What Rail Track Inspection Involves And Its Benefits
Trains are one of the important means of passenger and cargo transport. Railways are used heavily and since most of them were built a long time ago, they needed to be inspected regularly to enhance safety. Rail track inspection involves examining rail tracks for defects that could lead to serious accidents. Railroad defects can be caused by many effects including residual stresses, dynamic effects, rail or wheel contact stresses, shear stresses and thermal stresses.
The defects that are caused by rolling contact failure or contact stresses include gauge corner cracking, tongue lipping and squats. Other kinds of internal and surface defects that can take place on a railway include inclusions, corrosion, shelling, seams, wheel burn and transverse fissures. If water and other liquids are present on railway tracks, they can cause crack propagation.
Some of the parts that may have include the head, web, bolt holes switchblades, welds and foot. The head of the railroad usually suffers the largest number of flaws but it is important to have other parts inspected also. To detect defects on railroads, engineers use different methods with ultrasound being the most popular. The other methods that these professionals use include magnetic flux leakage, electromagnetic acoustic transducer, eddy current inspection, radiography and magnetic particle inspection.
The techniques used to inspect railroads are utilized in a number of ways. For instance, probes and transducers are often held by hand when they are being used. They can also be placed in a hand pushed trolley. These devices are convenient to utilize when only a certain location or a small section of a railway needs to be inspected. In most cases, probes and transducers are used to follow up on areas that rail inspection vehicles have been used to inspect.
Handheld devices are useful for inspecting railway tracks that are used heavily since it is relatively easy to remove them. Nonetheless, using these devices is considered to be tedious and slow when thousands of miles of track need to be inspected. Rail inspection cars are more convenient to use when thousands of miles of railroad have to be inspected.
The cars that engineers use to inspect railroads use multiple testing methods that are not destructive. They may use induction and ultrasound testing methods if they are using cars that are operating at testing speed of not less than thirty miles per hour. These cars are equipped with high speed computers that recognize patterns by utilizing advanced programs. They also have tool cabinets, storage space and workbenches.
Railroads can also be inspected with special laser scanners, which are used to measure the railroad gauge. If railroad inspections identify defects, work crews are hired so that they can complete the needed repairs. All rail traffic that is using certain stretch of railroad receives notifications that railroad repair crews are in their area. Train crews are also provided with special speed limits and warnings.
In most cases, train traffic in a specific area is rerouted around a stretch of railroad track to allow for repairs to be carried out. If extensive repairs such as switch repair, crossing repair or tie replacement have to be carried out, train traffic can be stopped in an area until the repairs are completed. If a train gets derailed, the most recent railroad inspections are examined to identify if there was a pre existing problem with the railroad track. If repeated problems occur on a given stretch of track, a special inspection is carried out to evaluate the problem and seek to arrive at a solution.
The defects that are caused by rolling contact failure or contact stresses include gauge corner cracking, tongue lipping and squats. Other kinds of internal and surface defects that can take place on a railway include inclusions, corrosion, shelling, seams, wheel burn and transverse fissures. If water and other liquids are present on railway tracks, they can cause crack propagation.
Some of the parts that may have include the head, web, bolt holes switchblades, welds and foot. The head of the railroad usually suffers the largest number of flaws but it is important to have other parts inspected also. To detect defects on railroads, engineers use different methods with ultrasound being the most popular. The other methods that these professionals use include magnetic flux leakage, electromagnetic acoustic transducer, eddy current inspection, radiography and magnetic particle inspection.
The techniques used to inspect railroads are utilized in a number of ways. For instance, probes and transducers are often held by hand when they are being used. They can also be placed in a hand pushed trolley. These devices are convenient to utilize when only a certain location or a small section of a railway needs to be inspected. In most cases, probes and transducers are used to follow up on areas that rail inspection vehicles have been used to inspect.
Handheld devices are useful for inspecting railway tracks that are used heavily since it is relatively easy to remove them. Nonetheless, using these devices is considered to be tedious and slow when thousands of miles of track need to be inspected. Rail inspection cars are more convenient to use when thousands of miles of railroad have to be inspected.
The cars that engineers use to inspect railroads use multiple testing methods that are not destructive. They may use induction and ultrasound testing methods if they are using cars that are operating at testing speed of not less than thirty miles per hour. These cars are equipped with high speed computers that recognize patterns by utilizing advanced programs. They also have tool cabinets, storage space and workbenches.
Railroads can also be inspected with special laser scanners, which are used to measure the railroad gauge. If railroad inspections identify defects, work crews are hired so that they can complete the needed repairs. All rail traffic that is using certain stretch of railroad receives notifications that railroad repair crews are in their area. Train crews are also provided with special speed limits and warnings.
In most cases, train traffic in a specific area is rerouted around a stretch of railroad track to allow for repairs to be carried out. If extensive repairs such as switch repair, crossing repair or tie replacement have to be carried out, train traffic can be stopped in an area until the repairs are completed. If a train gets derailed, the most recent railroad inspections are examined to identify if there was a pre existing problem with the railroad track. If repeated problems occur on a given stretch of track, a special inspection is carried out to evaluate the problem and seek to arrive at a solution.
About the Author:
You can visit www.railservicesllc.com for more helpful information about The Role Of Rail Track Inspection And How It Is Performed.
posted by Vittoria @ April 18, 2014
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home