WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is awarding a $250,000 grant to the National Research Council of Canada to continue ongoing cooperative research into the interaction between the wheels of locomotives and railcars and the track they operate over.
The purpose of the research is to prevent train derailments resulting from issues such as a wheel climbing over the rail when moving through track curves.
The work will examine the problems of rolling contact fatigue and will assess wheel/rail profiles, friction and lubrication, rail grinding maintenance practices, as well as determining the relationship between vehicle response and track geometry input.
