Railway technology has improved significantly over the centuries – starting with wooden rails firstly introduced in the early 1500’s moving on to cast iron plates fixed to the upper surface of wooden rails that increased durability and load-bearing by the Colebrook Company in the 1790’s to the late 1780’s, where L-shaped metal plates – better known as plateways were introduced.
Through the years the advancement continued as it worked its way through all-iron edge rail and variations of cast-and-wrought iron. Today we make use of superior all-iron rail, with a high manganese content that allows for high wear-and-fracture resistance.
To keep up with increasing railway innovation, abrasive technology constantly has to adapt and change to meet the demanding task of grinding these superior rails.
Aluminium Oxide, Zirconia Alumina and Ceramic Alumina have become some of the latest raw materials to be mixed and bonded into various formulas for optimum performance during rail maintenance. As hard-wearing, durable rails are heat-treated with a maximum Carbon percentage of up to 0.82, and a maximum Manganese percentage of up to 1.7, it is of utmost importance to ensure a product is used for maintenance that not just deliver optimum results, but also ensure rails keep their durability throughout their lifetime.
Grinding Techniques carries a range of ANDOR grinding wheels specifically manufactured for railways that deliver fast stock removal, longevity and durability.
Our Research and Development Team are constantly testing and reviewing our products to ensure they deliver the best results, regardless of specific customer needs or harsh working conditions.
Rail transport in Australia is a vital aspect to the overall transport network. The Australian railway network consists of 36,064km (as of 2018) of track utilizing 3 types of gauges.
14 818 km of Standard Gauge, 15 625 km of Broad Gauge with the balance made up of Meter Gauge and Narrow Gauge. According to Wikipedia a total of 413.5 billion tonne kilometres of freight was moved by rail between 2015 and 2016. The only way to keep all of this railway in good operating condition and ensuring railway longevity, is regular railway grinding maintenance.
Effectively, this will eliminate multiple defects like Gage Corner Shelling (a progressive internal separation that can crack out), Spalling (localized degradation commonly found at the gage corner of the high rail), Side Wear (wearing at the side of the rail head which wears with the train wheels because of the interaction that can lead to profile change of the rails), Plastic Flow (also known as bodily deformation that results from high loading and tangential to the wheel/rail contact), Corrugation (uneven but regular corrugation shape of wear, either from elastic sliding or vibration) and Rolling Contact Fatigue (cracks in the rail head that occurs over time, which if not treated can propagate its way into the rail web, a precipitating factor of a rail break) when done regularly and efficiently.
When it comes to any and all railway grinding, Andor is the preferred rail maintenance partner. With several machine manufacturers used in railway maintenance, Grinding Techniques features the technology, capabilities, backup and inputs to produce some of the best quality abrasive products available on the market to suit all of the rail equipment grinding consumable requirements. The ANDOR range doesn’t only feature the most common shapes used in rail grinding, but also allow for wheels to be customised according to specific customer requirements.
Three most popular wheels are illustrated below with an indication of their positions on the rail during the grinding process.
A: Commonly used for reprofiling tracks, welding preparation of surfaces and grinding wells for finishing purposes is the ANDOR MP12 wheel. An organic resin bonded wheel with inserted nuts or 5/8” thread, that works in position A and B.
B: When it comes to grinding the lateral edges of the track, the organic resinoid bonded MC2 wheel gets the job done quickly and efficiently. Workable in the position indicated below of the track.
C: Used in web grinding to improve contact for welding purposes, the MS9 wheel works in the position C of the track in the below drawing.
In relation to the below drawing, ANDOR manufactures a range that includes all three these wheels.
Journey to the future by making Andor your best asset in railway grinding and join the evolution of railways.
For more information contact us: 011 271 6400 | [email protected] | www.grindtech.com.