stoppages (Ghodrati and Kumar, 2005).
Rail players are looking for cost effective logistics for rail track maintenance to achieve
reliable and safe rail operation. The maintenance activities carried out by rail infrastructure
owners is known as in-house maintenance. They own maintenance equipments and employ
skilled manpower for maintenance activities. But the challenge is how to have the required
capacity, efficiency and accuracy of doing all kinds of maintenance activities in a cost
effective manner. Outsourcing reduces a lot of expenses and liabilities at the risk of accuracy
and response time.

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Proceedings of the Second International Intelligent Logistics Systems Conference 2006

4. CONCLUSION
In this paper the issues and challenges related to logistics of rail maintenance are discussed.
The aim is to reduce costs and risks related to rail operation by effective logistics decisions
related to rail inspection, grinding, lubrications, rectifications and rail replacements. Some of
the challenges in this area include development of cost effective maintenance decisions,
reliability and availability of logistics support which include availability of capable
equipment, skilled personnel and availability of rail track. The analyses of these decisions
need to consider outsourcing of inspection, grinding, lubrication, rectification and rail
replacements. Detailed study considering rail and wheel and economic models for logistics
decisions is a big challenge now and also for the future. Authors are currently working on
these models and the results will be published in the near future.

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