Rail Grinding

November 2022

INDIAN RAILWAYS INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING,

Pune 411001

i
ii
 FOREWORD

Railway, being safer and economical, has been the

preferred mode of transportation for passengers as well
as freight. The axle load and speed of freight trains and
speed of passenger trains has been increasing world over
and Indian Railways is no exception. Indian Railway has
a mixed traffic with freight and passenger trains running
on the same track. The axle load of freight trains was
increased from 20.32 T in year 2006 to 25 T in year
2010 i.e. in a small span of 6 years. Dedicated Freight
Corridor (DFC) has been designed to carry 32.5 T axle
load, though initially trains will be running at 25 T axle
load. The freight speed is proposed to be increased to
100 Kmph and that of passenger train to 160 Kmph.
Increasing axle load and speed is a socio economic
requirement. All this has an impact on rail, causing
premature failures and impairing the safety of trains. Rail
grinding and milling is a method to remove the surface
flaws at initial stage itself and to re-profile the rail head
making the profile more favorable to the wheel profile
and thus control the stress on rail. This reduces these
rail failures, controls the wear of rail, ensures safety of
trains and even increases the life of rail.
Though rail grinding and milling started way back
in 1950’s, Indian Railways realized its importance much
later. First 20 stone grinders was inducted in 1995 which
was subsequently condemned in 2010. Then two 72 stone
grinders were inducted in 2011. These grinders however
are not sufficient for vast network of Indian Railways
and are covering only limited selected routes with high
axle load or GMT. Indian Railway is now planning to
grind most of the routes by inducting more production
rail grinding machines. Also Switch Rail Grinding Machine
(SRGM) to cover points and crossing which is not ground
by production grinders are also being inducted along
with Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV).

iii
 Hitherto there has been no comprehensive
publication, available on working of RGM on Indian
Railway, though it being one of the important area of
work for the engineers vested with responsibility of track
maintenance. The first of this kind of publication on “Rail
Grinding“ will help field engineers in understanding rail
grinding and working of Rail Grinding Machine.

Pune Ashok Kumar

27th October, 2022 Director General
IRICEN, Pune

iv
 PREFACE

I joined IRICEN as Professor/Track Machine in April

2017 where after promotion I am now working as Sr
Professor/Track Machines. Before coming to IRICEN, I
was posted at RDSO as Director/Track Machines,where
I got the opportunity to deal with Rail Grinding Machine
(RGM), though for a very brief period of six months. At
IRICEN I have been imparting training on rail grinding
for the last five years and in the process, interacting
with manufacturer and suppliers of machines apart from
trainees which has helped me in further understanding
of the subject.
Rail grinding was started on Indian Railways in the
year 2011 with the induction of two 72 stone grinders.
Training to railway men were already being imparted
at IRICEN on the subject. However no publication in
the book format was available for the guidance of field
people. Director General, IRICEN has now given me the
opportunity to write a book on the subject. The book has
been written, keeping in view the end user, that is the
permanent way maintenance staff. The intention is to
make them first understand different stresses to which
rail is subjected and different failures caused by them.
The book subsequently discusses benefit of grinding in
reducing these failures and the proper method of grinding
to get the best result. Brief on different grinders working
or likely to work in future has been covered.
This book is not really an original work. This book
owes its contents to all the faculty who have been
teaching the subject in the past and have been updating
the relevant contents at IRICEN. I would particularly like
to mention the contribution of Sh. P.K.Garg, PCE/WR and
Ex-faculty at IRICEN who apart from being the pioneer
in introducing the subject at IRICEN, has compiled a
very useful handbook in the form of “Guidelines for
working of Rail Grinding Machine” for field users which I

v
have been regularly referring for better understanding of
the subject. I owe this also to all the people who have
participated in numerous discussions in different courses
I conducted at IRICEN, officers and supervisors of RDSO
and officers at Railway Board dealing with RGM with
whom I regularly interacted on the subject. While writing
this book I regularly interacted with Sri Yash Sehgal,
Director, M/s Vandhana international, the Indian agent
of M/s Loram, and with Sri Sidharth Sriniwas, India head
of M/s Harsco and the information shared by them has
been very helpful in writing this book.
In spite of all my sincerity, the book would not have
been compiled in this form without sincere advice and
edition by Shri Anil Kumar, SP/T1 and Shri Satya Prakash,
Dean/IRICEN.
I also convey my sincere thanks to Shri Ashok Kumar,
Director General, IRICEN for his guidance and support in
publishing this book.
Any suggestion on further improvement of the book
is most welcome.

Anil Choudhary
Sr Professor/IRICEN

vi
 INDEX
Chapter Topic Page
1 Introduction 1
1.0 General 1
1.1 Rail Profiling Method 1
Indian Railway and Rail
1.2 5
Grinding
1.3 About the Book 6
2 Rail- Stresses and Suitability 7
2.0 Rail Stresses 7
Rail Suitability in Yield Strength
2.1 8
to carry Bulk Stress
Rail Suitability under Cyclic
2.2 15
Loading (Fatigue failure)
Rail Suitability to take Contact
2.3 16
and Shear Stress
Rail Hardness and Fracture
2.4 22
Toughness
Rail Design Limitations and
2.5 24
Grinding Requirement
Criteria for Rail Renewal on
2.6 25
Indian Railways
3 Rail Wheel Interaction 27
3.0 General 27
Rail and Wheel Profile over
3.1 27
Indian Railways
Conicity of Wheel and Effective
3.2 29
Conicity of Wheel Set
Critical Speed, Unstable
3.3 34
Oscillation and Hunting
3.4 Creep and Creep Forces 36
Adhesion and Slip at Contact
3.5 44
Patch
3.6 Ratcheting 46
3.7 Gravitational Forces 47
3.8 Shear Stress 48
3.9 Rail Wheel Contact Patterns 50
3.10 Wear of Rail 51

vii
 3.11 Work Hardening 52
4 Rail Contact Stress Defects 54
4.0 General 54
Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF)
4.1 54
Defects
4.2 Cause of RCF & its gowth rate 56
4.3 Problems with RCF Defects 58
Different ways to Control RCF
4.4 58
Defects
4.5 Other surface defects 59
5 Rail Grinding and its Strategy 65
5.0 General 65
5.1 Rail Grinding Procedure 65
5.2 Rail Grinding Strategies 68
5.3 RCF Control 69
Optimum wear/Grinding to
5.4 71
remove RCF- Magic Wear rate
5.5 Reliable USFD result 72
Profile Correction for reducing
5.6 RCF, Wear and for Stability of 73
vehicle
5.7 Surface Correction 74
Factors Affecting Preventive
5.8 74
Grinding Interval
6 Rail Profile Grinding 76
6.0 General 76
Rail Wheel Contact and its
6.1 76
Impact
6.2 Rail Profiling Purpose 83
6.3 Ground Profile Design 85
6.4 Grinding New Rail 91
6.5 Grind Pattern 92
6.6 Grind Passes and Grind cycle 93
6.7 Pummeling for Rail Profile 94
Grinding of High Strength Rail
6.8 97
(R350HT)

viii
 Production Grinders on Indian
7 98
Railways
7.0 General 98
7.1 72 Stone RGM, M/s Loram make 98
96 Stone Rail Grinding
7.2 112
Machine- M/s Loram Make
Rail Grinding over Indian
8 113
Railways
8.0 General 113
8.1 Grinding Strategy 113
8.2 Selection of Routes-Criteria 114
8.3 RGM 72 Stone Grind Routes 119
8.4 Ground Profiles 119
8.5 Grind Frequency 122
Track Data for Grind Data
8.6 122
Management System (GDMS)
8.7 Grind Pattern 127
8.8 Advance Preparation 130
Rail Grinding Monitoring and
9 132
Benefits
9.0 General 132
9.1 Items to be monitored 132
9.2 Test sites 133
Measuring Equipment’s and
9.3 134
measurements taken
9.4 Other Quality Checks 139
9.5 Monitoring at RDSO 143
Benefits reported over Indian
9.6 150
Railways
Rail Lubrication & Top of Rail
10 154
Friction Management
10.0 General 154
10.1 Friction and Lubrication 154
Indian Railway P.Way Manual
10.2 155
Provision on Lubrication
Friction Management
10.3 156
Advantages

ix
 RDSO Specifications IRS T-48
10.4 160
on Lubrication
Switch and Specialty Rail Grinding
11 162
and its Strategy
11.0 General 162
Rail Wheel Interaction at
11.1 162
Points and Crossing
Objective of Grinding Points
11.2 165
and Crossing
Special Feature of Specialty
11.3 165
and Switch Grinders
11.4 Profiles for Points and Crossing 167
Working of 20 Stone Grinders
11.5 168
on Indian Railways
Points and Crossings -Grinding
11.6 169
Sequence
Procedure of Grinding at other
11.7 173
Special Locations
Test site for Switch Rail Grind
11.8 176
Monitoring
Switch and Specialty Grinder
11.9 177
Machine-Description
12 Rail Inspection Vehicle 180
12.0 General 180
Layout of RIV Supplied by M/s
12.1 180
Harsco
Salient Feature of the M/s
12.2 180
Harsco Make Machine
Bibliography 182

x
 1
Introduction

1.0 General
Indian Railway has a mixed traffic with freight and passenger
trains running on the same track. The axle load of freight trains
has increased The freight speed is proposed to be increased to
100 Kmph and that of passenger train to 160 Kmph. In future it is
proposed to be increased to 200 kmph & above. Increasing axle
load and speed is a socio economic requirement. However, all
this impacts rail life and the same is reflected in increasing rail
fracture and more flaws being detected in USFD testing. Year
2017-18 saw an increase of 25% in rail and weld failure over
Indian Railways.The rail & weld fracture comparative position for
last 3 year is tabulated below:

FY 2016 2017 2018

Rail & weld failure (Nos) 3237 3546 4369
Various reports of RDSO indicates that the major cause of such
failure is Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) defects. Since all this
affects safety of passengers, it is important that all corrective
action to ensure safety is taken. Track structure and maintenance
standard of railway track has improved with time, but menace
of rail fracture continues to be a matter of concern not only for
Indian Railways but for railways world over. Rail grinding and
milling has emerged as one of the effective maintenance tools to
reduce the damage to the rail due to RCF.
1.1 Rail Profiling Method
Removal of metal is done to re-profile the railhead taking into
consideration the profile of the wheel for optimization of the rail
wheel contact band and thereby making rail wheel interaction
favorable. In the process addresses the issue of removal of
surface defects, reduction in the growth rate of internal defects
and also the issue of rail wear. This is expected to increase the
life of the rail and the wheel, apart from reducing the rate of
generation of defects in the rails.
Different methods are used for this as listed below:

1
a. Rotational Grinding
Removal of metal to achieve the desired profile is generally
achieved through rotating grinding wheels. The same can be
understood from the below given figure:

4
1

2
3

Fig 1.1: Rotational grinding

(1 Stone pressure, 2 Uniform forward and backward
movement, 3 Stone rotation, 4 Stone inclination)
The metal removal depends on configuration and size of machine
and the grinding speed. Normally the speed is between 3 to 25
Kmph.
b. Milling
It is a machining process whereby rail milling cutter heads, equipped
with carbide tipped tools rotate in the longitudinal direction of the
rail head. Metal chips are thereby cut out of rail head creating
facet contour on the running surface and the rounded contour on
the running edge to achieve the desired profile. The same can be
understood from the figure below.

2
 1
2

Fig 1.2 : Principle of milling

(1 is milling rotation and 2 is milling direction)
Rail milling is characterized by the large volume of metal
removal. The machine is equipped with 2 to 6 milling units and
are supplemented with a final finishing grinding unit. The working
speed is 500m/h to 1500 m/h.
c. Oscillation grinding
Here material removal is achieved by two components, one grinding
stone performs oscillating movements along the longitudinal
direction of the rail and the machine moves forward at the same
time. The same can be understood from the figure below:
1
3

2
3

Fig 1.3 : Principle of oscillating grinding

(1 is stone pressure, 2 is uniform forward and backward
movement and 3 is oscillating movement)

3
Volume of material being removed is determined by the number
and size of grinding stones, the grinding pressure grinding speed
and rail hardness. Normally 24 to 72 stones are provided. Several
grinding passes are required to achieve the desired profile. The
working speed with oscillation is 1200 m/h. without oscillation it
can work at around 15 Kmph.

d. Planing
Rails are planed with a chip removing process by straight and
radial cutting plates inserted in a cartridges that are adapted to rail
profile. Any predetermined transverse profile can be manufactured.
The arrangement can be understood from the figure below:

2 2
1
1

Fig 1.4 : Corner and Radius cut

(1 Pressure of the planning tool, 2 Uniform forward and
backward movement)
Metal removal is from 0.2 to 2,5 mm and working speed is 4 to 5
Kmph

e. High speed grinding

High speed grinding is based on the principal of tangential grinding.
The grinding stones are not driven by motors but are dragged
and rolled along the rail. The angle-offset of the stones results in
relative motion lateral to the rail head thus enables grinding. The
same can be understood from the figure given below

4
 2
3

Fig 1.5 : Principle of High Speed Grinding

Grinding speed is between 50 to 80 Kmph. Limited profiles can be
achieved and it is a preventive grinding technology.

1.2 Indian Railway and Rail Grinding

Indian Railway is primarily using grinders with rotational technology
and will be called RGM for plain track or SRGM for one to be used
at points and crossing. The machines using milling technology will
be called milling machines. Though rail grinding and milling started
way back in 1950’s, Indian Railways realized its importance much
later. First 20 stone grinders (RGM) was inducted in 1995 which
was subsequently condemned in 2010. Then two 72 stone grinders
(RGM) were inducted in 2011. These grinders however are not
sufficient for vast routes of Indian Railways and are covering only
limited selected routes with high axle load or GMT in NR, NCR,
ER, SER, ECOR, SCR, SR & SWR. With the increase in axle
loads over Indian Railways, it is important that grinding over all
such routes are done. Also the existing grinders are not able to
grind points and crossing and at some other special track structure
locations with check rails like L-xing where special grinders called
Specialty Rail Grinding Machine (SRGM) are proposed to be used.
Recording rail profile in advance helps in planning the grinding
system for achieving desired profile. Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV)
is used for the purpose.

5
Indian Railways has started inducting R260 rails and in future
will be inducting high strength R350HT rails. On such routes with
high strength rails, rail grinding becomes even more important
and same has been discussed in the book in subsequent chapter.
Accordingly Indian Railways has a master plan to procure following
machines for meeting the rail grinding requirement.

Master
Machine Sanctioned
planning
Rail Grinding Machine (RGM) 10 Nos 20 Nos
Milling Machine 1 No Nil
Speciality Rail Grinding Machine 10 Nos 20 Nos
(SRGM)
Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV) 10 Nos 20 Nos

1.3 About the book

The book covers, different stresses on rail, rail defects which can
be prevented or creation of which can be avoided by properly
using grinding technology. Grinding technology and other special
features of grinding machine, milling machine and Rail Inspection
Vehicle (RIV) proposed to be inducted in Indian Railways has
been discussed in detail.



6
 2
Rail- Stresses and Suitability

2.0 Rail Stresses

Rail is subjected to many types of stresses during manufacturing,
transport and service. These stresses are dependent upon
manufacturing process, laying process, loading and speed of
rolling stock, contact, interaction taking place between Rail and
Wheel. These stresses have been classified as under –
A. Bulk stresses- These stresses define the requirement of
yield capacity of Rail and includes-
(i) Internal residual stress
(ii) Thermal stresses due to temperature variation
(iii) Bending stresses and torsional stress (Due to vertical
and lateral load and its dynamic impact).
(iv) Stresses due to miscellaneous factors
B. Cyclic stress – This stress defines the endurance requirement
of Rail, which is subjected to Cyclic reversal of stress.
C. Contact Stresses – These stresses defines the shear strength
and hardness requirement of Rail and includes –
(i) Rail wheel contact stress
(ii) Shear stress
The rail properties which are crucial for taking these stresses are:
(i) Rail Section-The sectional properties like-sectional
area, moment of inertia and sectional modulus
(ii) Ultimate Tensile Strength of rail steel
(iii) Yield Strength of rail steel
(iv) Endurance Limit (Bending Fatigue strength)
(v) Other properties important for rail design are:
• Fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rate
• Hardness and Wear resistance

7
 Table 2.1
Rail Section Ultimate Yield Hardness
Tensile Strength BHN
Strength Kg/
(UTS), Kg/ Sqmm
Sqmm (min)
880 MPa 60 Kg UIC 90 46.8 260
R260 60 Kg UIC 90 56.07 260-300
1080 Cr 60 Kg UIC 110 57.1 320-360
1080 HH 60 Kg UIC 110 46.8 340-390
1175HT 60 Kg UIC 120 57.1 350-390
For finding the suitability of Rail to carry designed load, the
suitability is checked w.r.t its
a. Yield strength to carry Bulk stress.
b. Endurance limit to carry cyclic reversal of stress.
c. Shear strength to carry contact stress.
In addition to that the hardness, fracture toughness should
be adequate to reduce wear and to prevent rail fracture.
2.1 Rail Suitability in Yield Strength to carry Bulk Stress
The stresses in rail due to bulk stresses should not exceed the
yield strength of rail material. The bulk stresses as calculated for
880 MPa rail and suitability of rails to take different stresses is
discussed below
A. Stresses responsible for failure of rail in yielding
(i) Internal Residual Stress : Internal residual stresses are
the stresses which gets locked in rail during its manufacturing
and rolling. During cooling of rail material from molten state to
solid state, the cooling is faster at edge than the central portion.
This differential rate of cooling, results in locking of stress in the
rail material. In addition, it also causes bending of rail which is
subsequently straightened by passing these rails through a set of
rollers which results in locking of additional stresses. i.e. residual
stresses.
It has been found that locked internal residual stress on 60 Kg,
880 MPa, UIC rail manufactured by SAIL is maximum at foot
center (tensile) and is around 24.5 Kg/ Sq mm. The same is 250
MPa in EN code.

8
(ii) Thermal Stress: Thermal stress is caused due to
temperature variation. Rails are fixed to sleeper through elastic
rail clips and these sleepers are embedded in ballast. The elastic
clip should hold the rail in such a manner that there should not
be any relative movement between rail and sleeper. Theoretically,
rail has no thermal stress and is stress free at destressing
temperature but is subjected to compressive or tensile stress
when temperature increases or decreases respectively as it is
restrained from expanding freely. Taking Zone-V temperature
zone and td as tm+7.5, the maximum thermal stress (tensile)
created in 60 Kg, 880 MPa, UIC rail is 11.32 Kg/Sq mm.
For wider sleeper, the destressing temperature has been reduced
by 5 degree in Zone V on trial basis for 2 years. This will reduce
the thermal stress to 10.03 Km/Sqmm.
(iii) Bending and Torsional Stress: Bending stress and
Torsional stress are generated in rails by train loads (axle load).
While in straight track, vertical load is prominent, in curves rail is
subjected to both vertical and lateral loads. These loads are not
acting along the neutral axis of rails but are eccentric and are
therefore also causing torsional stress, in addition to bending
stress.
The bending and torsional stresses therefore acting can be broken
into following
a. Stress due to vertical bending
b. Stresses due to twisting on account of eccentric vertical
loading
c. Stresses due to twisting on account of lateral loading
d. Stresses due to deflection of rail on account of lateral load.

9
 Fig. 2.1 : Bending and Torsional Stresses
Following parameters are required for calculating these stresses.
 Dynamic augmentation of the axle load - This dynamic
augmentation of vertical load (axle load) at different speeds
are taken from C-100 report of RDSO made for different type
of vehicles.
 Adjacent wheel impact - RDSO has prepared a master
diagram given in technical paper No 323 for finding the
impact on bending stress under a particular wheel due to
other wheels within a certain distance.
 Leading wheel impact - Leading wheel if beyond certain
distance, increases vertical bending stress under a wheel
load . This increase is taken as 10% of bending moment by
RDSO.
 Lateral wheel load is calculated using Prud’Home’s limit.
Load on outer rail is half of Prud’Home’s limit value.
 Track modulus-The bending stress depends on track
modulus which is defined as load per unit length required for
causing unit deflection in track. Track modulus depends on
type of track structure, ballast cushion, ballast condition and
formation condition etc. For representative track on Indian
Railways, the same is taken from CT-12 report by RDSO as

10
 135 kg/cm/cm for first 4t load and 540 kg/cm/cm for beyond
4t load for for 60 Kg rail with sleeper spacing as 1660/km.
 The sectional and material properties of rail- The sectional
property of rail is taken for 5% worn out section. The
properties used are sectional modulus, radius of gyration,
moment of inertia, elastic modulus, the location of shear
centre etc. These properties are defined for different type of
rail section used over Indian Railways.
Using the above parameters, the bending stress has been
calculated by RDSO for carrying 25 t axle load BOXN wagon at
100 Kmph on 60 kg, 880 MPa UIC rail with PSC track at 1660 No./
km sleeper spacing and 300 mm cushion. The critical locations of
stress are F1,F2 and H3.

Fig. 2.2 : Critical location of stress

The tensile & compressive stress due to Bending and Torsion
calculated at these locations are:

11
 Table 2.2

Head
Stress (Kg/ Foot Corner Foot Centre
Corner H3
sqmm) F1 (Tension) F2 (Tension)
(Compression)
Vertical
-14.91 +12.51 +12.51
bending
Eccentricity
of vertical +4.66 +2.99 -
load
Twisting
by Flange -7.32 - 4.69 -
Force
Lateral
deflection
-4.20 +8.70 -
under flange
force
Total -21.77 +19.51 +12.51

(iv) Unforeseen reasons: Some additional stresses taken as

unforeseen for reasons like flexing of rail in curves etc equal to 10
% of Yield Strength (4.68 Kg/mm2 for 90 UTS) at the edges of rail
foot and head and equal to 10% of calculated bending stress at
foot center is taken. This therefore comes as 1.326 kg/sqmm in 60
Kg 90 UTS rail discussed above.
(B) Suitability of Rail to carry different axle load on Yield
Strength based criteria
Out of the three critical locations i.e. H3, F1 and F2, the maximum
stress (tensile) is generated at foot centre (F2), primarily because
of high locked residual tensile stress (24.5 Kg/Sqmm)
(i) Suitability of existing 90 UTS (880 MPa), R260 and 1175HT
rail for carrying 25 T axle load : Based on the above concept, the
suitability of rail in yield for carrying heavier axle load calculated
for most critical location i.e. rail foot centre is tabulated below:

12
 Table 2.3

25T Axle load

Speed & 50 Kmph 60 Kmph 75 Kmph 100
Dynamic (DA- (DA- (DA- Kmph
Augmentation 43%) 47%) 53.5%) (DA-72%)
Stresses (Kg/sqmm)
Bending
10.51 10.79 11.23 12.51
Stress*
Residual Stress 24.5 24.5 24.5 24.5
Thermal Stress 11.32 11.32 11.32 11.32
Unforeseen 1.05 1.08 1.12 1.25
Total 47.38 47.69 48.17 49.58
Yield Strength
46.8 46.8 46.8 46.8
of 880 MPa rail
Yield Strength
56.07 56.07 56.07 56.07
of R 260 rail
Yield Strength
57.1 57.1 57.1 57.1
of 1175 HT rail
Yield Strength
57.1 57.1 57.1 57.1
of 1175 HT rail
*Taken from table 2.6

From the above it can be seen that, on yield criteria, 880 MPa rail
is not suitable for carrying 25 t axle load even at 50 Kmph. R260
and 1175 HT (350 HT) rails are suitable for carrying 25T axle load
at 100 Kmph.

(ii) Suitability of 90 UTS (880 MPa), R260 and 1175HT (350 HT)
rail for carrying 22.9 T axle load:
Based on the above concept, the suitability of rail in yield for
carrying heavier axle load calculated for most critical location of
rail foot Centre is tabulated below:

13
 Table 2.4

22.9T Axle load

Speed & 50 Kmph 60 Kmph 75 Kmph 100
Dynamic (DA- (DA- (DA- Kmph
Augmentation 43%) 47%) 53.5%) (DA-72%)
Stresses (Kg/sqmm)
Bending Stress 9.68 9.93 10.34 11.51
Residual
24.5 24.5 24.5 24.5
Stress
Thermal Stress
11.32 11.32 11.32 11.32
(Zone-IV)
Unforeseen 0.97 0.99 1.03 1.15
Total 46.47 46.74 47.19 48.48
Yield Strength
46.8 46.8 46.8 46.8
of 880 MPa rail
Yield Strength
56.07 56.07 56.07 56.07
of R 260 rail
Yield Strength
of 1175 HT rail 57.1 57.1 57.1 57.1
(R350HT)

From the above it can be seen that, on yield criteria, 880 MPa rail
is not suitable for carrying 22.9 t axle load for speed of vehicle
more than 60 Kmph in temperature Zone IV. R260 and 1175 HT
rails are suitable for running 22.9 T axle load at 100 Kmph.
However if the destressing temperature is reduced by 5 degree,
the thermal stress reduces from 11.32 to 10.03 Km/Sq mm i.e.
reduction by 1.29 Km/Sq mm. Total stress at 75 Kmph therefore
reduces to 45.9 Kg/Sq mm (47.19- 1.29 Kg/Sq mm). 22.9 T
axle load in that case be permitted at 75 Kmph on 880 Mpa rail.
Similarly, the stress by 25T axle load at 50 Kmph in Zone IV with
wider sleeper reduces to 46.09 Kg/Sqmm (47.38-1.29). Thus 25T
axle load can be permitted at 50 Kmph.
C. Shortcomings of calculation methodology used
The calculation method used above for finding the suitability of Rail
in yield strength criteria is having shortcomings as below:

14
(i) Actual dynamic wheel loads (vertical & lateral) is taken using
CT-100 report of RDSO and are not known actually which
may be higher/Lesser. Measuring wheel is required or else a
better assessment method internationally accepted may be
used.
(ii) A factor of 1.2 for extra vertical load on curves due to cant
excess or deficiency is being considered in international
literature which is not being considered in IR methodology.
(iii) Actual lateral force coming on one rail, particularly on the
outer rail of a curve, is likely to be higher than half of the
Prud’Home’s limit inducing higher stresses in rail.
(iv) The sectional wear considered in calculation corresponds to
less than the limiting value.
(v) Overloading of wagon not considered.
(vi) Track modulus being taken is from the study conducted
in 1970’s. Track structure and maintenance practice has
changed with time. There is a need to recheck the track
modulus for existing structure.
However, Indian Railway method of calculation has been verified
by TTCI and it is found to be in line with international practice.
2.2 Rail Suitability under Cyclic Loading (Fatigue failure)
Any material subjected to cyclic loading, encountering cyclic
variation of stress or cyclic reversal of stress between compression
and tension fails in fatigue after some cycle of loading.
Endurance limit is the limit of cyclic stress which the material can
endure without failure in infinite cycles of loading. It is a material
property and defines the maximum limit of stress within which
the reversal of stress can takes place. The checking is done by
subjecting the sample made out of rail to around 2 million cycle
of loading.

+σ

-σ

Fig. 2.3 : Cycle reversal of stress

For 90 UTS rail material, this endurance limit is 33.3 Kg/Sqmm,

15
that means if the cyclic loading is creating a reversal between
+33.33 Kg/Sqmm (compressive) to -33.33 Kg/Sqmm (tensile), the
material will not fail even after infinite cycle (taken 2 million for
testing) of loading. This reversal is taking place about mean value
of zero stress.
In rails, there is always a locked constant stress. If we take rail
foot as the critical point, the constant locked tensile stress in 880
MPa is 11.32 Km/Sqmm (thermal in Zone IV) and 24.5 Kg/Sqmm
(residual stress). Thus total constant locked tensile stress is 35.82
Kg/Sqmm. Due to train loading, reversal of bending stress takes
place about this mean position and the limit within which reversal
of stress can take place for infinite life is calculated by smith
diagram.The limits for 880 MPa Rail and R260 Rail and the actual
stress created by 25T axle load of 100 kmph is given below:
Table 2.5

Range of permitted
Rail Axle Load& Actual stress*
stress as per smith
Type Speed (Kg/Sqmm)
diagram (Kg/Sqmm)
880 25T (Speed-
35.5 to 46.8 32.75 to 49.58
MPa 100 Kmph)
25T (Speed-
R260 25.63 to 56.07 32.11 to 49.59
100 Kmph)
* Calculation not shown here and taken from RDSO report.
Thus on 880 MPa rail, the actual stress is beyond the range
permitted for 25T axle load wagon at 100 Kmph and this rail will
fail after some definite cycle of loading in cyclic fatigue. R260
rail however will not fail due to fatigue even after infinite cycle
of loading as the stress is within the permissible range. Similarly
1175 HT (R350 HT) Rail is expected to have infinite life under
cyclic loading for 25T axle load at 100 Kmph, however that can
be ascertained after endurance limit of the material is found and
smith diagram is made.
2.3 Rail Suitability to take Contact and Shear Stress
Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) defect refers to a range of defects
that occur due to the development of excessive contact/shear
stress at or close to the wheel/ rail contact surface which exceed
the shear strength of rail material.
Following are the design considerations for ensuring adequacy of

16
rail with respect to the contact stresses
• Shear strength and shear stress generated
• Yield and shakedown
A. Shear Strength and Shear Stress
According to Hertz theory, the contact area between two curved
elastic bodies such as wheel and rail head is generally ellipsoidal,
and the contact stress distribution is semi-ellipsoidal.

Fig. 2.4 : Maxm and average contact stress

The size of this elliptical contact is around 10-12 mm on major axis
and 5-8 in minor axis. The contact however will depend on radius
of the wheel and crown radius of the rail.
The shear stress distribution observed in the rail under static
vertical load is shown below (Further discussed in chapter 3):

Fig. 2.5 : Shear Stress Distribution under rail

It is observed that the maximum shear stress is below the surface
at a distance of 0.15” (3-4 mm) as shown.
τmax = 4.13 √Q/R
Where Q is wheel load in Kg and R is the radius of wheel in mm.

17
Wheel load is increased by 1000 Kg to account for constant extra
load on one rail of curve due to cant excess or deficiency. It can
be observed that lesser is the wheel radius, more is the the shear
stress
The above calculation of maximum shear stress is applicable for
tangent track having rail-wheel contact at the top of the rail head.
However, this value can drastically change under the following
conditions:
(i) Reduction in the area of the contact patch due to contact
taking place near the gauge corner of rail in sharp curves
(ii) Tangential forces generated at the rail-wheel contact due to
lateral/ longitudinal slippages in curves and tractive/ braking
forces
(iii) Dynamic component of wheel load
The permissible stress in rail is:
Yield Strength
τper =
√3
As an approximation, yield strength is taken as 50% of UTS
and thus shear strength of rail becomes 30% of UTS. The shear
strength of 880 MPa rail and R260 rail both having UTS of 90 is
taken as 27 Kg /Sqmm. and that of R350 HT will be 36 Kg/Sqmm.
However from yield strength criteria, the shear strength of different
rails used over IR is
Table 2.6
UTS Yield Strength Shear
Rail (kg/Sqmm) (Kg/Sqmm) Strength
(IRS T-12) (IRS T-12) (Kg/Sqmm)
880 MPa 90 46.8 27
R260 90 56.07 32.37
1175
120 57.1 33
HT*(R350 HT)
* The yield strength of R350 HT rails are found to be far more than
the value specified in IRS specification. The shear strength is thus
going to be higher.
It is difficult to actually assess the stress generated in rail at rail
wheel interaction point when negotiating a curve as it will depend

18
on rail and wheel profile at the contact point and the contact area
generated.
As per C.Esvald, the actual shear stress is around 50% more in
sharp curves. The required UTS of rail assuming shear strength is
30% of yield strength and yield strength as 50% of UTS is:
Table 2.7

Axle New Contact Stress Required UTS (Kg/mm2)

Load Wheel (New wheel ) (New Wheel)
Diameter Straight Sharp Straight Sharp Curve
Curve
22.9 1092 18.91 28.37 63.04 94.56
22.9 1000 19.76 29.64 65.88 98.82
22.9 840 21.56 32.34 71.88 107.82
25 1092 19.76 29.64 65.87 98.80
25 1000 20.65 30.98 68.83 103.25
25 840 22.53 33.8 75.10 112.60
It can be observed that for new wheel from shear strength criteria
880 MPa rail, R260 rail and 1175 HT rails are all suitable for
straight track for 22.9T and 25T axle load. For sharp curve, only
1175HT is suitable. For worn out wheel, the stress is going to be
even higher.
B. Yield and Shakedown:
The tractive force of locomotive, causes tearing of rail material
(ratchetting) at the contact point. The material may be stretched
beyond elastic yield limit causing permanent damage to the
surface. However, beyond initial yield, the maximum contact load
which can be sustained by a body in rolling contact, with limited
plastic deformation, is known as the shakedown limit. Contact
stress beyond this shakedown limit is responsible for formation of
surface defects.
The typical mechanical behavior of any material when subjected
to rolling contact and cyclic load is depicted below:

19
Fig: 2.6 Elastic and Plastic deformation under rolling contact
and cyclic loading
Qmax=3/2qav
If the stress remains lower than elastic limit, no plastic deformation
qav
takes place and material behaves elastically leading to high
cyclic fatigue failure. When the stress increases initially, material
hardening takes place such that the stress can be borne without
structural deformations occurring. This limit is elastic shakedown
limit. If stress goes beyond elastic shakedown limit, plastic
deformation will take place which does not progress as the load is
cyclic. This limit is plastic shakedown limit. If stress goes beyond
this, each subsequent cyclic will cause further deformation
eventually leading to cracking. This behaviour is called ratchetting.
The stress created at surface should be within plastic shakedown
limit to prevent damage to the surface. The shakedown limit can
be calculated from the below graph

Fig 2.7Shakedown
Fig: : Shakedowndiagram
diagram

20
On the X-axis is coefficient of friction µ (Tangential force (T) /
Vertical force (N)) and on the Y axis is the maximum normal
surface stress (Po) /shear strength Ke .The red line is the limiting
line beyond which failure (ratchetting) takes place. If the value is
close to red line subsurface defects are created.
It can be seen that the parameters that keeps the values on left
side of red line are suitable for reducing shear failure of rails. Thus
by reducing contact stress, by having compatible rail & wheel
profile by reducing traction and by using high shear strength rail,
the shear failure of rail can be reduced.
Taking coefficient of friction between rail and wheel i.e. steel and
steel as 0.3, the maximum normal surface stress (Po) by shear
strength (Ke) i.e. Po/Ke permitted will be 3 (approx.).
As Po is the maximum normal load that can be taken, it will depend
on contact area.
Taking contact patch of rail and wheel to be quasi elliptical of size
around 13 mm (area- 132.665sq mm), the shear strength required
for different axle load is tabulated below.
Table 2.8

Po Required
(Wheel shear
Rail UTS
Axle load/ strength
required
Load contact (Ke) for Po/ Suitable Rail
(Kg/
(t) area) Ke to be less
Sqmm)
in Kg/ than 3 (Kg/
Sqmm Sqmm)
22.9 86.3 > 28.77 95.66 1175HT(R350HT)
25 94.22 > 31.4 104.66 1175HT(R350HT)
This is a sample calculation and is dependent on coefficient of
friction and also on rail and wheel contact patch. However it gives
fairly good idea of the failure of rail in shear. Thus from (A) and
(B) above, it is observed that 1175 HT (350HT) rail is required to
meet with shear stress requirement in sharp curves. Also it keeps
shear stress within elastic shakedown limit under tractive force
for higher axle loads i.e. 22.9T/ 25T. A study in Australian Railway
(Ref. “Railway Track Design – A review of current practice” by
N.F.Doyle, a publication of Bureau of Transport Economics,
Australian Govt. Publishing Service) on requirement of UTS &
yield strength from shakedown criteriais given below:

21
Ultimate Tensile Strength Requirements
For 22.9t axle load, the Ultimate tensile strength required for
tangent track is around 900MPa for 960mm wheel diameter and
more than 900 MPa for 840mm wheel diameter. For curved track,
it is more than 1080 MPa and is in the range of 1080-1100 MPa
for 960mm wheel diameter and 1110-1130 MPa for 840mm wheel
diameter.
For 25t axle load, the Ultimate tensile strength required for tangent
track is more than 880 MPa. It is in the range of 920-930 MPa
for 960mm wheel diameter and 940-960 MPa for 840mm wheel
diameter. For curved track, it is in the range of 1100-1120 MPa for
960mm wheel diameter and 1140-1160 MPa for 840mm wheel
diameter.
Yield Strength Requirement
For 22.9t axle load, the yield strength required is in the range of
450-460 MPa for tangent track and 640-660 MPa for curved track
for 960mm wheel diameter.
For 25t axle load, the yield strength required is in the range of
460-480 MPa for tangent track and 660-680 MPa for curved track
for 960mm wheel diameter. The requirement for 840mm wheel
diameter is even higher.
2.4 Rail Hardness and Fracture Toughness
Hardness is a measure of a material’s resistance to permanent
deformation i.e. how much a material can withstand scratches,
cuts, or other abrasions, as well as plastic deformation.
Toughness is a measure of how much deformation a solid material
can undergo before fracturing and is measured by the amount
of breaking energy they can withstand. Fracture Toughness is
the ability of material with indigenous cracks to resist fracture by
absorbing energy.
Therefore, it can be said that hardness and toughness have an
inverse relationship. For a particular solid; hardness increases as
toughness decreases.
A. Hardness of Rail
Harder rails normally will have more UTS. As mentioned hardness
of 880 MPa and R260 Rail are same as 260 BHN minimum.
Hardness of 1175 HT is 350 BHN and thus is very high.
B. Fracture Toughness & Rail Failure

22
The most common cause of failure of rail is the fatigue failure
like kidney flaw caused by repeated higher contact stress. Fatigue
failure almost always occurs in three stages:
(i) The initiation of Crack
(ii) The growth of Crack
(iii) Final fracture or collapse of structure.
Stages (i) and (ii) of the fatigue process are caused by repeated
loading of rail by wheels. In rare cases where the structure already
contains a crack like defect due to some reason including during
manufacturing, the fatigue failure will start from stage (ii). Stage
(iii) is caused by one loading event which may be abnormally
severe or as is more likely the final occurrence of a normal load.
The initiation of crack may require millions cycle of loading and
during this time there is no way of detecting the forth coming
crack. The growth of crack at its initial stage also requires million
cycle of loading and thus stage (i) and (ii) will take place many
years and during this period there is no perceptible change in the
rail shape or dimensions. The final failure will be sudden brittle
failure caused by increasing load. Since no visible warning is
available during stage (i) and (ii), USFD testing is the only existing
method to detect these flaws before final failure takes place. Final
fracture will take place when the fatigue crack length and applied
stress (included locked residual stress, thermal stress) causes a
critical and unstable condition and normally this causes a sudden
brittle failure. The unstable condition is determined by the fracture
toughness of the material sometimes described as its resistance
to fracture in the presence of a sharp fatigue or fatigue like crack.
Fracture toughness governs the ability of rail steel to resist
propagation of cracks from rolling contact fatigue and other
defects. Good fracture toughness is particularly important in the
prevention and propagation of transverse defects
The longer the flaw, the lower is the stress needed to cause
fracture. Fatigue crack growth rate is defined as the crack
extension per cycle of loading. i.e. ∆a/∆N where a is flaw size and
N is cycle of loading.

23
 Fig: 2.8 Crack propagation rate
Thus if any internal flaw is generated, the higher fracture toughness
of material will prevent that to be converted into fracture of Rail.
Fracture toughness is measured in laboratory and of different rails
are:
Table 2.9

Rail Fracture Toughness

(MPa m1/2)
880 MPa 29
R 260 29
1175 HT (R350HT) 32
R350HT rail has more fracture toughness and thus is best.
2.5 Rail Design Limitations and Griding Requirement
As discussed, the suitability of rail is checked for its capacity to
take
• Bulk load and not fail in yield strength.
• Cyclic load and not fail due to cyclic variation or reversal of
stress
• Contact load and not fail in shear and shake down
While rail may be designed for meeting the above condition but
even these do not guarantee safety against failure. This is more

24
so applicable to contact stress failure as this stress can be very
severe depending on how the rail and wheel profile interact with
each other. These are normally surface and subsurface failure
and can be controlled by regularly eliminating them at interaction
& managing profile of rail and wheel both making rail and wheel
interaction favourable. Such failures are discussed in Chapter-3
2.6 Criteria for Rail Renewal on Indian Railways
Para 202 (i) of Indian Railway Permanent Manual (IRPWM 2020)
specifies following criteria for rail renewal which are primarily
fatigue and wear based and are reproduced below in brief:
A. Incidence of rail fractures/failures
A spate of rail fractures on a particular section having 5 withdrawals
of rails per 10 km in a year due to fracture and/ or rail flaws detected
ultrasonically falling in the category of IMR will have priority while
deciding rail renewal.
B. Wear on rails
(i) Loss of rail section:
Table 2.10

Rail Section Loss in section as percentage

60 Kg/m 7
50 Kg/m 6
(ii) Vertical wear limit:
Table 2.11

Rail Section Vertical Wear

60 Kg/m 13 mm
50 Kg/m 8 mm
(iii) Lateral wear limit:
Table 2.12

Section Category of track Lateral Wear

Curves A and B Routes 8 mm
C and D Routes 10 mm
Straight A and B Routes 6 mm
C and D Routes 8 mm

25
C. Expected service life in terms of Gross Million Tons
(GMT) of traffic carried:
Table 2.13

Rail Section Total GMT Carried for

72 UTS rails 90 UTS rails
60 Kg/m 550 800
52 Kg/m 350 525
Service life in terms of total GMT of traffic carried for considering
through rail renewal of 60 kg 90 UTS rail would be 1000 GMT on
the routes covered by rail grinding, provided condition of rail is
satisfactory as per the other stipulated criteria mentioned in above
on fracture/failure and wear.
The GMT based criteria specified in IRPWM for 72 UTS rails was
existing since long time (this was wear based). For specifying the
GMT based criteria for 90 UTS rails, RDSO carried out studies on
rate of wear with respect to traffic density. It was noticed that GMT
required for same level of vertical wear in 90 UTS rail was 1.57
times more than that for 72 UTS rails. This formed the basis for
GMT based criteria for 90 UTS rails (800 GMT).
In addition, the criteria also mentions the failure on account of
corrosion and maintainability as criteria for rail renewal. However
these are not directly related to rail stresses and are maintenance
issue.
Studies on failure in 90 UTS rail were undertaken by RDSO on
Agra division of NCR in August 2002-September 2004 and results
are contained in RDSO Report No. MC-82 of Sept. 2004. This
report indicates that large no. of failures of 90UTS rails had
occurred at cumulative GMT ranging from 14 to 497. Analysis of
fractures indicated that about 40% of failures are on account of
defect code 211 i.e. internal flaw in head, transverse breakage
indicating that majority of rail failures were on account of Rolling
Contact Fatigue (RCF).
The gauge face kidney flaws were more in 90 UTS Rails and is
around 1.2 times more than 72 UTS rails.
RCF and wear of rail happens because of high value of contact
stress at the rail wheel interaction location.
Rail however is subjected to many other stresses also in addition
to contact stress.


26
 3
Rail Wheel Interaction

3.0 General
As discussed in chapter 2, the high value of contact stress causes
surface and subsurface defects which may ultimately result in
rail failure. Even if the rail has sufficient shear strength, still due
to varying conditions depending on rail and wheel profile, track
condition, wheel condition, vehicle suspension, axle load, speed
of train etc the failure due to high contact stress is inevitable. The
defects generation however can be controlled and the failure of
rail can be avoided by reprofiling the rail head. This chapter deals
with the rail wheel interaction at contact point.
3.1 Rail and Wheel Profile over Indian Railways
The unique property of steel to steel contact results in minimal
deformation of both contacting bodies under load. This results
in rolling contact with minimum energy loss across the contact
patch and in minimum damping within material of the contacting
bodies. That is why the rolling resistance associated with railroads
is so low and permits the transport of vast tonnage at less energy
consumption.
The different area of rail can be defined as below:

Fig 3.1 Rail head surfaces

27
The profile of UIC 60 Kg rail used on IR is as given below

Fig 3.2: 60 E1 Rail Profile

The wheel profile of rolling stock over Indian Railways is worn out
wheel profile. The worn wheel is not having a conical tread but
is in the form of a hollow tyre matching with the average profile
caused by wear. If a pure conical profile is given, the initial wear
is going to be very high and wheel turning frequency will be more.

Fig 3.3 : Worn out wheel Profile as per RDSO Drg No.WD88021

28
3.2 Conicity of Wheel and Effective Conicity of Wheel Set
The rolling surface of wheel i.e. wheel treads are cut to a cone
angle γ, For IR if provided with uniform slopes on tread, this is
0.05 (1/20).A pure conical wheel will be making contact on center
of rail head.
Conicity of wheel is defined as
Δr
γ=
Y
Where Y is the displacement of wheel and Δr is the rolling radius
differential created due to this displacement.
True measure of the conicity is the function of both wheel on the
wheel set and both rails in track. For any lateral position of the
wheelset, the difference in radius between the two wheels at the
contacting point is called the rolling radius difference or RRD as
shown in figure below

Fig 3.4 : Rolling Radius Difference (RRD)

The effective cone angle of the wheelset on the rails is referred to
as the ‘conicity’ or “effective conicity” called ϒe.

29
 Fig 3.5 Conicity and effective conicity
The effective conicity (Δr /Y) is constant for conical tread. However
for worn out wheel profile, the effective conicity increases with
displacement. Also effective conicity of worn wheel is more than
that for conical tread.
Mathematically, the effective conicity is calculated as one-half of
the slope of the graph of rolling radius difference versus wheelset
lateral shift:
• A wheel with a coned profile that has a slope of 1:20 that is
sitting on rails with a convex head would be expected to have
a conicity of 0.05 (i.e. one half of [1/20+1/20] = 1/20 = 0.05).
• For new wheels with a variable slope and for worn wheels,
the conicity (ϒe ) is defined as one-half of the rate of change
of RRD with wheelset lateral shift when the wheels are in
tread contact on the rails. In this case it is common to use the
term effective conicity.
The wheel tread conicity results in change in rolling diameter of
wheel in contact with rail table whenever the wheel moves laterally.
Due to symmetry of the wheel set with respect to track, the rolling
diameter of both left and right wheel are equal when wheel set is

30
central to track. If displaced to the right of the central position,
right wheel rolling diameter (2*rR) would be larger than left wheel
rolling diameter (2*rL) ). As the railway wheel set consists of two
wheels rigidly connected, both the wheel undergo equal rotation.
Therefore, the right wheel would travel a longer distance than the
left wheel, due to pure rolling movement. Differential movement
of the wheels results in the wheel set (axle) acquiring an angular
configuration with respect to track. This results in movement of the
wheel set along a curved path, and towards the center of track.
Due to the angular configuration, the wheel set continues moving
to the left even after it becomes central to track (and rolling
diameters become equal). As the wheel set moves further to the
left of the central position , a similar mechanism sets in, whereby,
due to the difference in rolling diameter of the wheels, the wheel
set is gradually brought back towards the central position. The
movement takes a sinusoidal path as shown below

Fig 3.6: Sinusoidal motion of single wheel set

This is pure rolling and is defined as the zero force state of the
wheel set.
The wavelength λo of the sinusoidal motion which a single
wheelset with constant conicity (γ) would execute, is given by the
formula (Klingel);
rG
λ0=2π
2γ
Where r = wheel radius measured at a distance of 63.5 mm from
inner face of wheel in case of B.G. wheel G = Dynamic gauge
Dynamic gauge is the distance between the two wheel tread rail
top contact points of a wheelset. It is approximately taken as the
distance c/c of rail heads. The values of G adopted on Indian
Railways Broad Gauge is, G = 1750 mm.

31
The frequency of oscillation is given by
νo
ƒ=
λo
Where vo is the speed of the vehicle. It can be seen that if conicity
increases, the wavelength reduces and frequency of oscillation
increases creating unstable situation.
The vehicles with a coned wheel profile i.e constant conicity will
oscillate as shown below(Fig 3.7) making a contact in a band of
x mm, causing wearing of wheel tread in this range. Since the
conicity remains constant, the vehicle movement will be very
stable with a constant frequency of oscillation at a particular speed
on straight track

Fig 3.7 Contact band created on rail

This contact will always be at the crown with a very small contact
patch causing high rail stress at the contact point. This will cause
RCF failure and increased vertical wear of rail. Therefore, conical
tread profile of wheel is good for stability of vehicle in tangent track
but is not good for controlling RCF and wear of rail.
Therefore worn wheel profile is good for controlling wear and RCF
of rail but is not good for stability of vehicle in tangent track.
For worn out wheel profile, the conicity is not constant but increase
with lateral displacement causing following impact :-
a) Reduced wavelength of oscillation
b) Increased frequency of oscillation thus unstable movement
c) Reduced contact band (x) so localized wear of wheel causing
hollowing of wheel
d) Reduced stress in rail & wheel due to matching wheel and rail

32
profile.
In general with time, the rail and wheel will wear to have a
conformal type of profile which increases effective conicity thus
reducing wear and RCF generation of rail but increases instability
of vehicle on tangent track.
On curves of radius R, in pure rolling situation, the lateral
displacement Y towards outside is given by Redtenbachers
formula and is shown in the Fig 3.8
Gr
Y=
2Rγ

Fig 3.8 Lateral displacement of wheel set in curve

The equation shows that the wheelset will be able to move
outward (Y) to achieve pure rolling only when sufficient flangeway
clearance for a given radius of curvature and conicity of wheel is
available. For a given curve radius, the amount of wheelset lateral
shift needed to negotiate a curve reduces as effective conicity is
increased. Higher conicity enables a vehicle to negotiate smaller
radius curves before flange contact occurs. Otherwise, the flange
will be guided by the flange contact.
The worn out wheel profile on curved rail encounters varying
conicity with displacement. The equivalent conicity at any position
is defined as
Rw δ Δr
γ= =
Rw-RR Y
Where Rw is wheel profile radius, RR is rail profile radius and δ is
the angle between plane of contact and track level. If the contact
is at gauge corner, effective conicity is going to be high as δ will
be more.
In worn profile of wheel Rw and RR changes with position of contact.
In pure conical tread, Rw is infinity and RR is small, the equivalent
conicity becomes equal to δ (0.05) i.e slope of wheel tread. As Rw
and RR become close to each other, the conicity increases thus
reducing wavelength of oscillation and increasing frequency of

33
oscillation. i.e. instability
3.3 Critical Speed, Unstable Oscillation and Hunting
The conicity of wheel causes sinusoidal motion of wheel set as
shown below. At low speed, this oscillation is a stable condition.
Y0

Fig 3.9: Cyclic movement of C/L of axle

With speed, the value of Y0 increases generally due to slip and
ultimately wheel may even start hitting the gauge face of the rails
reducing stability and causing cyclic wear of rails. The vehicle
movement changes in such situation from harmonic to Zig-
Zag. This causes unstable motion called hunting motion. The
wavelength reduces and frequency increases quickly as is shown
in the below figure until it is in the critical range for the rolling stock
and resonance occurs.

Fig 3.10 : Wheel hunting due to flange touching the rail

The unstable oscillation can occur even without flange touching
the rail. The maximum lateral acceleration of this type of cyclic
movement suggested by Kingel is given below;
Acceleration (Max)=4π2Yo(v2/λ2)
The lateral acceleration which is the measure of the forces, shows
the adverse effect of high speed and/or small wavelength. A conicity
of 1 in 40 in comparison to 1 in 20 gives greater wavelength and
a lower lateral acceleration at the same speed. The progressively
increasing conicity due to wear therefore has an adverse effect on
the lateral forces which causes unstable motion.
The speed at which this harmonious movement is disturbed is
called critical speed. For a particular conicity of the vehicle, there
is one critical speed. High conicity increases the frequency of
oscillation and creates the unstable situation at a lower critical

34
speed thus causing vehicle hunting. This results in sustained
lateral motion of a wheelset or vehicle above a critical speed.
• Below the “critical speed” of the vehicle, the hunting amplitude
decreases.
• Running exactly at the critical speed, the amplitude of the
motion remains constant.
• If the critical speed is exceeded, the amplitude of the hunting
motion increases.

Fig: 3.11 Amplitude of oscillation w.r.t critical speed.

The vehicle movement changes in such situation from harmonic
to Zig-Zag. This is called hunting motion. The wavelength reduces
and frequency increases quickly until it is in the critical range for
the rolling stock and resonance occurs.
Hunting is a function of the wheel/rail geometry, the suspension
and the masses, and the inertia’s of the vehicle. Since the mass
and inertia (and in most cases, the suspension stiffness and
damping of the freight wagons) will significantly change from
empty to loaded wagon, the type of hunting motion observed
usually differs between an empty and a loaded wagon. Since the
stiffness values between axle box and bogie frame are lower in an
unloaded vehicle, the risk for wheelset or bogie hunting is higher
when vehicle is moving in empty condition.
The bogie design as far as conicity and flangeway clearance are
concerned must be such that stable running is always guaranteed
for the speed range in which the vehicle is to be used.
The variation of critical speed with conicity can be understood by
the below representative figure:

35
 Fig 3.12 : Influence of wheel conicity on critical velocity on
tangent track
Practically it is observed that with time rail and wheel profile
stabilizes at an equivalent conicity of 0.2 to 0.3. For running
stability this effective conicity should be less than 0.4 and for
effective centering it should be greater than 0.1.
During profile design there is a trade off with respect to conicity.
Low conicity favours stable running at higher speeds, high conicity
gives better curving performance. In practice however, good
vehicle suspension design can allow both stability at higher speed
and good curving performance.
3.4 Creep and Creep Forces
Forces imposed on a wheelset as a result of constraints and/or
forces applied at the journals cause the wheelset to deviate from a
pure rolling position on the track. Partial sliding motions take place
across the contact patch resulting in relative slip called creep or
creepage. Creep results in the generation of forces across the
contact patch to oppose this dynamic action.
The creep forces in the wheel/rail contact depend on the creep, the
normal load in the contact, the friction coefficient, and the contact
geometry. The relationship is nonlinear. Figure below shows a
typical relationship between creep and creep force.

36
 Fig 3.13: Creep Vs Creep force
The above graph shows that
• When creep is zero, the creep force is zero. In other words,
to develop a creep force, creepage in the wheel/rail contact
is needed. This means for example, to develop a traction or
braking force, longitudinal creep in the wheel/rail contact is
needed.
• For small creepages, the relationship is linear. The creep
force, however, saturates at the value μN (i.e. this is the
highest value of creep force possible to transfer in the
contact).
The creepages and resulting forces acting across the contact
patch can be divided into following components:
• Longitudinal creep and resulting force
• Lateral creep and resulting force
• Flange force
• Spin-Rotational creep
A. Longitudinal Creep and Creep Force
On straight track (Figure below), the pure rolling position is the
centerline of the track. If the wheel set is shifted laterally from this
position, the vehicle would try to take the dotted position shown in
the same figure called the preferred position. However it is forced
to actual final state by journal (Fj) and thus larger rolling radius
wheel slips back and the smaller radius wheel slips forward which
induces creep force Fs on the rail head opposing Fj. Thus Fs react
against the constraining forces at the journals Fj. This creep force

37
created due to slippage is responsible for sinusoidal motion of
Fig: Two point contact Fig: Single point Fig: Single point
the vehicle. At low speed this oscillation decays. At high speed,
on high rail of curve contact on higher rail of contact
unstable oscillation i.e. hunting occurs. The amount on inner rail
of creepage
curve are directly proportional
and the creep force generated of curve
to the
displacement y and the cone angle γ.

Fig 3.14: Longitudinal creep Fig 3.15 Sinusoidal motion

Fig: Longitudinal
due creep due ato
to wheel negotiating Fig: Longitudinal
generated creep due to wheel
by longitudinal
wheel negotiating a straight
straight track negotiating creep
a curved track.
track
Railway vehicles use wheelsets
comprising two wheels fixed to
a common axle. The wheels tend to take the radial position as
shown below:

Fig 3.16: Vehicle negotiating a curve

In practice, rotation of the wheelsets into radial alignment is
resisted by the vehicle suspension. The stiffer the primary yaw
suspension, the larger the forces which will be required to achieve
the required rotation. These forces are generated by the leading
wheelset moving out beyond the equilibrium rolling line to give an
excess of rolling radius difference that gives rise to creepage (or
microslip), and consequently creep force, to steer the wheelset
relative to the rail. Similarly, the required steering forces at the

38
trailing wheelset are generated by moving inwards from the
equilibrium rolling line. (The creepage mechanism is further
discussed in para 3.9)
Direction of wheel Longitudinal creepage would depend on the
lateral position of the wheelset with respect to the pure rolling
position as shown. The steering moment can be understood from
the figure below

Fig 3.17 Steering moment created by longitudinal creepage

If the curve radius is smaller i.e. the curve is sharper, or the bogie
wheelbase is greater, the wheelset must rotate through a greater
angle. Thus, larger steering forces must be generated, so the
wheelsets must move further from the equilibrium rolling line. The
forces that can be generated depend on the “effective conicity” of
the wheelset on the rail. The larger the conicity, the greater the
rolling radius difference for a given lateral shift. Conicity tends to
increase with increasing wheel tread wear.
In the mild curves, the forces acting on the wheels are as shown
below

39
 Fig 3.18: Lateral creep on mild curves track
Longitudinal creep force is also generated when the tractive or
braking force is applied. During traction it works in forward direction
while during brake application it assists in stopping the vehicle.
B. Lateral Creep
Lateral creep may be defined in the similar fashion. On rolling
forward, the preferred final state of the wheelset is shown as
chain-dotted in Fig below.

40
 Fig 3.19:
Fig: Lateral
Lateral creep
creep of wheel
of wheel onon straight
straight track
track
The wheel is constrained by the vehicle suspension or a flange
force shown as FL. To be oriented to the track in a similar position
to the initial state, the wheelset must have slipped laterally.
In curves also, the wheelset must slip laterally. This lateral
creepage and the associated force are proportional to the angle of
attack as can be understood from the figure below.

Fig: Wheel flange force due to lateral creep

Fig 3.20: Lateral Creepage in sharp curve , guided by lateral

creepage and flange force
C. Curving and Flange Forces in sharp curves
As discussed in para 3.4 (A) above, in sharp curves, the steering
forces are ultimately limited by one of two mechanisms. The first
Fig: Longitudinal and Lateral creep forces.
limit is the available adhesion, causing creep force The second

41
limit is the flange, which limits the lateral shift of the wheelset,
preventing the wheelset from generating sufficient rolling radius
difference. Once the wheelset is unable to generate sufficient
longitudinal creep forces to steer into the radial position, the
wheelset will have an “angle of attack” to the track, and will run in
flange contact, which must be resisted by the flange contact force.
These forces are a major cause of wear. As the equilibrium rolling
line is closer to the outer rail than the inner, the leading wheelset
will always reach flange contact before the trailing wheelset.
The forces acting on the two axle bogie wheel set is shown below:

Fig 3.21 : Curving and Flange force in a bogie

The creep forces acting are:
a. Front axle outer wheel, as the lateral creep is inside the
lateral creep force will be acting towards outside. (Fig. 3.20)
b. In the front wheelset, outer wheel will have larger rolling radius
and will slip back as explained creating creep backward and
thus creating forward longitudinal creep force. Similarly inner
rail will have longitudinal creepage force acting backward.
c. In sharp curves of the rear wheelset the outer wheel will

42
 have lesser rolling radius than equilibrium, hence will create
longitudinal creep as shown. The inner wheel will have larger
than equilibrium radius hence will slip back creating forward
longitudinal creep. This force is normally very less. In mild
curves however the position may be different
On the front axle, the longitudinal creep creates steering clockwise
moment while lateral creepage creates anticlockwise moment.
If these are balanced as in case of mild curves, no flange contact
is made. In sharp curves, since lateral creepage moment is more,
flange force is inevitable and a balancing moment by flange force
is created. This cause severe gauge face wear
Curving at high speeds with cant deficiency means that the
wheelsets must generate additional lateral forces to overcome the
centrifugal forces in the curve.
High lateral creepage is reflected in lateral material flows in the rail
crown in sharp curves as well as material flows on the wheel as
shown in Figure 3.22.

Fig 3.22: Wheel flange force due to lateral creep

Generally, the longitudinal and lateral creep forces play the most
significant role in vehicle behavior. If controlled correctly, they
provide effective guidance to the vehicle. If not, they can be the
source of much track and wheel damage.

43
D. Spin
The magnitude of the spin creep generally depends on the contact
angle γ. The dicone type shape of wheel set induces both the
wheel to roll in opposite direction. However being connected a spin
force is applied at contact patch. A spin torque is applied hence,
a rotational “scrubbing” action occurs at high contact angles. This
has been associated, together with high contact stresses, with the
formation of head checks.

Fig 3.23: The spin in rail wheel contact patch

The same can be also understood by looking at different rolling
radius at different contact points along wheel tread. More is the
contact patch more is the spin forces though it reduces the contact
stresses. So the contact patch can not be increased to a very
large size, maintaining a balance between contact stress and
spin forces to control RCF. The couple associated with spin is
considered to have a minimal influence on rail/wheel forces.
The net creepage vector at the wheel/rail interface is (in general)
a combination of longitudinal, lateral and spin.
3.5 Adhesion and Slip at Contact Patch
As discussed, there are three components of creep: longitudinal
and lateral creep force and (spin) torque. Longitudinal creep and
resultant forces arise because during traction in the direction of
rolling, slip occurs in the trailing region of the contact patch (Figure
below). The greater the value of traction force, the greater is the
proportion of the slip region in the contact patch (Figure below)
until the tractive force reaches its maximum level when the contact
patch is not capable to absorb any additional tractive effort. Since
creep is generated in lateral direction as well as due to spin, the
area of slip and adhesion can be complex
Talking of longitudinal creep due to traction, the maximum level of
tractive force between a locomotive driving wheel and rail depends
on the capability of the contact patch to absorb traction. This is

44
expressed in the form of the adhesion coefficient or coefficient of
friction (µ) which is a ratio of traction force (T) to normal load (N).
As the traction forces becomes very high, the adhesion becomes
zero and wheel slippage causing wheel burnt occurs.

Fig 3.24: Adhesion and microslip Fig 3.25: The change

in rail wheel contact patch of adhesion area with
increase of traction
The above behavior can also be understood from the below
graphical representation

Fig 3.26 : Traction coefficient Vs slip at rail wheel contact

point during Braking and Traction

45
While one of the wheel in a wheel set will be having positive
creepage other will be having negative creepage as shown below:

Fig 3.27 Steering forces on wheelset

Low adhesion between the wheel and rail is a long term challenge
for the rail network. Reliable levels of adhesion at the wheel-rail
interface are imperative for safe, efficient & reliable train operation.
3.6 Ratcheting
As discussed in previous chapter (para 2.4), shakedown
diagram, describes the limits of material behavior in terms of
non-dimensional normal contact pressure Po /ke as a function of
non-dimensional traction coefficient (T/N), where Po is the normal
contact pressure, ke is the shear yield strength, T is the tangential
force which is primarily steering forces arising out of creepage
but can also contain tractive and braking force, and N is normal
load. At relatively low traction coefficient T/N, cumulative plastic
flow occurs below the rail surface. If the traction coefficient is high
(greater than about 0.3), plastic flow is greatest at the rail surface.
The accumulation of a large number of unidirectional plastic strain
increments “ratchets” (Fig below) the surface layer of material
until its ductility is exhausted.
The ratchetting effect will depend on the friction coefficient, the
maximum contact stress (which depends on the size of contact
patch), and the shear strength of the steel as discussed before in
para 2.3 B.
Cracks initiated by ratcheting grow perpendicular to the prevailing

46
 Fig 3.28: Ratchetting of Rail
direction of the traction force. In mild curves, longitudinal traction is
dominant and cracks grow primarily perpendicular to the direction
of travel. In sharp curves traction forces are primarily in the lateral
direction and cracks are primarily parallel to the direction of travel.
For mixed longitudinal and lateral traction, the cracks can grow at
an angle about 45 degrees to the direction of travel.
3.7 Gravitational Forces
The wheel/rail contact also has to transfer the weight of the vehicle
into the track structure. The sum of the vertical forces Q is equal
to the axle load (figure 2-14). Because of the profiled wheels, the
contact patches are inclined at a general contact angle γ. This
results in the generation of a lateral component to the vertical
load at each contact patch. The angle of the contact patches on
each wheel can be different and result in a net force acting on the
wheelset.

Fig 3.29: Gravitational force at rail wheel contact

Lateral components of normal forces on the wheelset generally,
gravitational forces can assist in vehicle guidance although this
effect is not of great significance and is not identified as being the
cause of significant track or vehicle damage.

47
n out wheel Profile as per RDSO Drg No.W
3.8 Shear Stress
The contact patch is surprisingly small with correspondingly high-
contact stresses. Typically, contact is made over a quasi-elliptical
contact patch the size of 10-12 mm major and 5-8 mm minor axis
which implies that a 20,000- 25000 ton train is supported over a
very small patch causing high value of contact stress.

Fig 3.30: Pressure at the contact patch

Immediately beneath the contact patch in either the wheel or rail,
the steel is under tremendous pressure from all directions as
the contact pressure is “supported” by reaction pressures from
the surrounding material of either wheel or rail. This is termed
a triaxial state of stress. Each of the “stress arrows” as shown
presses almost equally on the steel, which has no direction in
which to move or “flow” and can withstand the load. Under these
conditions, and using high strength steels, axle loads beyond
present day applications (up to perhaps 60 t or beyond) should

48
be possible.
The shear stress on rail top as discussed in previous chapter is
less or close to zero due to triaxial balance under static axle load
as discussed. However as we go deeper inside, the σx and σy
reduces faster as compared to σz thus creating maximum shear
stress at around 3 mm below the surface. The contact stress on
surface of rail and shear stress distribution as one goes deeper is
discussed in chapter 2 (Para 2.3)
There are two significant volumes of material that exhibit
deformation. One is a very thin layer on the surface of the contact
patch and the other is the subsurface layer in the region of the
maximum shear stresses. When the traction force is applied, these
areas became closer and may form one area of potential failure.
In actual therefore, there will be shear stress at the top surface
also. The depth and value of maximum shear stress depends on
axle load and crown radius as below.

Fig 3.31: Shear stress Fig 3.32: Shear stress

distribution with depth for distribution with depth for
different axle load different rail crown radius
It can be concluded from the above figure:
• As axle load increases, the maximum shear stress increases
and the location of maximum shear becomes deeper.
• As crown radius of rail becomes flatter i.e. radius is increased,
the shear stress reduces and the location of maximum shear
gets deeper into the rail.
This tractive force changes the stress distribution as shown below:

49
 Fig 3.33: Shear stress distribution with depth for different
tractive force

It can be seen that with increased tractive force, the shear at the
surface increases and a time comes when maximum shear shifts
close to surface.
3.9 Rail Wheel Contact Patterns
The rail wheel contact can be considered to be taking place in
following region:
Region A: Contact between the central region of the rail crown and
wheel tread
Region B: Contact between the gauge corner of the rail and the
flange fillet
Region C: Contact between the field sides of both rail and wheel.

Fig 3.34: Contact zone on wheel tread

50
Contact in region A normally takes place on both the wheels in
tangent/mild curve. The contact in B region normally takes place
on outer wheel of sharp curves. The contact in region C normally
takes place on inner wheel of curve. The contact pattern at these
locations are discussed in detail in chapter 6.
3.10 Wear of Rail
The two main areas of Rail wear are:
• Top of the rail
• Gauge face wear mainly in curves
The amount of wear for a particular Rail and Wheel material will
depend on the pressure (P) at the contact patch and the relative
slippage (λ) between rail and wheel. P and λ are dependent on
dynamic parameters of wheel/rail interaction. Also wear will
depend on third body between Rail and Wheel like sand, lubricant,
water etc.
It is found that value of pressure (P) x Relative slippage (λ) , defines
the extant of wear that is going to take place.Wear occurring can
be broadly classified as:
a. Mild
b. Severe
c. Catastrophic
As an approximation if P x λ is less than 40, it is mild wear case,
if between 40 to 120, it is severe and if greater than 120 then
it is catastrophic wear. The mild wear is characterized by bright
surface of wear. Severe wear is characterized by rougher surface
and in catastrophic wear, the surface is rough and shows score
marks.
In tangent track, normally top of the rail is subjected to high contact
stress and relatively low level of relative slippage (if there is no
slip of the locomotive or car wheels as a result of low adhesion
between wheel and rail or excessive tractive or braking effort.)
In this case, P x λ is about 20 and the mild wear takes place.
However with time the wheel tyre takes a profile creating false
flange. The shear stress increases and contact point changes.
The wear pattern also changes.
When negotiating a curve the wear at rail gauge face becomes
more prominent, though it may occur for a short time on tangent
track, especially if cars are hunting. In sharp curves under dry

51
conditions, conventional three-piece truck negotiation lead to
the catastrophic wear mode of high intensity, resulting in a large
amount of wear and quick change of the railhead profile. Depending
on whether the wheels and rail have new or worn profiles there
may be different contact pressure and different relative slippage
distribution on the contact patches that will lead to different wear
modes and rate of wear. Wear of Rail is found to be dependent on:
• Axle load: Both gauge face and Rail top wear increases with
axle load.
• Gauge face clearance: Lesser clearance than certain value
increases the wear
• Hardness: It is the most important factor which affects the
wear of Rail. Increasing the hardness reduces the wear by
very large value.
• Relative hardness of Rail and Wheel: It is found that increase
in hardness of either rail or wheel, reduces the wear rate.
• Lubrication: It reduces the gauge face wear.
The method to reduce wear includes:
• Use of fully heat treated, head hardened rail
• Lubrication of gauge face particularly in curves.
• Wheel and rail profile preferably a conformal profile to reduce
contact pressure
• Extra flange way clearance in curves i.e. wider gauge.
• Proper bogie design to reduce angle of attack preferable
self-steering to reduce slippage.
3.11 Work Hardening
After multiple wheel/rail interactions in operation, the hardness
of the interacting surfaces increases in comparison to the initial
surface hardness. This introduces compressive residual stresses
in the rail head surface zone. These stresses protect the rail
by decreasing the local stresses generated by contact fatigue
loading and inhibits ratcheting and wear. Work hardening has
been observed on the running surfaces in both standard and
head hardened rails. The considerable depth of the hardened
layer (about 4-8 mm depending on the rail type) develops rather
quickly, but the maximum hardness, which is achieved near the
surface, increases gradually with passed tonnage. Since the

52
work hardening depends on the degree of material deformation,
standard rails will Fig: Ratchetting
work harden of head
more than Railhardened rails.
The increase in hardness after different GMT (Million Gross Ton of
Traffic) is shown in the Fig below.

Fig 3.35 : Work hardening of rail with increasing GMT

Though work hardening always takes place in operation, it is very
difficult to control this phenomenon and to use it decrease wear
because the work hardened layer is not stable.



53
 4
Rail Contact Stress Defects

4.0 General
The Rail wheel contact stresses causes failure at the contact
patch if the stress value exceeds the shear strength of rail as
discussed in previous chapter. Such failures are normally called
Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) and is the most prominent reason
for rail failure. In this chapter, different defects caused in rail due
to rail wheel interaction is discussed.
4.1 Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) Defects
The term rolling contact fatigue is generic in nature and used
to describe a range of defects that are due, basically, to the
development of excessive shear stresses at the wheel/rail contact
interface. RCF defects that occur in the gauge corner region of the
rails, and which are of most concern. Some of the RCF defects
are:
A. Gauge corner checking and spalling
This is a surface condition that occurs mainly on the high rails in
sharper curves, and can be described as being like “fish scales”.
As illustrated in Figure below, the cracks are initiated at or very
close to the rail surface, typically occur at about 2-5 mm intervals
along the rail, and can grow to 2-5 mm in depth, at a downward
angle of about 10º-30º to the rail surface, gradually spreading
across the rail head. Once this occurs they usually break out as
small “wedges or spalls”.

Fig 4.1: Initial Fig 4.2: Intermediate Fig 4.3: Severe stage
stage of stage of development of development of
development of of gauge corner gauge corner checking
gauge corner checking cracks and cracks and spalls
checking cracks spalls

54
Gauge corner checking can also occur in shallower curves and
tangent track, where wheelsets/bogies/vehicles tend to exhibit
hunting behavior.
B. Shelling
This is an internal defect (subsurface) that initiates at a depth
of 2-8mm below the gauge corner of, generally, the high rails in
curved track. In the initial stages of development, shelling defects
become noticeable as dark spots in the gauge corner region of
the rails. Shelling defects do not form as regularly along the rail
as gauge corner checking defects. Shelling cracks develop on
a horizontal or longitudinal plane consistent with the shape of
the rail on the gauge corner. The cracks can continue to grow
in a longitudinal direction on that plane for some distance at an
angle of about 10º-30º to the rail surface, and then either spall out
into a shell or turn down and form transverse defects which can
continue to grow on a transverse plane and, if not detected in time,
eventually lead to rail failure. It should be noted that sometimes
transverse defects may also directly initiate from irregularities in
the steel (inclusions) and grow in a transverse plane, without the
need for a prior shelling defect. Because of their internal nature,
transverse defects cannot be visually detected, and hence must
rely on regular ultrasonic rail inspection.

Fig 4.4: Initial stage of shell Fig 4.5: Intermediate stage

development (dark spots) of shell development

Fig 4.6: Severe stage of Fig 4.7: Small Transverse

shell development defect in the rail head initiated
from shelling

55
C. Running surface or head checks and spalling
The other type of RCF defect is known as flaking, or running
surface checking. This is also a surface condition that occurs
on the running surface of the low and/or high rails. Initially, the
defects appear as a mosaic or snakeskin like pattern on the rail
head. In the latter stages of growth the cracks produce “spalls”
that can be up to about 10-15 mm wide, up to 3 mm deep, and can
be continuous along the rail length. Head checks occur at the rail
surface due to large unidirectional plastic strains which ultimately
may lead to rachetting.

Fig 4.8: Head checks with minor spalling

4.2 Cause of RCF and its growth rate

Both checking (gauge corner and running surface) and shelling
defects are initiated by the high shear stresses that can develop
at the wheel/rail contact region when such stresses exceed the
allowable limits for the rail material. RCF is generated after multiple
times the allowable stress is excadet (Para 2.3B). A number of
factors can influence the shear stresses, including:
a. The nominal, dynamic and impact wheel loadings , and the
range of factors that influence such loadings, including:
track geometry, bogie characteristics, wheel and rail vertical
irregularities, track superelevation etc.
b. The respective radii of the wheels and rails at their
contact region and consequently the wheel and rail profile
characteristics.
c. The diameter of the wheels (smaller diameters result in
higher stresses).

56
d. The traction/creep forces.
Tangential force (T) and Normal Load (N) at the contact surface
defines if shelling or checking will take place. At lower T/N values
the maximum shear stresses are obtained at some depth from
the rail contact surface, which corresponds to the region in which
shelling generally develops. Higher axle loads increase the normal
forces and hence may also reduce the T/N values, which in turn
would enhance sub-surface crack initiation.
On the other hand, the higher T/N values which are obtained
in relatively sharp curves (due to wheelset steering forces), or
relatively shallow curves and tangent track (due to adverse vehicle
dynamics, such as hunting) or at lower axle loads, lead to both
considerable increases in the resultant maximum shear stress
and a shift in the location of the maximum shear stress closer to
the rail surface, where the checking cracks initiate.
Growth characteristics of the checking and shelling cracks is
dependent on the work hardening of the rail steel which occurs
due to the plastic deformation of the rail material, particularly at
the higher axle loads. The plastically deformed material in the
work hardened layer exhibits high compressive residual stresses.
Such stresses inhibit fatigue crack growth, and therefore generally
prevent the growth of the much shallower checking cracks into the
rail head. On the other hand, the deeper shelling cracks may be
able to penetrate through the compressive work hardened layer
and continue growing on a transverse plane, thus developing into
transverse defects, under the action of other stress environments,
including rail bending, thermal stresses, and residual stresses.
For the same reason, it is possible that the checking cracks have
been able to advance into the rail head, and sometimes lead to
rail failures, under lower axle load, high speed passenger train,
since such conditions would lead to a very limited (if any) work
hardened compressive layer, particularly in newer rails that are
subjected to adverse wheel/rail contact conditions.
It is also of interest to note that under poor wheel/rail contact
conditions (resulting in excessive shear stresses), new higher
strength rails may actually be more susceptible to the growth of
checking cracks into the rail head, since the material would be
more resistant to plastic flow and hence work hardening as it will
not develop a considerable compressive residual stress layer.

57
4.3 Problems with RCF Defects
RCF defects are of particular concern for two main reasons:
a. They may lead to rail failures if not detected in time,
particularly in the case of transverse defects.
b. They can mask the ultrasonic signal during routine inspection
and hence prevent the detection of larger and deeper defects
that may be present within the rail head, including any such
defects that may have developed from the shallower initial
cracks.
The removal of severe RCF defects, and in particular gauge
corner and running surface checking, also entails extensive and
expensive rail maintenance (grinding).
4.4 Different ways to Control RCF Defects
a. Use of Higher strength rail steels
• Install higher strength rail steels in the more critical track
locations, to increase the allowable shear stress limits.
• The hardened rails not only exhibit reduced wear, but also
reduced plastic deformation. Consequently, if the wheel/
rail contact conditions are not favourable, such conditions
will be retained for a very long time. Standard rails, on the
other hand, will tend to wear and/or deform plastically to
accommodate non-conforming wheels.
Consequently, when hardened rails are used, it is essential that
the appropriate (low stress) profiles are implemented soon after
their installation, and that regular preventive maintenance i.e. rail
grinding is applied.
b. Improvements in the cleanliness of the rail steels
This will reduce the number of inclusions that can act as initiation
sites for the defects. This aspect is of particular relevance to
shelling and transverse defects, rather than to gauge corner and
running surface checking defects.
c. Improvements in the wheel/rail lubrication procedures
This will reduce the risk of rail contamination and hence the
enhancement of fatigue crack growth.
d. Rail Grinding
This is the most important aspect of RCF removal and control.

58
4.5 Other Surface Defects
A. Squat Defects (Sometimes also taken as RCF defect)
Squats are subsurface laminations which initiate at small cracks,
thought to be at the rail surface. These cracks extend diagonally
downwards, at an angle of about 20°-30° from the horizontal, until
they reach approximately 4-6mm below the surface, then spread
laterally and longitudinally across and along the running surface.
There are 2 broad categories of squats which commonly occur:
(i) Running surface squats, thought to be initiated by thermal
traction effects associated with some form of wheel microslip/
slip, and can occur anywhere in the contact band.
(ii) Gauge corner squats, which appear to initiate from preexisting
cracks, usually rolling contact fatigue (RCF) and are usually,
but not always, near the gauge corner, on the high rail of
curves and in turnouts.
Squats are indicated by a darkened area in the contact band,
which results from a depression in the rail surface and reduced
polishing by train wheels. There is often a double sided kidney
shape, notably running surface squats. A triangular surface crack
is often seen on the gauge side of both gauge corner and running
surface squats. Squats can occur in irregular patterns on one rail
only or in both rails. In some cases on tangent track, the same
pattern of squats is repeated on both rails, suggesting initiation
associated with a particular wheelset.

Fig 4.9: Small size Fig 4.10: Medium Fig 4.11: large
squats size squats size Squats

59
 Fig 4.12: Example of Fig 4.13: Sub-surface
multiple running surface cracking associated with
squats from wheel slip squat defect

Fig 4.14: Example Fig 4.15 : Fig 4.16 : Examples

of gauge corner Examples of of gauge corner
checking initiated gauge corner checking initiated
squats - Small checking initiated squats – multiples
squats - Large

Fig 4.17: Squats in tongue Fig 4.18: Squats in stock rail

rail
Squats are taken as RCF defect and are normally initiated by
microslip at the rail wheel contact patch. Generally squats are
formed around 4 years or even later of formation of this microslip.
(b) Wheel Burns
Wheel burn defects are caused by the continuous slipping of the
locomotive wheels on the rails. This occurs when the longitudinal
creepage reaches saturation. The slipping action of the wheels
increases the temperature near the surface of the rails to very
high values. The subsequent fast cooling cause the rail material
to transform in to a hard and brittle martensite phase, which in
severe cases can extend to depths of 4-6mm from the running

60
surface.
The main factors that enhance wheel slip are:
(i) Excessive track grades.
(ii) Poor train driving procedures, such as rapid acceleration.
(iii) Insufficient locomotive power.
(iv) Contamination of the running surface of the rails, which can
reduce the friction to undesirable levels.
The major concerns associated with the larger wheel burn defects
are:
• The depression and/or spalling that occur at the wheel
burns lead to very high impact loadings on the rail, and
consequently exacerbate the deterioration of both track and
some vehicle components, in a similar way to dipped welds,
squats, rail corrugations, rail joints and wheel flats.
• The cracking that occurs within brittle martensitic layer
may initiate transverse defects in the rails, particularly if
the martensitic layer is relatively deep. In their early stages
of development, such defects cannot be detected visually.
Their detection therefore relies on the ultrasonic inspection
of the rails.
• As for normal transverse defects, if the defects from wheel
burns are not detected in time, a complete vertical failure of
the rail head may occur.
• Because of the high impact loads, the defects from wheel
burns can propagate at much faster rates, and are therefore
potentially lead to rail failure.

Fig 4.19: Transverse crack occurring at wheel burnt

locations.

61
Squats are sometimes confused with wheel burnt. However
the cause of the two are to some extent same i.e slipaage of
locomotive wheels, the squats are because of microslip while
wheel burns are because of complete slippage of wheel. Wheel
burn will therefore appear on both the rails at a place while squats
can be on one rail only.
(c) Tache-Ovale or shatter cracking (Not an RCF):
Tache-Ovale or shatter cracks (also known as transverse fissures)
are due to internal defects that initiate within the rail head, and
grow transversely. Their growth plane is therefore similar to
transverse defects, however they initiate deeper in rail head and
not in the gauge corner region. As for transverse defects, because
of their internal nature, Tache Ovales cannot be visually detected,
and hence must rely on regular ultrasonic rail inspection.

Fig 4.20 : Tache Ovale Crack

The initiation of Tache Ovale defects may also be due to the
presence of hydrogen in rail steel (or welds).
(d) Corrugations:
Rail corrugations are cyclic (wave-like), generally vertical,
irregularities on the running surface of the rails.
Corrugations are of two main types:
• Short pitch - from about 30mm to 90mm in wavelength or
• Long pitch - above about 300mm in wavelength.

62
 Fig 4.21: Short Pitch Fig 4.22: Long Pitch
Corrugations Corrugations
Short pitch corrugations generally develop under lighter nominal
axle load (< 20 tonnes) passenger operations. The depth of
these corrugations is usually less than 0.2-0.3mm. Long pitch
corrugations generally develop under higher nominal axle load
(> 20 tonnes) mixed freight and passanger train operations. The
depth of these corrugations can range from 0.1mm to above
2.0mm, and can be variable.
Short pitch corrugations are thought to form from the differential
wear caused by a repetitious longitudinal sliding action of the
wheel on the rail, whether through acceleration, braking or lateral
motion across the rail. The longitudinal oscillations can develop
due to the excitation of the torsional resonance of the wheelset.
This may be enhanced by the stick-slip phenomenon that may
occur at the wheel/rail contact patch in tight curves.
Long pitch corrugations, on the other hand, develop because of
the plastic flow of the rail material that is due to excessive wheel/
rail contact stresses and the combined vertical resonance of
the wheelset unsprung mass and the track. The phenomenon is
therefore exacerbated by all of those factors which lead to higher
dynamic loadings and hence contact stresses, and plastic flow of
the rail material, including:
• Higher nominal wheel loads.
• Higher vehicle speeds, which increase the dynamic loads.
• Larger vertical dips at welds/joints, which increase the impact
loads.
• Higher track stiffnesses (concrete sleepers are much stiffer
than timber sleepers), which increase the dynamic/impact
loads.
• Higher rail pad stiffnesses, which increase the dynamic/
impact loads.

63
• Higher bogie suspension stiffnesses, which increase the
dynamic/impact loads.
• Smaller wheel radii, which increase the wheel/rail contact
stresses.
• Higher friction/creep at the wheel/rail contact.
• Softer rails, which increase the propensity for plastic flow of
the material.
• Poor matching of wheel and rail profiles, which leads to
narrow wheel/rail contact and hence higher contact stresses.
However, it is still not certain why in a particular track or even
section, different corrugation pitches may occur. The long pitch
corrugations are sometimes observed on the low rails of curves,
sometimes on the high rails, and sometimes on both. This is
mainly a function of the superelevation of the track, which may
lead to the loading of one rail more than the other.
Some of the method of reducing corrugation are:
• Use of higher strength (mainly heat treated) rail steels,
particularly in sharper curves that are more sensitive to
corrugation development
• Application of improved wheel and rail profiles, which reduce
the wheel/rail contact stresses
• Application of regular rail maintenance in the form of grinding,
to control the growth of corrugations. Rail grinding is also
required to implement the improved profiles
• Reducing the track stiffness characteristics, with the
implementation of softer and thicker rail pads, may also
inhibit corrugation development



64
 5
Rail Grinding and its Strategy

5.0 General :
Rail grinding can be defined as the process of metal removal
from the top surface of the rail head through the use of abrasive
grinding materials, especially grinding stones or wheels.
Three primary function of rail grinding are to:
a. Remove already cracked and damaged surface metal. There
are three reasons for this
(i) To remove cracks before they propagate deep into the head
and cause more damage (e.g., shelling and broken rails)
(ii) To improve reliability of USFD testing
(iii) Cracked materials has poor strength and permits continued
detoriation of the profile
In the preventive mode of grinding discussed subsequently
in this chapter, the objective is to remove a thin layer of
deformed surface material that may not have cracked but is
likely to do so in near future.
b. Re-profile the rail back to a desired transverse profile. This
shape is required to control and manage the performance
of the wheel-rail contact (e.g., contact stress, steering and
stability) and also control rail wear.
c. Correct (minor) surface defects such as minor squats and
wheel burns, rail corrugation and dipped welds.
In this chapter the different aspects of grinding strategy will be
discussed.
5.1 Rail Grinding Procedure
Most of the rail grinding is done by using rotating grinding stones.
The removal of metal takes place through abrasion and gauging
action of the rotating wheels cutting grains. The amount of metal
removal will depend on
• Condition and characteristics of abrasive material
• Pressure on the grinding wheels
• Grind speed

65
• Angle between the grinding stone and the surface being
ground
A facet is created by every grind stone and this facet size depends
on the location on the rail head where grinding is being done apart
from pressure being applied.

Fig 5.1: Grinding metal removal depends on pressure and

angular orientation of stone
The facet created is shown in figure below

Fig 5.2: Facets created by grinding stones

66
The profile correction is done in both longitudinal and in transverse
direction
a) Longitudinal rail profile correction:
The removal of rail corrugations and other longitudinal irregularities
in the rail surface occurs through:
• Ensuring that the stone bears down on the peaks of the
corrugations in preference to the valleys.
• Surging power and pressure on the stone to produce a
differential cut when encountering a corrugation peak.
The diameter of the stone itself acts as a baseline that ensures
that corrugation peaks of shorter wavelength are bridged by the
stone and are thus subject to preferential grinding. The usual
stone diameter is 250 mm, so that the grinding stone easily works
to establish a level plane over this span.

Fig 5.3 : Longitudinal profile correction

For corrugation wavelengths longer than the wheel diameter, it is
very important that the individual grinding motor is not permitted to
follow the profile of the corrugation, that would result in the same
amount of metal removal from the valleys of the corrugation as
from the peaks. One way of extending the baseline is to block
two motors together so that they will rise and fall in unison. This
causes them to bridge over all irregularities in rail surface over a
longer rail length. Another method is to control the rate at which
the grinding stone will be permitted to rise and fall in following the

67
rail surface using a hydraulic cylinder or active feedback based
upon changes in motor torque.
b) Transverse rail profile correction:
This is done to make contact geometry between rail and wheel
favourable. This will reduce the wheel/rail contact stresses and
improve the wheelset steering characteristics and hence reduce
the lateral creep at the rail surface. The more conformal contact
would increase the contact area and reduce the wear.
Transverse profiles suitable at different locations are covered in
detail in chapter 6
5.2 Rail Grinding Strategies
There are three strategies of grinding being followed over railways:
• Corrective grinding
• Preventive grinding
• Preventive gradual grinding.
a. Corrective grinding
Grinding is done for complete removal of corrugations and surface
defects in one cycle (with required number of passes in same or
continuous blocks) to achieve the engineered rail profile is called
corrective grinding. Since this is normally done after flaw has gone
deep, the number of passes required can be very high and in the
process, the head hardened surface of rail top which otherwise is
beneficial in controlling wear is eliminated completely.
b. Preventive grinding
Grinding done in the initial stages of defect generation and done
at a pre-decided frequency so that RCF is eliminated before it
goes deep inside the rail is called preventive grinding. Preventive
grinding is considered to be a better approach since the grinding
can be done in a single pass at higher speed and the head
hardened layer on the rail top is not removed.
c. Preventive gradual grinding (IR Strategy)
Metal removal to be done is more than that required in case
of preventive grinding but less than that required for corrective
grinding. Since grinding started on IR in 2011 in limited manner,
the flaws in rail particularly in curves were deep so the strategy
decided is to go for corrective grinding (multiple pass) grinding in
curve and preventive grinding in tangent track. Ultimately, to shift

68
to preventive grinding even on curves.
5.3 RCF Control
This aspect has been recognized as the most essential control
procedure, particularly for gauge corner and running surface
checking defects. It should be noted that the design of such
maintenance strategies, is based on the balance required between
rail wear and fatigue.
The RCF (Cracks initiated in the thin surface layer) growth rate
with GMT/Loading cycle is initially slow and the rate increases
with GMT. The growth can be broken into three phases
Phase-I Initial stage of flaw generation (ratchetting)
Phase-II Fast growth (Supposed to be through the depth of
maximum shear stress)
Phase-III Slower rate and the crack branches (more based on
combined bending and residual stresses etc.).
The three phases same is represented below:

Fig 5.4 : Phases of Crack Growth

69
The flaw growth rate is initially slow in Phase-I but becomes high
in Phase-II (where shear stress is relatively high) which slowly
flattens (again slows down) due to reduced shear stress with depth
as shown below. The flaw should be removed before it enters into
phase II as shown above.

Fig 5.5 : Flaw depth with Loading Cycle

(representative graph)
The flaw rate increase depends on degree of curve as shown
below:

Fig 5.6 : Flaw depth increase with GMT for different degree
curve
(representative graph)
From the above graph it can be seen that depth of flaw of 0.2 mm
is reached at 20 GMT in 6 Degree curve while in tangent curve
the same depth of flaw is reached after 60 GMT. Thus grinding
interval for sharp curve needs to be at lesser GMT.

70
5.4 Optimum wear/Grinding to remove RCF- Magic Wear
rate
Rail may be required to be replaced because of excessive wear
or because of RCF causing rail failure. Some amount of wear is
an advantage and helps in eliminating RCF before it culminates
into transverse failure of rail. It is widely accepted that excessive
wear should be prevented because it wastes the wheel and rail
material, but insufficient wear which allows fatigue cracks to
initiate and propagate, also reduces component life and increases
the risk of rail failures. The wear required to optimize rail life can
be understood from the graph given below.

Fig 5.7 : Wear for getting maximum life of rail

From figure it is seen that, at very small wear rate, though the life
due to wear is very high, the life due to RCF is very less as metal
removal rate is insufficient to remove RCF and rail will fail early
on account of RCF . At very high wear rate, the life due to RCF is
high but that due to wear is less. The net result is overall, the life
of rail is less in both the situations. Maximum life is obtained when
life due to both RCF and wear are same i.e. material is being
removed or is wearing at the rate required to just remove RCF.
Wear more or less than this is going to reduce the rail life.
This wear is called “magic” wear rate, the wear rate at which
maximum rail life is achieved. This occurs when the surface
material wears (or is removed by grinding) just enough to prevent
small fatigue cracks from propagating at an accelerated rate
(Phase-II) in the rail and causing fatigue failures.
The achievement of the “magic” wear rate is of course the basis for

71
preventive or cyclic rail grinding, which aims to remove relatively
small amounts of metal at more frequent intervals, and in so doing
prevent the fatigue cracks from propagating at accelerated rates.
The concept is further illustrated in the graph below , which shows
how the grinding cycles (25 GMT in this case) are applied to
prevent the rapid growth of the cracks.

Fig 5.8 : Rail Grinding Strategy-Magic Wear Rate

The magic wear rate is thus the rate at which the total material
should wear which includes wear under traffic and artificial wear
caused by RGM so that the flaws are eliminated before they enters
deep inside causing rail failure.
Rail grinding is thus a tool for preventive rail maintenance, not
merely a means for correcting severe rail damage once it has
occurred.
5.5 Reliable USFD result
For detection of sub surface defects, the grinding procedure has
been successful in improving the ultrasonic testing by removing
layer having cracks masking ultrasonic signal, without the need
for removing large amounts of material. Following steps needs to
be followed for that:
• Remove a minimum of 0.2 mm (and usually more than 0.4-

72
 0.5mm) of metal from all contact surfaces including the
gauge region.
• Ensure that all gauge corner checking cracks have been
removed from the running surface Figure below (Fig 5.6)
illustrates how the presence of the gauge corner checking
cracks may inhibit the detection of small transverse defects.
• Establishing the recommended profiles, but allowing a gauge
corner relief generally of 0.2 mm but in some cases up to 0.5
mm in the high rails.

Fig 5.9: Flaw not detected by USFD which can be detected

after grinding
In the figure above, it can be seen that deeper flaw is not being
detected as ultrasonic waves are not able to reach to that level
because of surface defect. It is only after one/two/three grinding
passes that the surface defect is removed and the detection of
subsurface flaw is possible.
5.6 Profile Correction for reducing RCF, Wear and for
Stability of vehicle
With respect to profiles, both wheel and rail profiles have an effect
on wear and RCF in three ways. First, how they interact to spread
contact relatively evenly over the wheel and rail surfaces. Second,
how they interact to control contact stress. Third, how they interact
to influence the energy dissipated in normal running.
For this reason it is generally advisable to
• Aim for wheel and rail profile designs that give reasonably
conformal contact to reduce contact stress.
• However the designed wheel/rail contact should not lead to
equivalent conicity values that lead to unstable running. The

73
 requirement of profile in curve and straight track is discussed
in para 3.2 and 3.3.
• For situations where RCF can occur on the rail gauge corner,
it may be necessary to develop wheel/rail profiles that reduce
contact in this area.
• To reduce the rolling resistance which is responsible for
energy dissipation, creepage needs to be reduced. Creepage
can be reduced by having proper wheel and rail profile
improving steering and reducing creepage and creepage
forces.
5.7 Surface Correction
Proper rail surface is required to prevent further deterioration
under traffic. Grinding done for correcting surface can be called:
• Preparative: Cleaning mill scale or dents introduced in
construction from newly laid rail and smoothing high welds.
• Preventative: Removing layers of fatigued metal before
micro cracking leads to more serious damage.
• Curative: Recovering rail that has been damaged by engine
burns, ballast pressed into the rail surface.
5.8 Factors affecting preventive grinding interval
The optimal depth of material to remove from the rail to control
RCF defects is the point on the RCF curve (Para 5.3 and 5.4)
where the growth rate starts to accelerate. Following factors are
going to effect the preventing grinding cycle:
a) The RCF crack growth curves will be different for high rails,
low rails, and tangent rails. The grinding interval therefore
should be different for tangent and for curved track.
b) Optimized rail profiles will minimize wheel/rail contact
stresses and distribute the wear across the wheel tread, as
well as improve train stability and curving performance. One
objective of preventive grinding is to indirectly control the
natural wear rate by implementing low-stress profiles. Better
profile will reduce grinding frequency.
c) Harder and cleaner rail steels will significantly reduce the
wear rate and the initiation and propagation RCF defects.
Premium steels (R350HT )with high hardness have a magic
wear rate that is roughly one-third that of standard R260
rails. This can be understood from the figure below:

74
 Using harder and cleaner steels will thus increase the
tonnage interval at which the RCF initiates and grows to a
depth up to which machine can remove the same in one pass
i.e. one of the important criteria deciding preventive grinding
frequency. BS EN 13231-5-2018 mentions that some of the
railways doing preventing grinding on R260 BHN rail at a
frequency of 15GMT for curves and 45 GMT for tangent has
double GMT interval for R350 HT rail depending on track and
traffic characteristic.

Fig 5.10 : Magic Wear Rate (MWR) of harder rail w.r.t less
harder rail
d. New rail should be ground immediately to remove the surface
defects caused during handling, weld alignment defects,
milling defects and to achieve the desired profile required at
that location to reduce contact stress and wear.
e. By proper friction management and Top of the rail lubrication
discussed in chapter 10, the RCF generation and wear can
be controlled, reducing grinding requirement.


75
 6
Rail Profile Grinding

6.0 General
Different interactions that can be take place between wheel and
rail is tabulated below:
Table 6.1

Wheel Rail
New New
New Different level of worn rails
Different level of worn wheels New
Different level of worn wheels Different level of worn rails
New Ground rail
Different level of worn wheels Ground rail

The ground rail profile is so designed, that minimum stresses and

wear of rail takes place. This chapter deals with these contacts
and the profiles that should be strived to be achieved for best rail
wheel interaction.
6.1 Rail Wheel Contact and its Impact
The different contacts that can take place between Rail and wheel
are
A. Straight and Mild curve: Single point contact at Rail
Crown area
The contact is made most often in the crown region of rails and
occurs as vehicle negotiates tangent track and mild curves (non-
steering bogies)

76
Fig:
Fig:
Fig:Fig
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
6.1:position
position
position ininin Fig:
Wheel Fig:
Fig:6.2:
Fig Sinusoidal
Sinusoidal
Sinusoidal motion
motion
motion Fig:
Sinusoidal Fig:
Fig: Single
Fig Single
Single
6.3: Point
Point
Point
Single
straight
straight
straight
track
track
track in
position of
ofof
wheel
wheel
wheelset
motion set
set
of wheel Contact
Contact
Contact
Point Contact
straight track set

This contact region is primarily designed to optimize vehicle

stability while providing a radius differential to negotiate curve with
non-steering bogies in mild curves.
As discussed in para 3.2, less conicity has following impact:
• Reduces self-centering tendency
• Increases wavelength of oscillation
• Reduces frequency of oscillation
• Increases vehicle stability
Rail Crown has a radius over crown and for such wheel, contact is
Fig:
Fig:
Fig:Two
Two
Twopoint
point
pointcontact
contact
contact Fig:
Fig:
Fig: Single
Single
Single pointpoint
point Fig:
Fig:
Fig: Single
Single
Single point
point
point
always
on
on
onhigh
high at
highrail
rail the
railof same location
ofofcurve
curve
curve contact
contacton
contactononrail
on crown
higher
higher
higherrail
rail and
railof
of thus damage
of contact
contact
contact on
on
oninner
inner to
railthe
innerrail
rail
rail crown takes place.curve curve
curve of
ofofcurve
curve
curve
A profiled wheel which creates a wider contact is therefore
preferred to reduce contact stress. However this causes increased
Equivalent conicity and reduces the contact band (Y) on the
wheel tread and also increases oscillation frequency i.e. vehicle
instability .
Thus a balance should be drawn between lower contact stress
resulting from more conformal contact (equal wheel and rail profile
curvature) and resulting high conicity causing vehicle instability.
In straight alignment two point contact should be avoided at all
costs because of the high resultant conicities and because of the
wear associated with it.
B. Sharp Curve-High Rail
Fig:
Fig:
Fig:Longitudinal
Longitudinal
Longitudinalcreep
creep
creepdue
due
dueto
toto Fig:
Fig:
Fig:Longitudinal
Longitudinal
Longitudinalcreep
creep
creepdue
due
dueto
totowheel
wheel
wheel
As
wheelthenegotiating
wheel
wheel contact patch
negotiating
negotiating in this region
aaa straight
straight
straight is small,
negotiating
negotiating
negotiating contact
aaacurved
curved
curvedtrack.is often made
track.
track.
under
track the most arduous stress conditions. In sharp curves, the
track
track

77
wheels on the high rail are generally in flange contact to achieve
the required Δr. Depending on the shape of the wheel/rail profiles,
four types of contact can take place (figure Fig 6.4 to 6.7) :
(a) Strong, two-point contact.
(b) Strong one-point contact
(c) Conformal contact
(d) Near-conformal contact

Fig 6.4: Strong Two point Fig 6.5 : Strong One Point
contact contact

Fig 6.6: Near Conformal Fig 6.7 : Conformal Contact

Contact
Of these, strong two point and strong one point contact are not
desirable. Conformal or near conformal profile is preferred.
(i) Strong Two Point Contact
Strong, two-point contact has one contact point on the wheel
tread and another on the flange with large distance between these
contact points and a gap between wheel flange throat and rail
gauge corner greater than approximately 0.4 mm. A large rolling
radius difference is developed between these two points. This
type of situation is evident in very sharp curve and the lateral force
generated at the rail wheel contact is very high. This results in:
• Longitudinal creep forces on rail top and force on flange
acting in opposite directions. Wheelset steering moment is

78
 reduced.
• Relative slip between these contact points and resulting high
rate of wear and material flow on the flange tip
If two-point contact occurs, high wear rates and material flows
are present. Under these conditions, wheel flange/rail wear is
accelerated until the flange shape conforms to that of the rail.

Fig 6.8: Plastic flow/wear at Flange tip contact in strong

two point contact
Experience shows that under this condition, the flange often cuts
under any lubricating film applied to the contact zone.
Strong two point contact are generally created when
• Rail and Wheel flange design are incompatible
• New wheel contacting worn high rail
• Deep flanged wheel contacting excessively worn rail.
• Over grinding of gauge corner
(ii) Strong One Point contact
Single-point contact generally results in a small contact area at
the high rail gauge corner and lower lateral forces because of a
high rolling radius difference between the wheels on the high and
low rails.

79
 Fig 6.9: Single point contact on high rail of curve
However, high longitudinal creepages developed as a result of the
high radius differential Δr, in conjunction with high-contact stress
areas, can cause either, or both, a high rate of wear or surface
cracks due to rolling contact fatigue. Also, in single point contact
both vertical and lateral forces act at the same contact area making
resultant force very high. Also, the radii of curvature of the wheel
throat and the rail gauge corner, while of the same orientation, are
small, so that any mismatch has a large relative effect on the size
of the contact area. This amplifies contact stresses.
(iii) Conformal Contact.
Conformal flange contact is observed as the gauge-corner and
flange wear to a common profile under arduous flange contact
in curves.Conformal profiles tend to result in larger contact patch
having decreased levels of contact stress as compared with non-
conformal (counter-formal) profiles. The advantage of using this
profile type is:
• It retains its shape.
• Gauge corner fatigue is controlled under prevailing axle
loads.
• Lubricating films are supported due to low specific pressures.

80
• Conicity is “neutral” as it would seem that the wheelset does
not experience the high conicities associated with single-
point contact.
(iv) Near Conformal Contact
These are two point contacts with minimum distance between
contacting points with small rolling radius difference between them
two points and very less gap between wheel and rail at gauge
corner and is taken as a conformal contact. This has reduced
stresses and gauge corner is also relieved. These are normally
the desired profiles as it produces lower lateral forces, rolling
resistance and contact stress. They can be achieved by:
• Designing compatible wheel and rail profiles
• Regular rail grinding and wheel/rail natural wear
Under heavy haul operation conditions, wheel and rail profiles
that are designed for near-conformal contact soon wear into full-
conformal contact (not single point contact) with reduced level of
stresses, resulting in extended wheel and rail reprofiling intervals.
The rail profile is conformal (and Near conformal) if it follows the
profile of wheel and is non conformal otherwise. There can be
following situations

Fig 6.10: Single Point Non Fig 6.11: Single Point

Conformal Conformal

Fig 6.12: Two point non Fig 6.13: Two point

conformal conformal

81
If X and Y is less than say 0.1 mm, it becomes Near conformal
contact. Under load, the material deforms elastically and gap
closes and profile matches resulting in wide contact area extending
to almost full wear band. If gap is more than 0.4 mm, both the
contact point acts independently and advantage of reduced stress
is not available.
Contact too close to gauge corner of outer rail has an advantage
of improving steering of wheel. However, this produces stress
situation at gauge corner that is difficult to manage under conditions
of heavy axle load or high curvature. Thus as a guideline, where
axle load is less, it should normally be single point conformal profile
which should be preferred. Where axle load is high, it should be
two point conformal contact which should be preferred.
(v) Sharp Curve-Low rail
The tread of the wheel should ideally contact the low rail in the
center crown region.
Following situation may however arise
• Contact at low rail gage corner- It can reduce the rolling radius
difference Δr on the wheelset, resulting in flange contact and
higher lateral forces.This type of contact can occur when
excessive material is removed from the field side of the low rail.
• Contact on the field side of the low rail- This will increase
rolling radius differential and improve self-centering tendency
reducing lateral force on rail.. However, in case of hollow tyre,
such contact normally takes place and can cause reduced,
rolling radius differential Δr on the wheelset, depending on
the (worn) shapes of the wheels and result in high-contact
stress due to small contact area and cause metal flow on the
field side of both wheel and rail.In this type of contact either
high contact stresses are generated as the outer edge of the
wheel profile bears on the rail ,or contact ends before the
edge of the wheel giving rise to the development of a false
flange on the field side of the rail.

82
 TwoTwo
Point
Point
contact
contact Single
Single
point
point
contact
contact Conformal
Conformal
contact
contact

Fig 6.14: Field side contact Fig 6.15: Field side contact
This
This
type oncontact
type low
contact rail
causes
causes
RCF
RCF
on on
field on
field
side. low rail and false flange
side.
created
6.2 Rail Profiling Purpose
The grinding strategy has been discussed in chapter 5. In general,
rail profile to be achived after grinding encompasses three broad
areas of rail maintenance namely:
• Control of Gauge face wear and improving lateral curving
forces
• Control of corrugations
• Control of gauge corner fatigue
a. Control of gauge face wear and improving lateral curving
forces
The grinding done to improve curving and controlling gauge
face wear is explained in the figure below:

Fig 6.16: Grinding in curve to improve steering and relieve

gauge corner
Here r (H) and r (L) is initial rolling radius over high rail and low rail
respectively and r’ (H) and r’ (L) is rolling radius after grinding. It
can be seen that by grinding on field side of high rail and gauge

83
side of low rail, the rolling radius on outer rail has been increased
and on lower rail reduced, thus increasing rolling radius differential.
This will try to steer the vehicle towards centre reducing force on
outer rail. Even gauge corner of high rail has been relieved to
control RCF at gauge corner. However these profiles should not
create eccentric loading and loading reaction should be through
the web of rail.
As discussed, a hollow tyre can cause material flow on field side
due to high contact stress. In addition this contact on field side
produces eccentric loading condition which causes torsion and
may result vertical rail split particularly if rail is highly worn out.
Removing this field side metal controls eccentric loading.

Fig 6.17: Field side metal removal to control eccentric

loading
b. Control of corrugations
Corrugations are often associated with the high contact stresses
generated when the false flange of a worn wheel runs on the field
side of low rail. This causes very high value of contact stresses
near the field side of rail causing severe plastic deformations and
corresponding short wave corrugations.
These can be controlled by grinding on field side of low rail shifting
the contact band towards the center of rail head, thus the high
stress caused by false flange can be avoided as shown in figure
above. It creates a low stress conformal contact condition near
the center of rail head and reduces stress. Frequent grinding can
prevent the formation of corrugation defect.

84
c. Control of gauge corner fatigue
The gauge corner is relieved by removing material from gauge
corner thus making the contact two point as shown below.

Fig 6.18: Gauge corner relieving converting single point

contact to two point contact
It should be noted that by decreasing the separation between two
contact points on top and side of rail head, the increased truck
turning moment and increased wheel flanging forces can be
reduced. This reduces the negative impact of two point contact
while giving relief to contact stress at gauge corner.
While all three purpose can be achieved by grinding but usually all
three cannot be addressed simultaneously. Thus one profile which
is best for one may not be best for other two. Thus problem has
to be prioritized.
6.3 Ground Profile Design
On the background of above discussion, different profiles that are
achieved after grinding can be grouped as:
a. CPC- Contact Point Central (Single Point Contact)- The
contact of wheel on rail is at centre of rail head

85
b. CPG- Contact Point Gauge (Single Point Contact)- The
contact of wheel is towards gauge side but close to rail centre
c. CPF-Contact Point Field (Single Point Contact)- The contact
is towards field side of rail but close to rail centre
d. HRS-High Rail Sharp Curve (Two Point Conformal Contact)-
The contact is near gauge corner with inter-distance between
contact points more and more clearance at gauge corner.
e. HRM-High Rail Mild Curve (Two Point Conformal Contact)-
The contact is near gauge corner with inter-distance between
contact less and less clearance at gauge corner.
The region of contact is highlighted in the sketch given below;

Fig 6.19: Region of CPC,CPF and CPG contact

Fig 6.20: High Rail Sharp Fig 6.21: High Rail Mild
(HRS) Curve contact (HRM) Curve contact
contact

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The profiles at different locations can be designed as explained
below:
A. Profile-tangent track
As discussed in para 6.1 (A), a general rule, the focus on tangent
track should be to promote stability, sometimes to prevent crushed
heads or gauge corner defects. To promote stability, the contact
should be close to crown and effective conicity should be less.
Most railways conscientiously apply a central 250-300 mm radius
running band to all tangent rail. This promotes centralized wheel
rail contact zone. A worn wheel profile creates a conformal or
near conformal profile, widening contact patch and thus reducing
stress in both rail and wheel, however, the contact band on wheel
is restricted as explained in 6.1(A). The contact band width is
normally limited to 20-30 mm. Thismeans that more and more
wheels are running continuously at the same contact band on the
wheel tread, a practice that promotes wheel hollowing.
It is therefore preferred to have templates that provide three distinct
running bands, separated by about some distance (about 12 mm)
with one at center (CPC), other biased towards the gauge (CPG)
and the third biased towards the field (CPF). This distributes the
contact on wheel tread and control wheel hallowing. CPG or CPF
may not be used if there is RCF on Gauge or on Field side.
A hallow wheel when contacting flat worn out rail may cause
strong two point contact as shown below causing RCF in both
wheel and rails

Fig 6.22: Two point contact on rail crown

The limited gauge corner relief is also given (as shown in Fig
6.24) to restrict the contact in central zone, however this results
in very strong two point contact when wheel is flanging. This is

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not a desirable contact and occurs during hunting and should be
avoided.

Fig 6.23 : Gauge corner relief to shift contact to center

The proper contact can be understood from the below given figure

Fig 6.24 : Proper Contact of new wheel on new

rail

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B. Profile- Curves
Optimal high rail profiles must avoid concentrations of stress and
fatigue at gauge corner but also maximize the vehicle curving
performance.
For good curving performance, the rolling radius on outer rail to be
maximum and on inner rail to be minimum. Therfore, the contact
zone on high rail of curve should be towards gauge face side and
on low rail should be on field side as shown in figure below.

Fig 6.25: Asymmetrical profile for good curving on sharp curve

(1 Low rail; 2 High rail; 3 & 4 are contact bands defining
rolling radius.)
This profile is also called asymmetrical profile and is used to
reduce gauge face wear of high rail. The contact on high rail has
to be HRM or HRS and on low rail is shown as CPF. CPF on low
rail gives the best rolling radius differential however, in case of
hollow tyre, the same create very high contact stress on field side
and therefore CPC profile is many times preferred for lower rail.
As far as possible and unless unavoidable, the contact should be
planned to be at or close to crown.
Therefore, following contacts should be planned for curves:
• The contact zone on high rail of sharp curve to be at gauge
corner and on lower rail near crown on field side.
• The same on high rail of shallow curve to be near rail crown
on gauge face side and on low rail to be near crown on field
side as shown in sketch below (Fig 2.7).

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 Fig 6.26: Sample High rail(Gauge side contact) and Low
rail (Field side contact) profiles for mild curve
To avoid concentration of stress on gauge corner of high rail
on sharp curve and on mild curve, the material at gauge corner
needs to be removed as shown below. Similarly to have a contact
near crown on lower rail, the gauge corner and field side is also
relieved.

Fig 6.27: High rail on sharp Fig 6.28 : High rail on mild
curve and more relief at curve Requiring lesser relief
gauge corner at gauge corner

Fig 6.29 : Low rail on mild and sharp curve and relief at
gauge and field side to have contact near crown
Actual profile to be achieved will be decided on the overall grinding
objective and the rail wheel interface relationship. This will depend
on

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1. The type of track
2. The rail condition
3. The distribution of traffic
4. The distribution of wheel conditions
Since large number of different wheel profiles are moving on rail,
the rail profile should be designed to meet the desired requirement
for the profile which is in majority. Depending on the objective of
grinding as discussed like reducing stress on high rail to control
RCF by means of providing two point contact to improving
steering and controlling wear by providing one point contact, the
rail profile to be achieved is planned. One profile therefore cannot
meet all requirement, and in fact some of the profile required for
meeting one objective can be contradictory to other requirement.
It is necessary to prioritize the requirement and design the ground
profile accordingly
Also profiles achieved will continuously wear out and will have to
restored after certain interval of time.
6.4 Grinding New Rail
New rails are normally subjected to strong Single point contact
when negotiated by worn out wheel initially and even lubricating
film is ineffective thus generating RCF failure and high wear until
the rail and wheel stabilizes to some conformal profile.
Initial profiling of rail to conformal profile with proper greasing
would reduce wear of both rail and wheel.

Fig 6.30 : New 60 Kg rail and Fig 6.31 : New 60 Kg rail and
New Wheel different worn wheel
Rail grinding procedures have been successfully applied to control
the gauge corner checking defects, which produces slight gauge
corner relief of 0.5-0.8mm below the profile template to reduce the
gauge corner contact for a limited time.
New rail grinding which is also called “Initial grinding” is done to

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remove mill scales a procedure designed to control formation of
short pitch corrugations and head checks. It also corrects any
inclination defects left during laying. The target profile should
be achieved and simultaneously welding defects should be
smoothened at the initial stage itself.
6.5 Grind Pattern
A grinding pattern refers to a combination of grinding motor
angle settings and accompanying pressures, which enable the
sequence of grinding stones passing over the rail to produce a
given net reshaping of the rail.
Grinding patterns can be described by the relative percentage of
grinding motors deployed in each of the six key grinding zones
shown below:

Fig 6.32 : Grind zones on Rail head

The arrangements of stones are shown below:

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 Fig 6.33: Angle of stone Fig 6.34: Arrangement of
shown w.r.t vertical axis. stones across X- section
and along the rail
The pattern decides the profile that is going to be achieved after
grinding. The rails are provided at 1 in 20 cant. For achieving any
desired profile, if the position of stone is decided w.r.t rail kept flat
on foot, the stone will actually be acting at a different angle on
canted rail. For 60 Kg UIC rail with height of 172 mm, the angle to
be modified by 2.86 degree .
The machine accepts the angle w.r.t vertical axis and not w.r.t rail
axis therefore the position of stones to be given for canted rail by
modifying the position by 2.86 degree (60 Kg UIC) for one decided
by keeping rail flat on foot w.r.t rail axis. It thus implies that if stone
(motor) while working is at (+) 20 degree on higher rail of curve
means it is actually working at (+) 17.14 degree (w.r.t rail axis).
Similarly if is at (–) 20 degree on higher rail is actually working at
(-) 22.86 degree (w.r.t with rail axis).
6.6 Grind Passes and Grind cycle
A grinding pass is a single movement of a full grinding machine
or train. Multiple grinding passes are given to remove additional
metal. Since most of the grinding machines can grind in both
directions, normally second pass is in backward and third pass
is again in forward direction. Normally odd number of passes are
deployed so that the last movement is in forward direction. Also
first pass is more aggressive and removes more metal than the
second and subsequent passes.
In preventive grinding, grinding is repeated after pre-decided GMT,
assessed on the basis of rate of growth of flaw and the magic

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wear rate discussed in chapter 5 required to prevent these flaws
from getting converted into transverse failure of Rail. This grind
cycle will therefore also depend on cutting capability of Grinding
machine. More is the cutting ability of the machine more can be
the GMT after which next grinding can be done. The capability of
96 stone grinder being more than 72 stone grinder, the gring cycle
will change
6.7 Pummeling for Rail Profile
For deciding the profile, modeling software has proven valuable.
The NRC for example has developed a Profile Optimization
(Pummeling) Model that applies measured worn wheel profiles
to a truck characteristic of that fleet and derives distributions of
contact stress, fatigue damage, stability and curving performance.
Through an iterative process, the model is used to engineer rail
profiles that optimize the wheel/rail interaction in tangent and
curved track. All wheels negotiating a track are not having same
profiles. The wheels provided in new wagons are having worn out
profile with flange thickness of 28.5 mm as discussed earlier. Before
these wheels reaches condemnation limit of flange thickness 16
mm, there are intermediate profiles to which these wheels are
turned in between. For Indian Railways wagon, there are total
eight intermediate profiles (of which two entermediate profiles
are shown in fig 6.43 & fig 6.44). Each train load containing large
number wheels can have profile at different stages or somewhere
in between. Similarly locomotives wheels which has a different
condemnation limit will have different profiles in a train load

Fig 6.35 : Intermediate profile with flange thickness of 26 mm

94
 Fig 6.36: One of the intermediate Profiles with flange
thickness of 27 mm
Trains running in a section, therefore will have different profiles
and will be interacting with the rail differently. This interaction will
depend on track alignment like interaction in straight and in curves
of different curvature will be different. Since at a particular location,
only one profile is possible, so best suitable profile for getting most
favorable interaction will have to be found.
Pummeling is an analysis done to examine the distribution of
wheel-rail contact locations on the rail head , in order to help define
the required ground profile. The contact distribution is evaluated
through a computer model that superimposes a set of measured
wheel profiles on a given pair of rail profiles and performs a quasi-
static curving balance. Information on the vehicle’s weight, axle
load, speed and truck characteristics, along with track parameters
such as gauge, curvature and super-elevation, are used to model
the wheel/rail interaction.
The information generated by the pummeling analysis provides
a practical method for identifying the position and severity of the
wheel/rail contacts. The contact points are shown in the figure
below:

95
 Fig 6.37 : The position, size and shape of contact patch
of different wheels dictating the severity of damage on
different locations of rail head.
The relative position depends on the wheel/rail profiles and lateral
position of the wheelset. To find out the most suitable profile, the
profiles of wheels running in the section are measured and the
same are run on different rail profiles in computerized model. The
location and severity of contact stress generated are plotted and
the rail profile which creates least stress/damage is taken as the
best suitable profile. The same is indicated the figure below:

Fig 6.38: Contact location Fig 6.39: The stresses

and severity of contact over generated at different
High rail and Low rail in locations over different rail
curve. profiles.
In the present case, the profile highlighted in red gives the
minimum stress and should be taken as the profile to be achieved

96
for that location.
6.8 Grinding of High Strength Rail (R350HT)
As the strength and hardness of the rail is more, the RCF
generation is reduced, the propagation of RCF is reduced and
wear of rail is reduced. Since wear is reduced, the removal of RCF
simply by wear taking place in softer rail will not happen. Artificial
wear by grinding will become necessary. Another advantage will
be that profile designed will be retained for long duration. But it is
necessary that the profile is properly designed as incorrect profile
will also be retained creating undue high shears causing more
RCF.
In general, grinding interval is going to be more in harder and
high strength rail i.e. R350HT compared to 880MPa or R260 rail
as generation of RCF & rate of propagation of RCF inside rail is
reduced. (The magic wear rate of harder rail and its impact on
grinding frequency discussed in para 5.8 of chapter 5)



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 7
Production Grinders on Indian Railways

7.0 General
World over grinding machines are being manufactured by different
manufacturers with slightly different technology and different
grinding capacity. Functionally these grinders can be used for rail
grinding on plain track which we will be referring as Rail Grinding
Machines (RGM) or over points and crossing and some other
specialized locations which we will be referring as Specialty Rail
Grinding Machines (SRGM) covered in chapter 11. Different type
of grinders used world on covered in Para 1.1 of Chapter 1.
Indian railway is using two 72 stone conventional production
grinders of M/s Loram, USA and in future (work awarded) additional
96 stone conventional production grinders of M/s Loram, USA
and SRGM of M/s Loram, USA and of M/s Harsco, USA make
will be inducted for covering entire Indain Railways network. Also
Rail Inspection Vehicles (RIV) of M/s Harsco, USA, which will
be assisting users of RGM and SRGM in deciding pattern and
profiles is proposed to be inducted. Milling machine is also likely
being inducted.
In this chapter, the information on 72 stone and 96 stone
conventional grinder of M/s Loram, USA has been covered.
7.1 72 Stone RGM, M/s Loram make:
These Rail Grinding Machines procured on Indian Railways in
2011 are high productivity conventional grinders using 72 stones,
i.e. 36 stones for the left side and 36 stones for the right side
rail. Each stone is rotated by an independent electric motor of 30
HP. Each motor can be tilted at a desired angle independantly
from +70O (towards gauge face side) to -30O (towards field side).
Typical layout of the grinder is given below:

Front Grind Grind Grind Water Camp

Control Car-1 Car-2 Car-3 Wagon Coach
Car and Rear
Control
Car
Fig 7.1 : 72 stone RGM layout

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The grinding machine comprises of one Control Car, three Grind
Cars, Water Wagon and Camp Coach. The dimension of these
components are:

Car Weight (Kg) Length (m)

Control Car 91000 19.3
Grind Car 78000 19.3 (3 nos)
Water wagon 83200 12.5
Camp Coach 50000 21.3
Inter connections 9.1
Total 120.1
This machine can work in both the directions, while front control
car has all the control and monitoring system, the camp coach is
modified to have wind screen at the end and provided with driving
facility for driving, when working in reverse direction. Thus Front
control Car (FCC) has driving as well as grind controls while Rear
Control Car (RCC) has only driving control system.
A. Front Control Car (FCC) The inside of front control car
(FCC) is shown in fig 7.2 below

Fig 7.2 : Front Control Car Cab

In the front cab, the machine is having 2 touch screen consoles
known as HMI (Human Machine Interface) consoles. These
consoles are used for various settings, selection of patterns,
viewing machine working, etc. The consoles display various menu

99
options. The operator can select one option by touch and this will
display the sub-menu for the selected option.

Fig 7.3 : HMI Console

In addition the grind car has belly tank and water cannon as shown
below:

Fig 7.4 : Water storage and Pumping in FCC

In addition FCC has one KLD (Rail Profile Measurment System)
attached for taking the rail profile. One KLD is attached to water
wagon:

Fig 7.5 : KLD for rail profile measurement

100
The KLD takes rail profile before and after grinding, thus comparing
the profile with the desired profile and check if the desired profile
has been achieved or not.
B. Grinding Cars and Grinding Carriages
Each grind car has grinding stones placed on grind carriages as
shown below. Each grind car has 24 stones, 12 on each rail and
each grind carriage having six stones.

Fig 7.6 : Grind Carriage

Each grind stones is powered by one separate motors as shown
below:

Fig 7.7 : Grind stones with motors (6 nos)

The carriage is supported on a buggy wheel as shown in the figure

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above. The buggy is raised during running and is lowered during
working.
Iron dust created during grinding is collected by dust collection
system.

Fig 7.8 : Iron dust suction process

Dust/Hot air comes from carriages (red arrows), Air goes or
through filters (blue arrows), Clean air go through blower and
out of roof (blue arrow), Dust is collected in hopper and can be
discharged to either side of the machine (green arrows). The iron
dust if not removed will be deposited on rail as below:

102
 Fig 7.9 : Iron dust on track
Iron duct falling on track may result in track circuit failure, if not
lifted.
C. Grinding Stone:
Proper rail grinding stone is the key to effective and productive rail
grinding. Grinding stones are specifically engineered to perform
within a given range of contact pressures, revolutions per minute
and heat inputs. In effect they are engineered to balance good
cutting performance for a given range of energy input to the cutting
surface- and to maintain its performance over a long service life.
Proper matching of the grinding wheel/abrasive and the grinding
equipment is an important feature in an efficient grinding operation.
Production grinding wheels consist of a disc of varying thickness,
starting between 50 and 75 mm in thickness. These discs are
made up of a matrix of thousands of abrasive grains held together
in a synthetic resin-bonding agent as shown below:

103
Fig 7.10 : Grinding stone showing fracture of cutting grains
Each grain acts as a cutting tool and the bond material is the “tool
post.” A good abrasive is one which fractures along many different
cleavage lines, each fracture producing a sharp cutting surface.
Also it is resistant to abrasive wear for long life and has a moderate
to high fracture toughness to prevent premature fracture.
As the wheel rotates at around 3600 RPM, the cutting grain
gradually dulls. A good abrasive will then continue to fracture
along its cleavage planes to expose new cutting edges.
At some point in its life, the grain becomes too small to regenerate
a cutting surface and will remain dull. As this continues, the friction
on the grain builds up and it absorbs heat. The bond is formulated
to respond by ultimately permitting the entire grain to dislodge
from the matrix, exposing a fresh grain beneath. And in fact the
abrasive grains are spaced in the stone’s structure to specifically
permit this without clogging the grinding interface. Hence the
process starts again.
The grind stone is of 250 mm outer diameter and is placed on
grind carriage. Each grinding stone has seperate 30 HP motor.

Fig 7.11 : Grind motor (having 30 hp motor tiltable between

-30 to + 70 degree)

104
Life of stone is 8 to 10 hours of grinding.
Spark shield are provided to prevent the spark from spreading
sideways which otherwise may result in fire catching up in dry
grass or objects nearby.
D. Water Tanker and other fire control measures
The BTPN wagon attached has 75,000 liters of water. Wooden
sleepers in track, dry grass and garbage in track/ on cess is
susceptible to catch fire due to heavy sparks generated during
grinding operation. Water is sprinkled through ‘Tie Sprays’ (set of
nozzles spraying water at sleeper level) and ‘Ditch Sprays’ (set
of sprinklers spraying water on cess area) before the grinding
operation to make the area wet and reduce the chances of fire.
These are provided on Grind car no. 1 & 3 as shown in figure below:

Fig 7.12: BTPN Wagons Fig 7.13 : Tie Sray and Ditch
Spray
The machine is equipped with 30 HP pump, water cannons, fire
hoses, fire extinguishers and fire detection system to take care of
fire hazards. Thus there are elaborate arrangements for prevention
as well as quenching of fire on rail grinding machines since fire is
a major hazard in operation of this machine.
E. Rear Control Car (RCC)
The machine is having a well-furnished air-conditioned camp
coach known as Rear Control Car. The coach is also having
driving controls for the machine on rear end. The coach can
accommodate 14 people. The coach is provided with a kitchen,
dining area, bathrooms, etc.
F. Rail Corrugation Analyser
Rail Corrugation Analyzer (RCA) is mounted on front axle of rear
drive truck . This measures the rail corrugation while running of
the machine and helps the operator in deciding the depth of cut
105
thus changing pattern as per requirement.

Fig 7.14 : Rail Corrugation Analyser

The RCA recording before and after grinding is shown below:

Fig 7.15 : Corrugation Fig 7.16 : Corrugation after

recorded before grinding grinding
G. Obstruction Detection Device:
These are mounted on front of front truck and at rear of Camping
Coach. During travel these are locked up and lowered for working
during grinding. It gives audio and visual warning if any obstruction
over the rail is there and operators has to decide on the action to
be taken depending on weather it is going to affect grinding or not.

106
 Fig 7.17 : Obstruction Detection Device
H. Travel Cameras & Sequencing Monitor
These cameras are provided in RCC and FCC for overlooking
the track in rear. They transmit the image of track and obstruction
on rare side to the monitor in FCC and RCC respectively. This
helps in sequencing the motors up and down as well as looking
for any obstructions on the rear side of the train while carrying out
grinding in reverse direction.

107
 Fig 7.18 : Travel Cameras
I. Safety Systems
The grind car is provided with fire alarm system as shown below

Fig 7.19 : Fire alarm system

This detects flame and alerts operator in cab of fire in engine room
for taking requisite action. In addition, the machine is provided with
safety devices to bring all machine operations to a halt by pressing
one emergency stop button. “Hot Rail” switches are provided on
each console and near each ladder in the train. On pressing this

108
switch, a loud hooter is blown and flashes blue strobes to warn the
personnel on the machine of a passing train on the adjacent track.
J. Grind Data Management System (Rail-Pro in new
machines of M/s loram)
The Grind Data Management System (GDMS) is an integrated
automatic system for
• Data acquisition.
• Data management
• Quality control
• Reporting and planning tool for Rail Grinding.
GDMS is software-based system, which is fed with track data,
different pre-decided patterns and proposed target profiles for
different track geometry and structure. By taking a measuring run
in advance, GDMS is having the facility of recommending one
of the pre-fed patterns to get target rail profile from the existing
rail profile. Thus it is used to suggest patterns to be followed for
grinding at different locations.
It uses laser based rail profile management system (KLD) available
in the front as well as on the rear of the grinding machine to record
the pre and post grinding rail profile and gives how close we are to
the proposed profile by giving Grind Quality Index (GQI).
K. Grind Quality Index (GQI)
Grinding Quality Index (GQI) is estimated by comparing the
measured rail profile with the target rail profile template for the
area of material to be removed for a particular grinding pass.
The KLD provided in front measures the pre grind rail profile and
compares the same with the desired profile giving pre-grind GQI.
The measurement is taken at every 1m interval. The KLD at the
rear similarly measures the profile post grinding and compares the
same with the desired profile giving post grind GQI and the result
is displayed on screen in the front cab as shown below

109
 Fig 7.20 : Recording as shown done by KLD and displayed
on Screen
While the upper two graph shows the recording by front KLD (Pre-
Grind profile), the bottom two by the rear KLD (Post-Grind Profile).
In the above graph following may be seen
• GQI at front left rail and right rail location (Pre-grind). In this
case it is 27 and 24. The GQI at post grind location at rear
left rail and right rail (Post Grind). In this case it is 11 and
99. However, it should be noted that these values are at two
different locations and does not give the comparative pre and
post grind GQI at same location.
• The rail profile proposed to be achieved at these four
locations are also shown which in this case is HRM & CPC
at front KLD location and HRM & CPC at rear KLD location.
• The metal cut depth required at different location
corresponding to degrees shown over rail profile is shown
slightly above the rail profile.
The GQI of 100 means no cutting of material is required and the
profile matches completely to the desired profile.
In the report generated after grinding, the GQI is given as an
average of 1 km length of grinding in tangent track in curves if it is
less than 1 km, one GQI is given for complete curve.
L. Capability of the machine:
The capability of the machines are listed below:
(i) The machine is capable of grinding through 10O curves(after
removal of check rails) and up to 3% gradients.

110
(ii) Grinding can be done in either direction without the need for
reversing the machine.
(iii) The machine can grind plain as well as curved track (without
check rails), track in tunnels, track on bridges (guard rails on
bridges are not an obstruction), glued joints and fish-plated
joints.
(iv) Level crossings, points & crossings, SEJs and axle counters
create obstructions and are to be skipped by raising the
grinding stones while grinding. Check rail on sharp curve also
creates obstruction and needs to be removed for grinding.
It has also been observed that joggled fish plates provided
on high rail of sharp curves also create an obstruction and
should be removed before grinding.
(v) The machine is capable of grinding at a speed ranging from
2.4 km/h to 24 km/h. However the speed is kept between
8 and 20 km/h during grinding. The traveling speed of the
machine without grinding is 80 km/h by design.
(vi) The machine will work in traffic block, but no power block is
required during the grinding operation.
(vii) There is no need of any speed restriction on the track after
grinding or on the adjacent track during grinding. However,
as a precaution, trains carrying inflammable materials like
Naphtha etc. should not be run on the adjacent track during
grinding operation.
(viii) During the grinding operation, it is ensured that metal
deformation does not take place and the temperature should
not rise beyond 350 degree centigrade so that there are no
metallurgical changes in the rail.
(ix) Water is not required for grinding operation but water is
sprinkled on to the sleepers and on cess with the help of tie
sprays and ditch sprays respectively to make the area wet to
avoid cases of fire due to sparks generated while grinding.
Water consumption is around 1100 l/km
(x) The machine can remove 0.2mm of metal on an average
while grinding at 10 kmph.
(xi) The buggies should be lowered on straight track only to
ensure that the buggy wheels sit properly on rails. In case of
curve, due to different wheelbase of the buggy as compared
to the wagon, the wheels may go off the rail on lowering. For

111
 the same reason, the raising of the buggies is also done on
straight track only.
(xii) The grinding motors are raised in case of obstruction while
the buggies keep running on track.
7.2 96 Stone Rail Grinding Machine- M/s Loram Make
The 96 stone RGM is same as 72 stone grinder with following
difference
a. Instead of three grind cars in 72 stone grinder, one additional
grind car ( 24 stones) is provided thus improving the grinding
capability of the machine to remove more metal at 10 Kmph.
Also instead of one camp coach in 72 stone grinder, this has
two camp coach. All this increases the machine length. These
changes will have following implications:
• The requirement of stabling line length is more
• The grinding speed is increased, that means same
amount of metal removal is now possible at higher
working speed.

Fig 7.21 : 96 stone RGM M/s Loram make

b. The software Grind Data Management System(GDMS) has
been replaced by a new software called Rail-Pro.



112
 8
Rail Grinding over Indian Railways

8.0 General:
Rail grinding was started scientifically and systematically on Indian
railways in 2011 with induction of two 72 stone grinder of M/s
Loram make namely RGI-5 and RGI-6. Since these two grinders
were insufficient to cover complete network of Indian railways, the
routes to be ground was prioritized. In this chapter, we will be
covering the grinding being done by 72 stone grinder by RGI-5
and RGI-6 over Indian railways. For operation purpose, RGI-5 was
allotted to South Central Railway and RGI-6 was allotted to North
Central Railway. The Grinding strategy, the profiles and frequency
of grinding for Indian Railways was suggested by National
Research Council (NRC), Canada. The routes to be ground was
prioritized by a high level committee in line with grinding strategy
suggested by NRC Canada. NRC also suggested reviewing the
existing worn out profile of wheels (RDSO Drg No WD 88021) and
suggested new wheel profile (IR2010-WHL) for better rail-wheel
interaction. However the same was not agreed.
8.1 Grinding Strategy :
NRC-CSTT recommended starting with a single pass Preventive-
Gradual grinding strategy for tangent track (estimated to be 90%
of the track) which involves embarking straight onto preventive
grinding cycles without first undertaking the expensive task of
cleaning the rail surface of fatigue damage and producing the
NRC-CSTT Optimal rail profile. For curves where the flaw had
already gone deep into the rail, a 3 pass corrective grinding
strategy was suggested to start with and subsequently shift to
single pass Preventive grinding.
The rail is transitioned to the desired profile and crack-free state
on a gradual basis. Preventive-Gradual grinding reduces the
wheel contact on existing mild or medium RCF and eventually
catches up to the deep RCF over several grinding cycles.
The advantages of implementing a Preventive-Gradual strategy
instead of a Corrective strategy are as follows:
• The amount of metal removed from the rail per gross million
tonne (GMT) is reduced by 50%.

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• Less metal removed at each track kilometre with increased
productivity of the grinder by up to 60%; that is, more
kilometres of track can be ground each shift and each year.
• The work hardened layer on the rail head is maintained and
the softer steel does not begin to plastically deform after
grinding, therefore the NRC-CSTT Optimal rail profile is
maintained for longer tonnage intervals
8.2 Selection of routes-Criteria
Since only two grinders were procured, the grinding could be done
over limited routes and for limited length. The routes selected was
based on following consideration:
a. Importance/Utilisation of route
b. Axle Load and GMT of route
c. Failures in route and renewal due
To priorities the routes to be covered, following critical routes were
identified:
a. High density routes
b. High utilized routes
c. High axle load routes
These important routes over Indian Railways are:
(i) Heave Density Routes (HDN)
There are 7 identified routes which carry 60% of Indian
railway traffic as listed below:
Table 8.1

S. No HDN No Name of HDN Route Length

1 HDN 1 Delhi-Howrah 1454 Km
2 HDN 2 Howrah-Mumbai 1968 Km
3 HDN 3 Mumbai-Delhi 1387 Km
4 HDN 4 Delhi-Guwahati 1827 Km
5 HDN 5 Delhi-Chennai 2180 Km
6 HDN 6 Chennai-Howrah 1218 Km
7 HDN 7 Chennai-Mumbai 1261 Km

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(ii) Heavy Utility Route (HUN)
11 HUN routes on IR of total route length 23,347Km are listed
below\
Table 8.2

S. No HUN No Name of HUN Route Length

1 HUN 1 Amritsar-Andal 3049 Km
2 HUN 2 Kharagpur-Udhna 3035 Km
3 HUN 3 Chandigarh-Rajkot 1685 Km
4 HUN 4 Firozpur-Mundra Port 1529 Km
5 HUN 5 Jhansi-Muzaffarpur-Katni 2151 Km
6 HUN 6 Bandel-Dibrugarh 1490 Km
7 HUN 7 Vizianagram/Paradeep-Kota 2737 Km
8 HUN 8 Vasco-Machlipatnam 1501 Km
9 HUN 9 Ajmer-Dindigul 2803 Km
10 HUN 10 Manmad-Kanyakumari 2232 Km
11 HUN 11 Mangalore-Kanyakumari 1134 Km

(iii) High axle load routes

The feeder routes of DFC
a. Western Corridor
Table 8.3

Length
of 60
Kg rail
S Route Track
Rly Route patch
N Km Km
(In
Track
Km)
1 NR Ludhiana-Hissar- 205.44 205.44 72.27
Rewari
NWR Ludhiana-Hissar- 142.56 211.58 211.58
Rewari

115
 2 WR Pipavav- 396 461 83
Surendranagar-
Viramgram-
Mehsana
3 WR Kandia Port- 354 377 47
Gandhidham-
Samakhiali-
Palanpur
4 WR Mundra Port- 66 132 57
Gandhidham
5 WR Viramgram- 235 384 394
Samakhiali
6 WR Hazira-Surat 40 40 40
7 WR Dahej-Bharuch 62 62 62
Total 1501 1873.02 966.85

b. Eastern Corridor
Table 8.4

Length
of 60 Kg
S Route Track
Rly Route patch
N Km Km
(In Track
Km)
1 ER Pradhankhunta- 73.2 278.0 221.0
Ansol-Andal
Including coal
branch lines
2 ER Andal-Santhia-Pakur 154.6 309.0 286.0
3 ER Dankuni-Dumdum jn 100.7 201.0 35.0
- Ballygung jn-
Diamond Harbour,
Ballygung jn-Budge-
budge
4 ER & Dankuni-Andul- 141.2 304.0 295.1
SER Panskura-Haldia

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5 ECR Sonnagar-Garwa 310.9 610.0 550.5
road-Barkakana
6 ECR Patraru-Gomoh 127.6 205.0 144.2
including PD Branch
line
7 ECR Sonnagar-Gaya- 248.9 498.0 497.5
Gomoh
8 ECR Gomoh- 66.3 106.0 98.1
Pradhankhunta
including Kusunda-
Tetulmari,
Katrasgarh
- Nichitpur,
Pradhankhunta-
Patherdin link
9 ECR Dhanbad- 33.3 58.0 11.5
Katrasgarh-
Jamuniatanr-
chandrapura
10 ECR Gomoh- 200.5 347.0 348.9
& Chandrapura-
SER Bokard-Muri-
Chandil-Sini-
Chakradharpur
11 ECR Chandil-Bhojidih- 144.4 239.0 234.0
& Mohuda-Gomoh
SER
12 NR Mughalsarai- 208.4 299.0 177.2
Unchahar
via Janghai,
Phaphamau
13 NR Varanasi-Sultanpur- 439.4 879.0 635.2
Utratia-Rosa
14 NR Zafrabad-Tanda 100.3 100.0 46.7
15 NR Ludhiana-Beas- 121.6 215.0 145.9
Goindwal Sahib

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 16 NR Rajpura-Dhuri- 148.2 148.0 2.9
Bhatinda (Lehra
Mohabbat)
17 NR Sirhind-Rupnagar- 104.0 104.0 41.5
Nagal Dam
18 NCR Kanpur-Paricha 191.1 266.0 245.4
19 NCR Aligarh-Harduaganj 13.9 13.9 0.0
20 NWR Hissar-Bhatinda- 296.6 296.6 147.9
Suratgarh
21 NWR Suratgarh-Biradhwal 17.8 17.8 15.2
22 SER Tatanagar-Chandil 36.3 73.0 71.4
Total 3279.2 5567.3 4251.0

c. 25T Axle Load Routes

Table 8.5

S
Rly Route Route Km Track Km
N
1 SER Banspani-Daitari- 25.74 25.74
Jakhpura-Paradeep
ECoR Banspani-Daitari- 318.2 597.9
Jakhpura-Paradeep
2 ECoR Kirandul-Kottavalasa- 446.0 573.8
Vishakhapatnam
3 SER Kiriburu- 397.0 531.0
Bondamunda-Hatia-
Bokaro Steel City
4 ECoR Koraput-Rayagada- 379.0 767.7
Vijaynagaram-
Vishakhapatnam
5 SER Noamundi-Banspani- 155.0 431.0
Tata
6 SWR Torangullu-Ranjitpura 23.0 23.0
7 SECR Marauda-Dallirajhara 76.3 76.3

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8 SER Sini-Chandil- 161.0 311.0
Damodar-Bunpur-
Asansol, Damodar-
Kalipahari-Durgapur
9 SER Barsuan-Bimalarh- 51.0 96.0
Rourkela steel plant
10 SER Gua/Bolanikhadan- 37.8 61.1
Barajamda-Noamundi
Total 2070.04 3494.4
8.3 RGM 72 Stone Grind Routes
In preventive grinding, a cycle of grinding is to be followed,
therefore only that much length to be chosen where machine can
return after pre-decided GMT. Following routes therefore were
selected for these two RGM. (RGI-5 & RGI-6)

Fig 8.1 : RGI-6 GRIND Fig 8.2 : RGI-5 GRIND

ROUTES (Base-NCR) ROUTES BASE-SCR

8.4 Ground Profiles :

The ground profiles suggested for Indian Railways by NRC are:
Table 8.6

Grinding Templates Tangent High Low

UP Mild Curves (≤ 1.25°) HM CPC
UP Sharp Curves (> 1.25°) HS CPF
DOWN Mild Curves (≤ 1.25°) HM CPC
DOWN Sharp Curves (> 1.25°) HS CPF
UP tangent CPF
DOWN tangent CPC

119
 Single Line Tangent* CPF/CPC
SINGLE Mild Curves (≤ 1.25°) HM CPC
NGLE Sharp Curves (> 1.25°) HS CPF
52 kg Tangent CPC
52 kg Curves HS/HM CPC
Tangent Track with Hunting CPF
*Single line will have 1 km CPC and next Km as CPF. Here HM
stands for HRM and HS for HRS
As the name suggests, in CPF profile the contact of the wheel on
the rail will shift towards the field side while in CPC the wheel will
make the contact with the rail in the centre. HRM and HRS are
two point contact profiles with different rail wheel contact location.
CPG was not suggested even for straight track initially due to
RCF observed on gauge side in existing rails. The profiles thus
finally suggested to have contact at locations close to as shown in
sketches below. However this is w.r t the suggested worn wheel
profile of IR2010-WHL but can be taken as applicable for existing
worn out wheel profile also.

Fig 8.3 : CPC and CPF Profile

120
 Fig 8.4 : Near Conformal 2 point contact (HRM)

Fig 8.5 : Two Point Contact (HRS)

While CPC profile is designed to have contact at crown, CPF
profile to have contact at 8mm on field side of crown. The HRM
profile is a two point conformal contact to have contacts at around
8.7 degree and 35 degree with gap at gauge corner of around

121
0.21 mm. HRS profile is two point contact to have contact at
around 5.5 degree and 48 degree with a gap of around 0.4 mm at
gauge corner.
On Up and Down line CPC and CPF profile or in single line an
alternate CPC and CPF profile is suggested to widen the contact
zone on wheel tread to avoid it getting converted to hollow tyre.
8.5 Grind Frequency:
The grind frequency to be followed by Indian railway in routes
selected is tabulated below:
Table 8.7
Comlative Track Classification
GMT in the
section Tangent
Cycle Mild Sharp Test
from start (Straight)
# Curves Curves Sites
of grinding Track

Grind Single Pass 3 Passes 3 Passes Monitor

0 1 at 15 Kmph at 18 at 18 Profile
Kmph Kmph
Grind Single Pass 3 Passes 3 Passes Monitor
25
2 at 15 Kmph at 18 at 18 Profile
(Approx)
Kmph Kmph and RCF
Grind Single Pass 3 Passes 3 Passes Monitor
75
3 at 15 Kmph at 18 at 18 Profile
(Approx)
Kmph Kmph and RCF
Grind Single Pass 3 Passes 3 Passes Monitor
125 & so on
4 & so at 15 Kmph at 18 at 18 Profile
(Approx)
on Kmph Kmph and RCF
As can be seen, the grinding after first pass (Grind-1) will be done
after 25 GMT of traffic and subsequent grindings after every 50
GMT. While single pass grinding in tangent track to be done at 15
Kmph, three pass grinding in curve at 18Kmph to be done.
For KK line in Eco Railway, the frequency is recommended as 25
GMT instead of 50 GMT.
8.6 Track Data for Grind Data Management System (GDMS):
The track data is to be fed in GDMS in advance and it is important
that following precautions are taken:
• Since, High rail and low rail are different for LH and RH
curve, and profile decided for High Rail and Low Rail are also

122
 different, it is important that, curves directions are correctly
fed.
• Chainage of start of curve and end of curve and similarly
other locations, is also to be correctly fed.
Track data should be collected from field in the format given in
Table 8.8:
a. The required proforma to be filled is as shown on top. Some
assumed data has been filled as example.
b. The data should be entered always in increasing Km
irrespective of UP or DN line and direction of curve should
be entered in the increasing Km accordingly.
c. Length measurement should be exact upto cm.
d. Each track Km starting point chainage should be taken as
0 and end chainage shall be the actual length of that track
Km in meter and cm. These may not be exactly 1000 mtrs in
each Tr Km, so the length should be exactly be measured in
mtr and cm in each track Km. In above table Km 921 starts
from 0 and ends at chainage 995.00 mtrs. Km 922 begins at
0 & ends at 1009.50 metres and so on.
e. All curves and level crossings of a Km are to be filled in
successive rows repeating the same Km.
f. Railway station name in railway code and its centre line
chainage to be filled in that row in which the station falls e.g.
in above case stn RUB falls in Km 922
g. In the above shown chart there are two curves in Km 921
and three level crossings so there are three rows entries in
Km 921.
h. TP1 is beginning of transition portion of curve i.e. start point
of curve
CTP1 is beginning of circular portion of curve
CTP2 is end of circular portion of curve
In case there are two or more than two consecutive circular
curves (compound) the chainage point of chainage of CTP3
and CTP4 to be recorded and degree of all curves to be
recorded.
TTP2 is end of transition portion of curve i.e. last point of
curve.

123
 Table 8.8

124
Profarma - Track Detail for feeding to GDMS of RGMS
ADEN UP/ Section
Sr Rail- Divi- Section Length of each Km of
HQ/ DN From Curve Details L-Xing Details Station
No way sion To Km Section
Stn 3rd/4th Km
Start Vers- S-- Degree
End Ch. Curve LH/ LC Width Station Center
Km Ch. In TTP1 CTP1 CTP2 TTP2 ine in Elev in of Center Line Ch
In Mtrs No RH No of LC Code Line Ch
Mtr mm mm Curve

Profarma - Track Detail for feeding to GDMS of RGMS

ADEN UP/ Section
Sr Rail- Divi- Section Length of each Km of
HQ/ DN From Curve Details L-Xing Details Station
No way sion To Km Section
Stn 3rd/4th Km
Start Vers- S-- Degree
End Ch. Curve LH/ LC Width Station Center
Km Ch. In TTP1 CTP1 CTP2 TTP2 ine in Elev in of Center Line Ch
In Mtrs No RH No of LC Code Line Ch
Mtr mm mm Curve
1 NCR ALD FTP UP 921.200 1017.500 921 0.00 995.00 201 921.22550 921.24550 921.34550 921.36050 20 50 1.25 LH 51 921.58550 4.50
UP 202 921.3705 921.38045 921.43045 921.44045 15 35 1 RH 52 921.79050 5.50
UP 53 921.98050 6.78
UP 922 0.00 1009.50 RUB 922.58

UP 923 0.00 987.00

For filling these, following instructions to be followed

 This data to be entered in Excel as shown below: (Fig. 8.5)

125
Fig 8.5 : Data entered in Excel format
The columns should be as numbered in the sample and is
reproduced below:
Table 8.9

Column Name Column Name

CurveDir – curve
direction
• Defined by
ID – unique row #
ascending Kposts.
1 useful for finding 12
errors Example: While
travelling from Km 2
to Km 3 the Curve is
a Left Hand
Line – Line CXNum – Crossing
2 13
segment name number
CxLoc – crossing
3 Region 14
location
CxWidth – Crossing
4 Division 15
width
Station – station
5 Sub-Division 16
name
Track – name of
StaLoc – station
6 this track; UP, DN, 17
location
SL, 1, etc.
Km – Kilometer
7 18 Start – Not used
post number
Length – Length
8 of this Kilometer 19 End – Not used
(in meters)
ST, TC, CT, & TS
9 20 StartM – Not used
– Curve points
Versine – used
CurveNum – Not
10 when calculating 21
used
DOC
Degree – the
SuperElev – Not
11 Degree of 22
used
Curvature
This excel data is converted to be usable GDMS format by using

126
software supplied by M/s Loram. However this data must be in
sheet-1 of excel document and as shown to have 25 columns.
Some of the information is not used by software as is not relevant
for grind planning and are mentioned as “not used” in the above
table.
The track information is displayed to the operator during grinding
and he is aware of the track geometry when he is approaching
that length & this helps him in feeding the grind pattern for left and
right rails.
8.7 Grind Pattern:
Provision to feed 50 grind patterns i.e. arrangement of stones over
different position on rails are available in the supplied machines.
Accordingly to meet the requirement of achieving the desired
profiles, following patterns were pre-fed by manufacturer.
The angle written below each pattern shows the area being
covered in grinding. The height of the darkened portion indicates
the amount of material to be removed. Thus some patterns
designed to remove less material is mild patterns while the one
designed to remove more material are aggressive patterns.
Judicious selection of patterns become important. These patterns
can be modified as per requirement.
The grinder has a facility to take the profile of existing rail using
KLD attached. If the desired profile is fed in advance, the GDMS
software of the machine will suggest the patterns required to
achieve the desired profile from the measured existing profile.
For Indian Railways however M/s Loram suggested patterns to be
fed for single pass on tangent track for achieving CPC and CPF
profile. For curved track, the pattern for first pass was given by M/s
Loram, however for 2nd and 3rd pass, the pattern is suggested by
the GDMS software which is used by the operator.
In case the track information in GDMS is not matching with track
geometry, the operator needs to change to mild pattern so as not
to damage the rail. NRC suggested following pattern for different
passes (Table 8.10)

127
 Annexure 5.2
Pattern Sheet

Fig 8.6 : Patterns pre-fed in machines

176

128
 Table 8.10
Wrong Direction in All
Patterns Speed GDMS Pass
3 Pass Patterns Speed
Template Track
First
First
Pass Pass Pass Pass
Pass Kph Kmph
Agres- 1 2 3
Generic
sie

High Rail Sharp Curve UP/

14 45 18 14 27 15 18
(HS) Down

High Rail Sharp Curve

UP/
on New Rail (HS NEW 2 45 18 2 47 23 18
Down
RAIL)
High Rail on Mild Curve UP/
10 45 18 10 43 27 18
(HM) Down
High Rail on Mild Curve
UP/
- New Rail (HM NEW 2 45 18 2 47 X 18
Down
RAIL)
Low Rail Shrp Curve UP/
20 47 18 20 23 27 18
(LS-CPF Down
Low Rail Sharp Curve
UP/
on New Rail (LS-CPF 24 47 18 24 23 23 18
Down
NEW RAIL)
Low Rail on Mild Curve UP/
19 39 18 39 42 X 18
(LM-CPC) Down
Low Rail on Mild Curve -
UP/
New Rail (LM-CPC NEW 17 41 18 39 46 X 18
Down
RAIL)
Tangent (TCPF) UP 24 24 15
Tangent New Rail (TCPF
UP 24 24 15
NEW RAIL)
Tangent (TCPC) DN 39 39 15
Tangent New Rail
DN 39 39 15
(TCPC NEW RAIL)
Tangent for 52 Kg Rail UP/
39 39 15
(TCPC 52 Kg RAIL) Down
Low Rail Sharp Curve
UP/
52 Kg (LS-CPC 52 Kg 39 39 18 39 42 X 18
Down
RAIL)
Low Rail Mild Curve
UP/
52 Kg (LM-CPC 52 Kg 39 39 18 39 42 X 18
Down
RAIL)

The grind cutting depth at different locations will be as given in

table 8.11.

129
 Table 8.11

Track Location Preventive GRINDING ANGLE

(BHN) Work Gradual Metal
hardened rail Removal
Depth mm
New Rail (260-280) 0.3
Curves High Rail (320-340)
Guage 0.4 (+60 to +6 degrees)
Mid Guage 0.2 (+16 to +6 degrees)
Crown 0.1 (+6 to -2.5 degrees)
Field 0.2 (-2.5 to field degrees)
Curves Low Rail (320-340)
Guage 0.25 (+45 to +16 degrees)
Mid Guage 0.2 (+16 to +4 degrees)
Crown 0.1 (+4 to -2.5 degrees)
Field 0.2 (-2.5 to field degrees)
Tangent (320-340)
Guage 0.25 (+45 to +16 degrees)
Mid Guage 0.2 (+16 to +4 degrees)
Crown 0.1 (+4 to -2.5 degrees)
Field 0.2 (-2.5 to field degrees)
8.8 Advance Preparation
RGM machine operation and maintenance by railways required
setting of facilities in advance for which following instructions were
issued to railways vide letter no. 99/Track-III/MC/6 Vol.IV, dated
13.02.2009. Important instructions are reproduced below:
• Maintenance siding (@40-50 Km) with required facility
• Siding length as one spur of Length 300 m or two spurs of
150 m. These should be preferably unwired but if required
to be wired then should be provided with OHE isolation
arrangement.
• Rail level PF
• Resting and Toilet facility,
• Watering facility for RGM (water consumption is around 1100

130
 l/km) and drinking water taps
• Oil Loading facility. (diesel consumption is around 85 l/km)
• Lighting arrangement.
• Approach road
• 3 Phase Power Point connection for welding.
Indian Railway is now inducting 96 stone grinder and as the length
of machine is increased by one Grind Car and one camp coach,
the total length of machine is now going to be 175 m. In addition
on SRGM, one RIV and one UTV shall also be accompanying
RGM, Accordingly, each siding should be now planned for 350 m
with 150 m unwired for maintenance of machines.



131
 9
Rail Grinding Monitoring and Benefits

9.0 General:
The grinding benefits are to be monitored regularly to ensure that
the grind profiles, grind pattern chosen are appropriate in terms
of increased safety and reduced wear. Any decision to modify
the profiles and changing corresponding pattern has to be taken
on regular basis based on observation. The rail surface should
be observed for facet profile, roughness, any bluing or dents for
any remedial action. The ultimate aim is to ensure that rail life is
increased and safety of train is ensured. This chapter discusses
the method of monitoring the benefits of RGM.
9.1 Items to be monitored
The benefits of rail grinding will accrue in the form of:
• Reduced wear of rails
• Reduction in USFD defects
• Reduction in Rail/Weld fractures in track
• Reduction in damage to rail surface including RCF
• Reduced in weld dip
All this will increase the rail life and safety of train operation. Thus
before grinding profile is compared to after grinding profile and the
ground rail is checked for following :
a. Contact band width & its position - to decide that proper
contact is made and Hunting has reduced.
b. Wear Pattern of rails - to decide whether the profile has
actually resulted in reduction of stresses. The rates of vertical
wear i.e. W1 & the rate wear at gauge corner i.e. W3 and rate
of lateral wear i.e. W2 is monitored.
c. Extant of Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) - to confirm that
already prevalent RCF has been eliminated and cycle is
adequate to remove new RCF defects.
d. Target Rail Profile attainment - the profile attained after
each grinding cycle be compared with target rail profile
Since it is not possible to measure these parameters at every
location, a representative test sites are made for a particular

132
section The whole section is however monitored for improvement
in USFD result and reduction of rail fractures.
9.2 Test sites
Test site locations are established as a representative track in a
traffic section where monitoring and measurement will be done
before and after rail grinding to arrive at proper decisions regarding
various RGM implementation issues like appropriateness of metal
being removed from the rail surface vis a vis growth of RCF cracks,
the effectiveness of the grinding pattern to achieve the target rail
profile and to control the grinding cycles to optimum frequency.
On these sites, studies regarding rail surface conditions are
performed; data of rail profile is collected and analysed for rate of
wear along with analysis of USFD defects and rail/weld fractures
in the section to evaluate the efficacy of rail grinding
A typical test site is represented in the Fig below. It consists of
stretch of track covering three sleeper spacing’s divided into three
parts – first for measuring rail profile by MiniProf (Marked as MP),
The measurement should be taken at centre of w marked on non-
gauge face, second for taking surface photographs and the third
for doing Dye Penetration Test and taking DPT photographs.

Fig 9.1 : Test sites

The Criteria for selecting test sites for RGM working are:
a. Normally each traffic section between junction stations
should be represented by one test site. Track at test site
location shall have predominant rail type available in the
section.
b. Separate test sites should be chosen for different track
structures (52 kg/60kg) as far as possible.

133
c. Rail renewal should not be due at the location of test site.
d. Rails there should have preferably 50% of GMT life remaining
and expected to remain in service for at least next 3-4 year
periods.
e. Test location should be away from signals. Defective/damage
rail, welds, glued joints, way side rail lubricators etc.
f. The site should have access by road preferably.
g. Test location should include one tangent, mild curve (upto
1.25 degree) and sharp curve location(curve above 1.25
degree) depending on their availability in that particular
representative section.
h. Three such test sites (To be taken as one) are selected at an
interval of 80-100 m apart to constitute one test site. Keeping
multiple test location as one test site ensures better reliability
as other locations remain available for data collection even if
rails are replaced at one location on account of rail fracture
etc.
i. For any major change in gradient or formation structure,
separate test site should be selected.

9.3 Measuring Equipment’s and measurements taken:

The equipment’s used for taking different measurements are:
Table 9.1

S.
S. No Measure
No
A. Specific Measuring Equipment
MiniProf or Similar Optical
Rail Profile Measuring
1 Equipment with Personal Rail profile, Rail wear
Digital Assistant (PDA) /
Tablet
Laptop/Computer with
2 Analysis of the data
analysis software
DPT Kit (Cleaner, Dye
3 RCF analysis
penetrant and developer)

134
 Marking rail details, RCF
Yellow paint, Marker pen,
4 status & Contact Band
Steel scale and Cotton
details
Photography at test
5 Digital Camera
location
Surface roughness Surface Roughness after
6
measuring Equipment Grinding
B. Other Measuring Equipment
Alignment/versine and
1 P.Way inspection kit
unevenness
Rail profile deviation from
2 Bar Gauge
target profile
3 Star Gauge Rail top radius
Surface Hardness Testing
4 Surface hardness
instrument
5 Digital Inclinometer Angle at a point on rail top
Effectiveness of rail
6 Tribometer
lubricator

a. Monitoring Rail Profile: MiniProf or Similar Optical Rail

Profile Measuring Equipment with PDA/Tablet for Rail
profile measurement:
These equipment’s are used to take the rail profile before and after
grinding. Some of the Optical Rail Profile Measuring Equipment
available in market are listed below:
Table 9.2

Manufacturer Accuracy
MiniProf 0.01 mm (Approx)
Graw 0.1 mm (Approx)
Pie 0.1 mm (Approx)
The photo of MiniProf is given below, this is to be connected to
PDA or Laptop for collecting data

135
 Fig 9.2 MiniProf
The measurement of such equipments are used to check
• If the desired profile is achieved or not
• The wear at different critical locations (W1, W2 and W3)
shown below

Fig 9.3 : Wear at different locations

136
The wear at rail top is W1, at gauge corner is W3 and at gauge face
is W2. Miniprof software has a provision to overlap two profiles to
get the wear at critical location. The underside of two profiles being
compared should be overlapped to get correct measurement. A
sample of MiniProf reading is enclosed below:

Fig 9.4 : Reading taken by MiniProf

In addition, rail profile can be checked by Bar gauge, which
has template of all four profiles (CPC/CPF/HRS/HRM) and by
overlapping these on rail head, how much it is close to the desired
profiles can be quickly assessed after grinding.

Fig 9.5 : Bar Gauge for checking Rail Profile

b. Monitoring Contact Band: The location of contact of the
wheel on the rail should change after the grinding. The rail-wheel
contact band indicates this. Most of the wheels should make a
contact on rail in a desired width on the railhead. Therefore, a

137
clear change in contact band location and size should be visible
after the grinding. The contact band is to be monitored in curve
and on straight track before and after grinding. Identification of
contact band on railhead is done by spraying paint or making
chalk marks on rail surface and allow a freight train pass over it.
This will manifest in a form of erasing of the paint or chalk covered
area in a band like formation. Details of location, date, width of
contact band, distance from gauge face etc. should be written and
a photograph showing contact band and details written on rail foot
is taken for record.
c. Dye Penetration Test: At the second portion of the test
site, dye penetration test is done, so that the damage on the
rail surface including the cracks will become prominent. Dye
penetration test is carried out before and after grinding. Extent of
reduction in number and length of cracks indicates the efficacy of
the grinding.
The dye penetration test uses 3 step process:
• Application of cleaner
• Application of dye penetrant
• And application of developer.
Procedure for doing DPT
• Having cleaned the surface, Dye is sprayed covering entire
rail’s top head surface.
• Then one has to wait for Two minutes to let the Dye spread
deeply in the cracks.
• Then using a dry & clean cotton cloth the dye is wiped. Some
clean water may also be used to clean the surface.
• After fully cleaning the surface, developer is sprayed, while
spraying it has to be ensured that it is sprayed in one direction
only and distance between nozzle and rail top is more than
20-30 cm so as to avoid localized excessive application of
developer.
After the test, details such as date, location, tangent or curved
track degree also, left/right rail or inner/outer rail, GMT carried,
rolling year of rail, length of RCF cracks etc are written with a
marker pen and a photograph is taken. The gauge face side and
direction of traffic is marked by arrows on the rail.
Dye penetration test is carried out before and after grinding. After

138
the grinding, the test should be done only when the rail surface
has become smooth, i.e. 10-15 days after grinding.

Fig 9.6 :Application of Fig 9.7 : Application of

dye penetrant developer

9.4 Other Quality Checks:

a. Monitoring Rail Surface Finish – The condition of the rail
top after grinding gives a lot of clues about the quality of grinding.
A good finish should have regular grind marks of the grinding
stones (these are known as facets) with silver finish. A bad finish
will have irregular marks or skipped grinding at regular interval or
blue colour on rails at certain locations (known as blueing defect)
or irregular facet width etc. The facet width (the width of the marks
left by grinding wheels) should be about 10 mm in the centre of
the rail and 4 mm at the corners.At mid gauge it should be about
7 mm.

Fig 9.8 : Facet created after grinding

The inclination of any facet helps in identifying the grinding stone

139
creating that facet. The inclinometer should be used for the
purpose.

Fig 9.9 : Inclinometer for measuring slope at particular

position
b. Surface Roughness after Grinding – The rail surface
should not become too rough after the grinding. The surface
roughness level should not go beyond 12 microns after grinding.

Fig 9.10 : Surface roughness after grinding

140
c. GQI before & after Grinding – GQI stands for Grind
Quality Index, which is a measure of the efficacy of the grinding
with respect to the target rail profile. The GQI value 100 indicates
that the target profile has been achieved fully. The lower the
value, the more is the deviation from the target profile. During
the run, GDMS screen displays GQI for both the rails before and
after grinding separately. GQI of 80 and above is considered
acceptable.
The post grind quality is summerised below-
Table 9.3

Surface Finish Lower Gauge Mid Gauge Crown of

Corner Field Rail
+60 to + 16 +16 to +6 deg +6 to -2.5
deg &>-2.5 deg
Facet Width 4 mm 7 mm 10 mm
Crown Radius 250 mm
Surface
N/A 12 Microns 12 Microns
Roughness (Ra)
d. Crown radius – Crown radius of the railhead is measured
before and after grinding by star gauge. The crown radius should
be closer to 250 mm at centre of railhead after grinding. Crown
radius is measured by star gauge. A template used to define the
actual rail head crown’s curvature. These are required to measure
the rail top crown curvature. However the star gauge can measure
radius only at crown

Fig 9.11 : Star gauge Fig 9.12 : Measuring radius

at crown

141
Template has four radius (150, 200, 250, 300 mm) curvature and
by overlapping on crown, the approximate radius of crown is
estimated.
e. Good surface finish after grinding - There are two
aspects of the surface finish of the as-ground rail;
• Ridges left by the facets
• Surface roughness left by the grinding marks or scratches
Normally the facets created by last few stones in the series leaves
the ridges. Pattern design should be such that the difference in
the angles of subsequent cuts are within specified limits to avoid
large ridges. This otherwise may become the sites of flow over or
surface fatigue. The facets created on gauge corner should not be
more that 4 mm and at other locations be more than 10 mm.
These grinding “scratch” marks trace the rotation and forward
advance of the cutting grains. The rough nature of the as-ground
rail surface is dependent upon the stone grit size and the grinding
motor control. If a rougher surface finish can be tolerated, a
considerably more aggressive grinding stone can be used.
However this rough surface gets smoothened with passage of
traffic.
The surface irregularities to be observed are:
• There shall be no sharp ridges especially at the interface of
facets.
• There shall be no sharp “knife edge” on the outside edges of
the rail that could cause a cutting injury.
• There shall be no gouging on the rail surface and sharp
scratches.
• There shall be no indentations or longitudinal anomalies in
the rail.
• There shall be no cyclic grinding scratch marks, as illustrated
in Figure below. Such scratch marks have the potential to
develop into short pitch corrugations.
• Short pitch and Long pitch corrugations shall be attended so
that the remaining cyclic average longitudinal unevenness
along the rail surface (peak to peak) shall be reduced.
• There shall be no overheating (bluing) of the rail surface.

142
 Fig 9.13: Cyclic Grinding Fig 9.14: Unacceptable
Scratch mark Grinding Scratches
• In noise sensitive regions the surface shall be smoother.
• In no case the roughness should be more than 12 micron.

Fig 9.15: Bluing of rail surface after grinding

f. Hardness of Rail- The hardness of rail after grinding
should be checked to verify that the metal removal has not
removed complete hardened layer. For 880 Mpa, 90 UTS rail, the
hardness after grinding should be more than 300 BHN.
9.5 Monitoring at RDSO
Performa enclosed as Annexure 1 to 5 issued vide RDSO letter
no CT/ML/RG Dated 18.05.21(shown below) is to be filled by field
units and sent to RDSO every time before and after grinding.
RDSO shall study the data received from different railways and
decide on appropriate grinding parameters and grinding cycle.

143
 Annexure- 1
RAIL GRINDING MONITORING PROFORMA
(Details of Test locations)

144
Rly………………….. Divn………………. …… Route…………………… Section………. Km/TP…………
Rail Section/ UTS…………. Type of sleeper…………… Sleeper density…………… Ballast cushion…
Tangent/Curved track……… Degree of curve………… Line(UP/DN)……………… Axle Load………
Total GMT carried………… GMT( Current)…………… Date of Last Grinding…… Gauge(in mm)….
Engineered rail profile Template used …………… Rolling mark of rails………….
S.No Item Description Observations on Left Rail * * Observations on Right Rail * * Remarks
. Before Grinding After Grinding Before Grinding After Grinding
A Visual Inspection (severity be indicated)*
1.Gauge corner chipping (Y/N)
2.Metal Flow of rail top / Burring (Y/N)
3.Rolling Contact Fatigue For a) to c)
Visual inspection & Dye Penetration test)
a) Gauge face (65 to 16 deg.) (Y/N)
b) Shoulder of Rail (16 to 6 deg.) (Y/N)
c) Crown of Rail ( 6 to -4 deg.) (Y/N)
d)Pitch of fatigue cracks (mm)(Range)
e)Max. length of fatigue crack(mm)
Field Gauge
4.Wheel burns and Scabbing (Y/N)
5.Any other defect observed
B Corrugation (Y/N)
C Hunting (Cyclic Wear) (Y/N)
D Track Geometry parameters Parametersof the concerned blocks (SD &
1. Gauge worst peak)of test site location should be
taken from the records of TRC run just
2. Twist before grinding.
3. Unevenness (9.0 m chord)
4. Alignment (9.0 m chord)
* Hard & soft copies of Photographs of the test locations before and after grinding, after Dye penetration test indicating condition of rail (size of defect, location
in Km, Line, indication of gauge face, direction of traffic) be sent.
** Indicate Low or High Rail in case of curve.Left and Right rails shall be marked w.r.t direction of increasing kilometers in the section.
NOTE: 1. Details for each Tangent, Mild Curve(<1.250) and Sharp curve(>1.250) test locations shall be submitted separately in the proforma.
2. Corrugation and Hunting should be observed in the block section containing the test sites (few kms on either side of test site).

Date: (Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)

 S. No. Item Description Observations on Left Rail Observations on Right Rail Remarks
Before Grinding After Grinding Before Grinding After Grinding
E Type of contact of wheel on Rail
( One /Two/Multiple point contact)
1.One point contact
a) Contact Band Width (mm)
b) Distance from gauge face side* (mm)
c) Gauge Corner contact (Y/N)
2.Two point contact
a) Contact Band Width (mm)
(i)
(ii)
b) Distance from gauge face side (mm)
(i)
(ii)
3. Multiple point contact
a) Contact Band Width (mm)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
b) Distance from gauge face side (mm)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
F Wear of rail** (in mm)
1. Top Table (W1)
2. Gauge Face (W2)
3. Gauge Face Corner (W3)

G Weld dip at nearby location (Same weld to

be measure every time)
H Post Grinding Roughness*** (Microns)

*Distance measured upto center of contact band width.

** Measured by MiniProf and soft copies of rail profiles be sent.
*** To be measured with equipment available at RGM, otherwise general observation to be recorded.

Date:

145
(Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)
 Annexure- 2
RAIL GRINDING MONITORING PROFORMA

146
(Section Specific details)

Railway………………….. Divn……………… Route…………. Section……….. From Km/TP………… To Km/TP…………… Line (UP/DN/ Single)…….
Rail section and UTS…………. Type of sleeper…………Sleeper density……………… Ballast cushion……………… Annual GMT……… Cumulative GMT ……….. Axle Load………..
Start Date of grinding cycle for major section………… Date of last TRC run………
Completion Date of Grinding cycle for major section…………..

S. Item Description Straight Track Mild Curve Track Sharp Curve Track Remarks
No. Left Rail Right Rail High rail Low rail High rail Low rail

A Full details of locations before grinding*

1. Rolling Contact Fatigue (Head checks) (Y/N)
2. Corrugation (Y/N)
3. Hunting (cyclic wear) (Y/N)
4. Other defects (gauge corner chipping, flow of rail
top, corrosion, wheel burns etc., specify type of any
other defect)
B Effectiveness of Lubrication in sharp curves (Y/N)
C Track Geometry (TQI Composite
Value) - before grinding*
Short Chord

Long Chord

* Details to be given for specific locations wherever significant defect is noticed.

Note : The above details shall be recordedevery time before grinding.

Date:
(Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)
 Annexure- 3
Analysis of Rail/Weld Fractures on the Section (To be generated through TMS)

Railway: Division: Subdivision:

Route: Section: Km From To UP/DN Total length Annual GMT
Track Structure- Rail: Sleeper:

S Cycle Period Duration Track Geometry Length Rail Fracture Weld Fracture
N (Month) (Km)
From FB Welds AT Welds
……….
To
……….

Total

Others
Total
Total
Total Rail & Weld Fracture

Internal flaw in head -

Others

Others

Transverse break (Code

211)
Transverse crack (code
411)
Transverse crack (code
421)
Cumulative GMT for rail at end of cycle
Remarks of Rail renewal done with
location
Any Other Remarks

Straight

Mild Curve

Sharp Curve

2 Yr. prior to Ist

Grinding
Straight

nd
Mild Curve

Ist to 2
Grinding
Sharp Curve

Note: Position to be given w.e.f. 2 years preceding of Rail Grinding Introduction.

Date:
(Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)

147
 Annexure- 4

148
Analysis of Ultrasonic Defects -Normal Testing (To be generated through TMS)

Railway: Division: Subdivision: Route: Section: UP/DN

Km From To Length Annual GMT Track Structure – Rail ……….. Sleeper ………………
Stipulated Frequency of USFD Testing for section: For Normal Testing ………………… (Month)

S Cycle of USFD Testing Period Track Length Tested OBS Defect (Number) IMR Defect (Number)
0 0
N Geometry (Km) 70 Probe 70 Probe
G C NG G C NG
From
Dura-

Total
---------
Remarks about
Rail Renewal etc

tion

Normal Probe
Total

To Normal Probe
(Month)
--------
Details (individually) of 5 Cycles of Straight
Normal Testing prior to introduction of Mild Curve
Grinding Sharp Curve
Total Straight
Mild Curve
Sharp Curve
Ist Grinding Period From …….……… To ………………….
Details (individually) of Intermediate Straight
Cycles of USFD Mild Curve
Sharp Curve
Total Straight
Mild Curve
Sharp Curve
nd
2 Grinding Period From ………………….. To ………………………
Details (individually) of Intermediate Straight
Cycles of USFD Mild Curve
Sharp Curve
Total Straight
Mild Curve
Sharp Curve
rd
3 Grinding Period From ………………….. To ………………………

Note: Details of additional defects arisen in the cycles shall be given.

Date: (Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)

 Proforma for Calculation of DGR
Annexure-5

Railway……………, Division…………… Subdivision ………….. Route………………… Section: …………… UP/DN ……………………..

From …………..(Km) To ………………..(Km) Length …………….. Annual GMT ……… Track Structure – Rail ……………. Sleeper …………………..

Prior to Grinding Cycle I Grinding Cycle I to II

Interval Total New Defects DGR Interval Total New Defects DGR
(Month) (Month)
Straight Mild Sharp Straight Mild Sharp Straight Mild Sharp Straight Mild Sharp
Curve Curve Curve Curve Curve Curve Curve Curve
Length (Km)
0
O 70 G
B Probe C
S NG
Normal
Probe
Total
0
I 70 G
M Probe C
R NG
Normal
Grinding Cycle II to III and so on
Similar Analysis to be carried for

Probe
Total
Cumulative
GMT at the end
of cycle
Remark about
rail renewal etc.

DGR = Total New Defects in length having similar situation x 100 = ………. Per Km/100GMT
(Total length having similar situation) x (GMT accumulated between two cycles)

Note- While working out total length of comparison, the kilometers where rail renewal/replacement has been done shall be excluded for comparison. In Total,
stretches (Kms) with similar situation shall be taken.

149
Date: (Signature of Inspecting official with Name/Designation)
9.6 Benefits reported over Indian railways:
RDSO has done analysis of benefits of Rail Grinding over Indian
railways based on reports received from different railways and
the same has been compiled in Report CT-33 and CT-43. One
of the major benefit expected of RGM is to improve safety and to
improve the life of rail by controlling wear and reducing rail failure
by controlling RCF generation;
a. Data collected for assessing the benefit of Rail Grinding.
(i) Data at test Locations:
• Bandwidth & its position : To decide that proper contact is
made and Hunting has reduced.
• Wear Pattern of rails:- To decide whether the profile has
actually resulted in the reduction of stresses. The rates of
vertical wear i.e. W1 & the rate of vertical wear at gauge face
i.e. W3 and rate of lateral wear i.e. W2 is to be monitored.
• Extant of Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF):- To confirm that
already prevalent RCF has been eliminated and the cycle
is adequate to remove new RCF defects. To observe the
propagation as well as number of Rolling Contact Fatigue.
• Attainment of Target Rail Profile: The profile attained after
each grinding cycle to be compared with the target rail profile
and grinding pattern to be changed if required.
(ii) Based on data of complete section:
• Defect Generation Rate (DGR) : To confirm whether proper
rail wheel contact has reduced the stresses, thus the
formation of new defects.
• Incidences of Rail & Weld failure: - Whether the number of
failures has increased or decreased.
b. The observation of RDSO in its C-33 and C-43 report is
reproduced below:
(i) CT-33 report of RDSO (Year-2014)
• The extent of RCF defects has reduced at many locations
but still is a major concern in overall perspective. There is
need to decide a strategy that will take care of RCF defects
arising between cycles. The reduced interval between the
second and third cycles can be one such measure, which
can be taken immediately.

150
• The defect generation rate as observed from USFD result
for the majority of sections has shown decreasing trend. The
reduction was prominent after introduction of Rail Grinding.
• The target rail profile has not been achieved at various test
locations. Thus, the grinding strategy needs to be reviewed.
Reducing the time period between the successive cycle to
attain target profile should be considered.
• The analysis done indicates that there is a substantial
reduction in defect generation rate and number of rail/weld
failures in majority of sections, where rail grinding has been
introduced. This has substantially reduced the maintenance
requirement in such section.
• The benefits of rail grinding are not very pronounced where
the rail has already carried more than 400 GMT at time of
introduction of rail grinding. It will be prudent to introduce Rail
grinding in new sections only where rail has carried less than
400 GMT.
• Based on limited data and on vertical wear as recorded
during monitoring, it is considered that service life in excess
of 800 GMT can be expected on 60 Kg 90 UTS rails. This
will be established after further studies/ monitoring are
done. The high rate of wear on high rails of curve and field
experience about wear even on mild curves suggest that
gauge face lubrication using automatic track based gauge
face lubricators on all curves is required.
(ii) CT-43 report of RDSO (Year 2019)
Contact bandwidth
The analysis of the contact band indicates that there is reduction in
width of contact band at almost all test locations and contact band
has gradually moved away from gauge face as anticipated. The
grinding has been able to provide controlled rail wheel interaction
to a large extent. However, there is no distinct differentiation in
position of contact band between CPC & CPF profiles. Also, after
5th round of grinding, two contact bands have been observed on
tangent track at two test locations of SCR & one location of NR
and NCR each, which is not on expected lines.
Rolling contact fatigue
The RCF defects have been eliminated after 5th and 6th grinding
from all of the test locations, except first two locations in SCR.

151
Target profile
The target rail profile has been achieved after 5th and 6thgrinding
cycles on all of the test locations except at two locations on N.C
Railway, both of which are high rails of mild curve. This may be
due to increased wear on high rails of curve.
Rail wear
The effect of grinding on the rate of lateral wear has not been
possible to be worked out with reasonable degree of certainty as
the MiniProf data collected from field was in-coherent. Rate of
vertical wear however can be definitely said to have reduced. Also
from reading the trend shows that the wear rate in curve could not
be controlled to a very large extant.
Defect generation rate
The defect generation rate as observed from USFD result and
rail fracture data for the majority of sections, where three or more
rounds of grinding have been completed, has shown decreasing
trend indicating that grinding has been able to contribute to
reducing the generation of new RCF defects.
Rail/weld failures
The fractures which are controllable by Rail grinding have been
considered for comparison. It is seen that fractures on account
of fatigue are NIL in all three zonal railways. It indicates the
effectiveness of grinding is now clearly visible.
(iii) Discussion
As per IRPWM para 702, the criteria for renewal of rails is as given
below:
• Incidence of rail fractures/failures.
• Wear on rails.
• Maintainability of track to prescribed standards.
• Expected service life in terms of Gross Million Tonnes of
traffic carried.
• Plan based renewals.
Therefore rail fracture/failures and wear of rails are the two prime
criteria for renewal of rail. From the observation in CT-33 and Ct-
43 report of RDSO it is clear that :
• The Defect generation is controlled and rail life can definitely

152
 be increased on account of this .
• For vertical wear, benefit of RGM are crystal clear.
• The effect of grinding on lateral rate of wear is not been
possible to be worked out with reasonable degree of certainty
due to improper recording of data at test sites. However
general observation is still that the rate of wear of gauge face
is still very high.
Though further study is still required to definitely decide on correct
life of rail. The IRPWM has increased the life vide IRPWM para
702 (1)(d) as given below:
• The rail shall be planned for through renewal after it has
carried the minimum total traffic as shown below:
Table 9.4

Life in GMT
Rail Section
72 UTS rails 90 UTS rails
60 Kg/m 550 800
52 Kg/m 350 525
• Service life in terms of total GMT of traffic carried for
considering through rail renewal of 60 kg 90 UTS rail would be
1000 GMT on the routes covered by Rail Grinding, provided
condition of rail is satisfactory as per the other stipulated
criteria mentioned in Para 702(1) (a), (b) and (c) above.
It is clear that, the wear on curve needs to be controlled and that
the same is possible only if proper lubrication of gauge face is
done. The same is discussed in next chapter.



153
 10
Rail Lubrication &
Top of Rail Friction Management

10.0 General
Controlling wear of rail for increasing the service life of rail is an
important maintenance activity. Rail lubrication of gauge face is
one of the standard method of controlling gauge face wear. The
primary function of rail lubrication is to minimize friction between
the wheel flange and rail interface, especially in the curves
where side cutting of rails often occurs. If sharp curves are left
unlubricated, the rail will need to be replaced long before it carries
the estimated tonnage of traffic it was originally designed for. The
routine application of rail lubrication, however, will increase the life
expectancy of these rails. A study discovered that lubricating rails
can theoretically reduce rail wear by a factor of 100 as compared
to unlubricated ones. Under realistic conditions, the lubricated rail
is able to withstand almost double the tonnage of an unlubricated
rail before needing replacement. It’s clear, that rail lubrication is
absolutely necessary component of any rail maintenance routine.
10.1 Friction and Lubrication
Friction plays a significant and often underappreciated role in
wheel/rail processes, including wear and RCF, adhesion, braking,
lateral forces, fuel/ energy usage, vehicle steering, and hunting
behaviour, to name a few.Friction is a property of two surfaces
and in the wheel/rail case is heavily dependent on the properties
and composition of the thin intermediate layer between wheel and
rail known as the Third Body (the First and Second Bodies being
rail and wheel, respectively). Natural variations in Third Body
layer composition caused by weather, contaminants, and wheel/
rail conditions lead to a wide natural variation in wheel/rail friction
levels.The goal of an effective lubrication and friction modification
program should be to provide sustainable optimum wheel/rail
friction levels.
AREMA recommends following friction level at different
locations which can serve as guideline for understanding friction
management requirement
• Gauge face on curves: less than 0.20 μ.

154
• Gauge corner on curves: ideally less than 0.20 μ (but less
than 0.25 μ is a practical alternative).
• Top of rail (curves and tangent): 0.30 μ - 0.40 μ.
• Differential: maximum difference between left and right top of
rail: less than 0.1 μ difference.
10.2 Indian Railway P.Way Manual Provision
a. IRPWM Para 613 (3)
Reducing side wear on rails-(Gauge face of outer rails) –
On sharp curves where the tendency of wear on the outer rail is
noticeable, lubricators should be installed or hand lubrication of
gauge face should be done, care being taken not to apply the
lubricant on the top of the table. In case of hand lubrication, the
Divisional Engineer may decide frequency of lubrication duly
considering local conditions and traffic on the line.
Turning of rail is not advisable as it completely changes the surface
and subsurface stresses to which rail is subjected and may cause
rail failure.
b. IRPWM Para 424
Wear on Outer Rail of Curves:-
i. The wear on the outer rail on the curve can be reduced
effectively by-
• Lubricating the gauge face of outer rails on the curves.
• Maintaining correct curve geometry and Super-elevation.
• Provision of suitable checkrail.
• Adopting slack gauge PSC sleeper as per RDSO drawings
depending on curvature of track.
ii. Track mounted automatic Gauge Face Lubricators should
be provided on curves of radius 875 m (2°) and sharper to
reduce rail gauge face wear. On routes where rail grinding is
in practice, track mounted automatic Gauge Face lubricators
should be provided on curves of radius 1400 m (1.25°) and
sharper.
Lubrication should be done on new rails or on old rails, which do
not have Gauge Corner Cracking or head checks. While deciding
the location of lubricators, following should be considered:-
• It is located on tangent track at the beginning of transition

155
 curve where wheel flanging is just beginning to occur.
• On single lines, the lubricator shall be located in the direction
of heaviest traffic.
• Lubricators should be located away from switches, crossings
and other areas where discontinuity in LWR track may exist.
The lubrication is mentioned to be done after eliminating gauge
corner crack i.e. RCF. The grease otherwise will enter into these
cracks. Under train load, these trapped grease will get confined
and a hydrostatic pressure will get built up which will increase the
crack size and may even result in rail failure. The same is clear
from the below figure:

Fig 10.1 : Impact of lubricating cracked rail surface

10.3 Friction Management Advantages
Highly effective friction management in curves involves lubrication
of the gauge corner/face of the high rail and friction management
of the top of rail (TOR) for high and low rails to substantially
reduce the tangential stress at the wheel/rail interface, therefore
increasing the number of wheel contacts before RCF initiates. The
friction is to be managed thus at following two locations
• Gauge face/Wheel flange (Friction to be reduced to less than
0.2µ)
• Top of rail (TOR) / Wheel tread (Friction to be managed
between 0.3µ to 0.4µ)
A. Gauge face lubrication
High rail gauge corner/face lubrication has following impact:
• Significantly reduces wear of the high rail gauge face and

156
 wheel flanges.
• With reduced wear on the high rail gauge face, the as-
ground profiles are retained for longer tonnage intervals and
RCF defects take longer to initiate, thereby extending the
preventive grinding interval.
A gauge face lubricant needs to separate the contacting surfaces
so that the roughness asperities do not contact each other,
therefore, it should have following properties:
a. High compressive strength
b. Low shear strength
c. Should not break down under high temperature influence
Study shows that gauge face lubrication without proper TOR
friction management increases lateral forces and therefore
increases crack propagation which can be related from Fig 10.2.
Grease is used for lubrication and is defined by its viscosity. If
there is wide variation of temperature, different grade for summer
and winter may be required.
B. Top of Rail (TOR) friction management
On the top of rail, tangential forces for traction and braking as well
as curving forces need to be transferred between wheel and rail.
The friction level between wheel tread and top of rail consequently
needs to be adjusted to an optimum, intermediate level. A very
high friction level will damage the surface while a very low friction
level will not be able to allow safe train operation like during
braking. This is achieved by using thin-film friction modifiers (FM)
that alter the composition of the naturally occurring Third Body
layer between wheel and rail. The composition and the mechanical
properties of this layer directly influence the friction characteristics
between wheel and rail. The intermediate friction level allows safe
and effective train operations, but reduces wear and RCF defects
by reducing the acting tangential forces on wheel and rail.
As discussed in chapter 3, the creep (Longitudinal, Lateral) is
inevitable in the rail and wheel interaction. This creep creates
damage to the rail and the damage depends on friction and
adhesion between rail and wheel. By controlling friction the creep
forces can be reduced (Ref: Fig: 3.20)

157
 Fig 10.2: Reduced Creep forces due to Top of Rail friction
management
TOR friction management has following impact:
• Controls vertical wear of rail
• Reduces lateral forces on outer rail thus gauge face wear.
• Reduces traction stress on the top of the rails on both the
high rail and the low rail of curves, which results in reduced
lateral creep forces, ratcheting, and plastic flow.
• By reducing friction on top of rail, the rolling resistance and
lateral forces are controlled reducing fuel consumption by
rolling stock.
This reduced stress will increase the tonnage interval until RCF
initiates, thereby extending the preventive grinding interval.
Most of the proven benefits and safety assessments have
been based on the use of water-based friction modifiers. These
materials provide a thin dry film that control the wheel/rail friction
coefficient in the range specified, kept normally between 0.3-
0.4. These materials also provide a so-called “positive friction” at
the wheel/rail interface, meaning that the shape of the traction
creepage curve is modified to provide continuously increasing
traction with increasing creepage. This also improves vehicle
characteristics through a curve, as well as mitigating phenomena
related to “stick-slip” such as corrugation and curve squeal.

158
Proper friction management allows the rail surface to work-harden.
This harder rail surface can withstand higher normal loads and
traction stresses. Retaining the work-hardened surface layer on
the rail is an important part of increasing the preventive grinding
intervals.
Impact of lubrications are summarized in below figure:

Fig 10.3 : Impact of gauge face and Top of Rail Friction

management
To reduce lateral wear, the gauge face friction should be minimum
i.e. as close to zero, while to reduce vertical wear, the TOR friction
should be above some minimum value to achieve the adhesion
required for haulage of vehicle. The steel to steel friction is around
0.6 micron. The friction requirement on different rail of curve will
be as shown below.

Fig 10.4 : Coefficient of friction required at different

locations on rail surface

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Highly effective lubrication of the high rail gauge corner/face and
management of friction at the top of the high and low rails (using
a friction modifier), coupled with metallurgies having improved
hardness and cleanliness, substantially reduce rail wear and
increase the preventive rail grinding interval required to manage
RCF.
10.4 RDSO specification IRST-48 on Lubrication
On Indian Railways only Gauge face lubrication is done. RDSO
specification IRS T-48 deals with “Technical specification for Track
based Lubricators” both Electronic and Hydraulic type. The salient
feature of that specification is produced here:
• This specification covers the description, functional and
performance parameters of electronic track based lubricators
for gauge face lubrication.
• The applicator system should be an electrically powered
pumping system for delivering an adjustable quantity of
lubricating material to the rails in a manner such that passing
wheels, either all or nominated would carry the designed
amount of lubricant along the gauge face of rails.
• The control circuit should be designed to accept voltage
signals for speeds as low as 10 kmph and should be able to
function properly up to speed of 200 kmph
• Gauge face lubrication applicators should be mounted such
that gauge face lubricant is deposited onto the upper portion
of the rail’s gauge face so as to come in contact with wheel
flange.
• lt should have coverage of minimum 1 Km or 2 Km as the
case may be with the recommended high quality rail-road
lubricant.
• Carry down effect of 1 Km category would be made use of
only where there is no other curve of similar flexure requiring
lubrication in the adjoining 1 Km in the intended direction.
• A suitable lubricant for heavy rail road traffic should be used
which is compatible with the system. Its lubricity should be
such that it should provide friction value of 0.25 µ or below
on gauge face corner.
• To ascertain the efficacy of the application system, coefficient
of friction shall essentially be measured at the farthest point

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 of the carry down effect.
• Coefficient of friction and carry down effect of lubricator shall
be measured at a frequency of one month or higher
• The supplier will give detailed specifications of lubricant to
comply the above requirement and scrutiny of the offer.
• For fixing lubricator at the start of curve, it is the traffic
direction in case of double line whereas it is heaviest traffic
direction for Single line.

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 11
Switch and Specialty Rail Grinding and its
Strategy

11.0 General
The grinding of rails at certain locations like points and crossing,
level crossing etc. is difficult by production grinders due to limited
space for grinding stones to operate between running rail and
check rails or running rails and switch or at nose of crossing etc.
Switch and Specialty grinders(SRGM) are smaller grinders and
has facility to place and operate stones in such limited spaces.
In this chapter, the grinding strategy for grinding of points and
crossing and other such special locations are discussed. Normally
smaller (8-24) stone grinders are used for covering these special
locations. Indian Railway is currently procuring SRGM’s from
M/s Loram and M/s Harsco. The working principle of both these
machines are same with the difference of softwares and slight
difference in layout. Here working of SRGM described is based
on M/s Loram machine. Layout of M/s Harco machine is also
discussed at the end.
11.1 Rail Wheel Interaction at Points and Crossing
A typical layout of turnout is given below:

Fig 11.1 : Typical layout of Turnout

Because of the complex geometry of the turnout including changed
stiffness in the turnout portion, the rail wheel interaction is very
different and rail vehicle normally imposes loading more severe
than the plain track. This normally leads to:

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• Degrading of running surface of turnout
• Degradation of geometry of turnout
• Degradation of the key turnout components
Since the stiffness of turnout is high, the degradation is multiplied
further. Such type of situation arises at all special locations where
stiffness changes or where the vehicle has to jump a gap.
In addition, the rail wheel contact point also changes abruptly at
following locations:
• In the figure above (RH turnout), the contact over the right
stock rail changes from center of crown to field side in case
of hollow tyre and then suddenly to gauge corner of right
tongue rail within a very short distance and in a very short
time span.
• The wheel on left stock rail however continues to move at
the same contact point (Crown) but due to stock rail being
vertical in non-canted turnout, the contact shifts towards
gauge corner.
• Any contact at gauge corner or wear of stock rail may create
a situation shown below

Fig 11.2 : Damage to switch because of excessive wear of

stock rail
• At certain locations of transition in switch and in crossing
portion, the wheel may contact two rails (stock rail and

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 tongue rail or wing rail and nose of crossing) simultaneously
thus creating two rolling radius at the same time.
Stability of the vehicle is also compromised due to contact of worn
wheel shifting to gauge corner in turnout due to non canted rail
resulting in increase in effective conicity and also reduction in value
of effective dynamic gauge (para 3.2). This reduces wavelength
and increases frequency of oscillation as shown below:

Fig11.3 : Contact on M/L of Fig 11.4 : Contact on M/L

vertical rail of Points and of canted rail of Points and
Crossing and oscillatory Crossing and oscillatory
motion of wheel motion of wheel

All this causes damage to the rail and compromises on the stability
of vehicle. The impact increases with increase in speed, axle load,
bad wheels and badly maintained track.
Such combination causes following type of rail failures on switches:
• Battering of surface in crossing area and in switches
• Corrugations particularly on inner curved lead rail primarily
because of hollow tyre contacting on the field side of rail.
• Plastic flow and lip formation at different locations depending
on rail wheel contact taking place

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 Fig 11.5 : Lipping which obstructs proper setting of point
The defect once created increases the rate of deterioration even
further with time.
11.2 Objective of Grinding Points and Crossing
Normally switches and crossings are being attended only at tongue
rail tip and nose of crossing by manually operated grinding wheel.
Metals are deposited is these portion and profile is achieved by
hand grinders. However these have their own limitations.The
grinding is over a very short distance (may be around 1 m) and
neither longitudinal nor lateral desired profile can be properly
achieved. The unavoidable irregularities may create additional
dynamic forces and local irregular contact conditions.
The objective of grinding by switch grinding machine is thus:
• Improve overall wheel-rail dynamics- To provide effective
contact path over turnout thus optimize the size and location
of wheel rail contact zone.
• Reduce impact forces- By removing the surface defects,
the impact forces is controlled.
By achieving the above, the advantage gained is
• Life of components are extended
• The frequency of welding and surfacing of switch and
crossing is extended.
• Overall improvement in running over turnout

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11.3 Special Feature of Specialty and Switch Grinders
The grinder used for grinding points and crossings are normally
smaller for the following reasons:
• The smaller size allows better management over a short
length of points and crossing and thus more time can be
spent at one location. It enable applying multiple passes
required at points and crossing
• It allows more flexibility and ability and control each grinding
motors and location of each grinding stone for more effective
optimization
• Since moving in the yard, the smaller grinder requirement of
fuel and water is less thus managing their movement in yard
is better.
The grinding done by such grinders normally does not cover the
full head in one pass as done by production grinders. It is thus
necessary to have multiple passes through both mainline and
turnout side.
The grinding is being done in two ways
a. The grinding is performed on stock rail and lead rail and
motors are lifted on tongue rail of switch and nose of crossing.
The wing rail is also not ground in this portion. These are to
be attended by welders using hand grinders. This is done
to avoid potential damage at these locations. The left over
portion in crossing area is shown below:

Fig 11.6 : Portion of crossing left by grinding machine

The grinding in this area should preferably be conducted in trailing

166
direction
Similarly the grinding of tongue rail is not done as it may damage
the tongue rail as shown below:

Fig 11.7 : Damage to Tongue rail during grinding

b. The grinding of complete turnout including switch and
crossing is done by SRGM. However special care to be
taken that excessive metal is not removed from this area.
The grinding on switch portion should be done with tongue
rail and stock rail set properly so that tongue rail is fully
supported by stock rail to get the profile as shown below:

Fig11.8 : Acceptable grinding of stock rail and tongue rail

However grinding starts at around 30 m ahead of switch and
closes also at 30 m after the switch.
11.4 Profiles for Points and Crossing
Since, the rails are vertical, to avoid gauge corner contact, the
metal from gauge corner is required to be removed for shifting
the contact to CPC, CPF or CPG. Normally CPG contact to be
avoided as the gauge side is already vulnerable to high stress.

167
One of the suggested contact can be as shown below:

Fig 11.9 : Contact near crown for tangent track of T/o

However excessive cutting of material on gauge side near tip of
tongue rail to be avoided as it may create a situation exposing
tongue rail as shown below.

Fig 11.10 : Unacceptable excessive grinding of gauge

corner of stock rail
Normally the profile designed is such that, the wheel continues to
contact rail at the same location when entering into turnout and
exiting from the turnout.
11.5 Working of 20 Stone Grinders on Indian Railways
For grinding of points and crossing, smaller 20 stone grinders
are being used over Indian railways. Following are the important
working parameters of the machine:
• Working speed : It is to be maintained at 8 to 10 Kmph

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• Number of passes: Since, the number of stones are less
(10 Nos for each rails), three passes of grinding will be
required to cover full head and achieve the desired profile.
While pattern for the first pass will be given by M/s Loram
(M/s Harco for their machine), the pattern for next two passe
will be suggested by the machine.
• Profile: The profile normally should be such that the contact
over mainline and turnout remains along same alignment.
However it is recommended to have a CPC type profile,
the template of which is yet to be decided by both the
manufacturers.
• GQI: GQI is not generated after each pass as full coverage
of the railhead requires 3 passes and GQI is generated after
the full rail head is ground. At the start of the griding program,
the minimum value of GQI to be achieved should be 50. The
eventual desirable value of GQI is 80.
11.6 Points and Crossings-Grinding Sequence
a. Area Covered and sequence of operation: For grinding
turnout, the tongue rail is not ground, and crossing can
be ground only in trailing direction as shown in the figure
attached

169
 Fig 11.11: The portion covered during grinding
The gauge side stones are indicated as red and field side is
indicated by Green in above figure. Normally mainline is first
ground and then T/o side is covered. On crossing, the stones on
crossing side are raised at around 300 mm ahead of crossing and
again lowered 300 mm behind the crossing. On switch portion
after heel block, initially field side stones are raised and then
on reaching close to tip of tongue rail where the switch width is
reduced to around half of rail width, the gauge side stones are
also raised. The operation can be understood from the below
figure where following locations are clearly marked:
• Rail Up/Down- Indicates all stones on that rail to be lifted or
lowered
• Gauge Down- Gauge side stones to be lowered
• Field Down- Field side stones to be lifted
• Master Up- All stones both left rail and right rail to be lifted

170
Turnout:
(i) Working in Facing direction

Fig11.12: Grinding on M/L track

Fig11.13: Grinding on T/o side

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(ii) Working on trailing direction:

Fig11.14: Grinding on M/L side

Fig11.15: Grinding on T/o side

172
(iii) Crossover connection:

Fig11.16: Crossover connection grinding

The swap location shown is where, the LH turnout now becomes
RH turnout.
(iv) Diamond Crossing:

Fig 11.17 : Diamond crossing ground portion

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 11.7 Procedure of Grinding at other Special Locations:

174
The grinding procedure for other locations are:
Table 11.1

Number of
S. No Locations passes and Working Speed Profile Pattern
length
1 Grinding a Glued 3 passes and to 8-10 Kmph CPC/CPF/HRM/ First pass decided
Joint on turnout cover 50 m on HRS as per in advance and
both side of joint location in T/o. For second and 3rd
mainline it should pass suggested by
be as decided for machine
approach track for
72 stone grinder
2 Bridge with guard 3 passes and to 8-10 Kmph CPC/CPF/HRM/ First pass decided
rails- Guard rails cover 50 m on HRS as per in advance and
not required to be both side of joint location in T/o. For second and 3rd
removed mainline it should pass suggested by
be as decided for machine
approach track for
72 stone grinder
 3 Rails in Tunnel 3 passes and to 8-10 Kmph CPC/CPF/HRM/ First pass decided
cover 50 m on HRS as per in advance and
both side of joint location in T/o. For second and 3rd
mainline it should pass suggested by
be as decided for machine
approach track for
72 stone grinder
4 Level Crossing- Can 3 passes and to 8-10 Kmph CPC/CPF/HRM/ First pass decided
be ground without cover 50 m on HRS as per in advance and
removing check rail both side of joint location in T/o. For second and 3rd
mainline it should pass suggested by
be as decided for machine
approach track for
72 stone grinder
5 Switch Expansion Not Designed to
Joint (SEJ) grind SEJ

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11.8 Test site for Switch Rail Grind Monitoring
While selecting the turnout for developing test sites, the following
precautions should be taken:
• Turnouts should be a mix of both new and old in a reasonable
state of repair not near the end of their service life.
• Turnout should be in normal running line
• 4 turnouts should be selected per size of 1:8.5, 1:12 and
1:16.
• At least 1 turnout per size should be from railway lines of
maximum annual tonnage / year
The turnout selected should be true representative of the general
layout in the section for which test site is located.
The marking for measurement should be marked as shown in red
box:

Fig11.18: Typical layout for marking test sites

The following data should be collected as abaseline at each of the
red boxed location shown below each grind cycle
• MiniProf
• Establish a location on the rail between two sleepers and at
least 3 meters from a joint or weld.
• Clearly label the exact location on the rail to perform
measurement each grind cycle.

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• Ensure rail is free of grease and debris
• Ensure MiniProf is placed squarely on the rail using rod and
perpendicular device.
• Record detailed location parameters for each MiniProf file
either in the file itself and on a data collection sheet. Clear
well-lit and labelled photographs of the rail surface looking
from above.
• Perform a dye penetrant or magnetic particle test directly
adjacent to the location the MiniProf was taken.
• Clear well-lit and labelled photographs of the rail after dye
penetrant/mag particle test (pre-grind only).
11.9 Switch and Specialty Grinder Machine-Description
• The working principle of SRGM is similar to production
grinders. While M/s Loram make use Grind Data Management
System (GDMS) or Rail Pro, M/s Harsco uses Smart Grind
for management of grinding.
• The SRGM having 20 Stone Specialty Rail Grinding Machine
is a typical “gap” grinder.
• The purpose of this machine is to typically cover sections
that are left unground by a large mainline grinder.
• The machine can be strategically used in station areas to
ensure grinding of all turnouts in and around the station
along with other specialty areas of track.
• The traveling speed of the machine without grinding is 80 km/h
by design. However, RDSO will pursue provisional speed
certificate for these machines for 65km/h on submission of
required company request.
• The machine is capable of grinding at a speed ranging from
2 km/h to 15 km/h. However the speed is kept between 8 and
15 km/h during grinding.
• The machine can remove 0.13 to 0.2 mm of metal on an
average while grinding at 15 to 10 kmph.
• As per the experience gained so far, the average diesel
consumption is found to be 200-275 liters/Hrs. and average
water consumption is 1100 liters per km.

177
 Fig 11.19 : SRGM (M/s Fig 11.20 : SRGM (M/s
Loram make) Harsco make)
• SRGM normally needs 3 passes on Points and crossing to
complete thesequence.
• Fuel Tank Capacity - 5000 Liters, Water Tank Capacity –
6000Liters.
• SRGM has one Grind Car and one Camp Coach

Fig 11.21 : SRGM (Loram Make) Layout with one Grind Car
and one camp coach
• SRGM uses 250 mm grinding stones same as in production
grinders. However it is able to cover the inaccessible areas
between rails by its ability to laterally shift as shown below

Fig 11.22 : Locations difficult to grind

178
 Fig 11.23 : Special Fig 11.24 : Special
arraggement for shifting arraggement for shifting
grinding stones laterally in grinding stones laterally in
M/s Loram Machines. M/s Harsco Machines.

This improves the ability of the machine in following manner:

• The machine can grind curved track with check rails without
removing check rails.
• Level crossings without removing check rails
• Points & crossings without removing check rails
Each Grind car has following components:
• Rail grinding equipment
• Dust collection
• Operator controls
• Power generation,
• Hydraulics
• Hydrostatic traction
• Tie and ditch sprays
• Rail inspection and profile measurement
The working of these are same as for production grinders.



179
 12
Rail Inspection Vehicle

12.0 General
Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV) are used for taking measurement
of Rail profile in advance of Rail Grinding and helps in taking the
managerial decision on profiles and patterns to be fed in Production
Grinders and in SRGM for achieving the desired profile.
Indian Railway is procuring two RIV’s from M/s Harsco which shall
be used for taking advance measurement and suggesting grind
plan even for M/s Loram’s Production as well as SRGM apart from
that for M/s Harsco SRGM.
12.1 Layout of RIV Supplied by M/s Harsco
The vehicle layout is as below:

Fig 12.1 : Layout of RIV from M/s Harsco

The Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV) is a self-propelled bi-directional
bogie type (2 bogies/4 axles) vehicle with rapid acceleration to a
speed of 80 km/h. The vehicle is provided with an air-conditioned
cabin at both ends equipped with chairs for operator and inspection
team.
12.2 Salient Feature of the M/s Harsco Make RIV
• It is installed with rail head profile measuring system,
Corrugation system and High-Resolution Optical imaging
system.

180
• Rail profile is collected using two optical units that are
mounted on the vehicle frame.Each unit contains two lasers
and two 3D-cameras that allow it to provide full rail profile.
• GPS and encoder system provides high-accuracy location
• The system consists of the acceleration sensors, which
are installed on the axles of the rail-bound RIV. The
accelerometers are used to monitor the vertical movements
and to provide the signal data, sufficient for the assessment
of the surface condition as it pertains to corrugation.
• Harsco SmartGrind software is used to record, localize and
store the measurement data, and the configurable filters
and processing patterns allow it to maximize corrugation
detection process.Corrugation Severity Index (scale of 0-5)
is established
• Advanced software algorithms provide calculation of multiple
parameters, including rail wear as well as equivalent conicity
in accordance with EN13231 and EN15302 standards.
• Given a current and target GQI, Harsco Smart Grind
determines
• Number of passes
• Forecasted GQI
• Speed of grind etc
• Grind Plan
• The Grind Plan is only available for a specific machine. In
this case Harsco 20-stone grinder. However Harsco RIV
measures Rail Profile and Harsco Smart Grind converts the
Rail Profile, Target Rail Template and Difference Curve into
a .BAN file. This .BAN file exported to other OEM Grinders.
Other OEM grinder utilize this to generate Grind Plan.



181
 Bibliography
S. Name Author/
No. Published by
1Gudelines for working of Sh. P.K. Garg,
Rail Grinding Machine Sr Professor/
Track/IRICEN
2 Guidelines to Best Practices For International Heavy
Heavy Haul Railway Operations : Haul Association,
Management of the Wheel and Rail USA
Interface-2015
3 Guidelines to Best Practices For International Heavy
Heavy Haul Railway Operations: Haul Association,
Management of the Wheel and Rail USA
Interface-2001
4 TMC 226 -RAIL DEFECTS RailCorp
HANDBOOK Version 1.2 Issued Engineering Manual
June 2012 Reconfirmed
03 July 2019
5 TMC 225 RAIL GRINDING Version RailCorp
2.5 Issued April 2013 Engineering Manual
Reconfirmed 03 July 2019
6 Rail Grinding Manual for Plain Track Australian Rail
Track Corporation
Limited
7 Track Compendium Bernhard
Lichetberger
8 The Art and Science of Rail Grinding Allan Mark
Zarembski
9 Modern Railway Track C.Esvald
10 RDSO Report CT-33 of 2014 RDSO, Indian
Railways
11 RDSO Report CT-43 of 2019 RDSO, Indian
Railways
12 Indian Railways Permanent Way Indian Railways
Manual
13 Chasing the magic wear rate NRC Canada
Publications

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