High-speed grinding (HSG) is a
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
care concept developed by the company Stahlberg Roensch from
Seevetal
Seevetal (Northern Low Saxon: ''Seevdaal'') is a municipality in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Hamburg, and 15 km west of Winsen (Luhe). Its seat is in the village Hittfeld ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is based on the principle of rotational
grinding
Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade.
Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to:
Grinding action
* Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting
* Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing
* Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...
and serves to grind rails at up to .
Background
Since roughly the beginning of the 1990s, rail network operators have experienced increasing problems with rail surface defects. Head checks, squats, corrugation and slip waves all contribute to higher maintenance costs, intensified
noise pollution
Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...
, traffic obstructions, and ultimately a shortened rail lifespan. These increasingly common flaws are exacerbated by the growing density and speed of both freight and passenger traffic. The direct consequence of these problems is a growing need for rail maintenance.
The primary challenge for modern rail maintenance is that less time is available to perform it due to higher traffic densities. Conventional rail maintenance machines (e.g. rail milling, planing or grinding) working at speeds from can work only during possession time (track closure) which is in most cases available only at night.
HSG allows for working speeds of up to and is deployable within regular traffic.
It comes under non-traditional machining operations.
Principle
HSG is based on the principle of circumferential grinding. Cylindrical grinding stones are pulled over the rail at an angle, inducing rotation as well as an axial grinding motion. The grinding stones are mounted on grinding units hauled by a carrier vehicle.
Two things are achieved with this motion: First, the required
material removal rate
Material removal rate (MRR) is the amount of material removed per time unit (usually per minute) when performing machining operations such as using a lathe or milling machine. The more material removed per minute, the higher the material removal ...
is obtained through the relative motion between grinding stone and rail. Second, by rotating the stones, overheating, glazing and uneven wear of the stones is prevented.
The usual grinding speed on Deutsche Bahn's rail network is .
Implementation
Today two machines using HSG technology exist. Both are operated by Stahlberg Roensch. The larger machine, RC01, has four grinding units, each with 24 grinding stones. A smaller machine using one grinding unit with 16 grinding stones is also in use. RC01 is used on main line and high speed tracks of
DB Netz AG
DB Netz AG is a major subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn that owns and operates a majority of the German railway system (2019: 33,291 km). It is one of the largest railway infrastructure manager by length and transport volume of its network.
Th ...
, while the smaller version is deployed mostly on commuter and
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
rail networks.
Application areas
*Preventive rail grinding
*Low-friction coating removal
*Acoustic grinding to reduce noise pollution emitted from the rail
*Removal of the decarb layer
* rail track
Bibliography
*Hiensch, M. and Smulders, J.: Head Check Rißfortschritt in Schienen, Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau, N°. 6 (1999), pages 378-382
*Grassie, S: Riffeln – Gründe und Gegenmaßnahmen, Der Eisenbahningenieur, N°. 46 (1995), pages 714-723
*Lothar Marx, Dietmar Moßmann, Herrmann Kullmann: Arbeitsverfahren für die Instandhaltung des Oberbaus, Eisenbahn-Fachverlag, Heidelberg/Mainz 2003
*Zarembski, Allan M.: The Art and Science of Rail Grinding, Simmons-Boardman Books, Omaha 2005
*Lichterberger, Bernhard: Track Compendium – Formation, Permanent Way, Maintenance, Economics, Eurailpress in DVV Media Group, Hamburg 2005
*Marcel Taubert, Aiko Püschel: High Speed Grinding passes the test in Germany, International Railway Journal, July 2009, S. 31-33
External links
Information on High Speed Grinding from Stahlberg Roensch{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Permanent way
Maintenance of way equipment