2012 – March – Ginkel – Track Design and Maintenance

Henry van Ginkel FIE Aust Opus Rail Pty Ltd Track design and track maintenance, similar to signalling design and signalling maintenance have evolved over the years and go hand in hand. The requirements and tolerances are based on engineering principles and are modified from time to time after a review/investigation of an incident of one sort or another. Over the last 50 or so years:• track maintenance has progressed from manual to largely mechanical; track design has moved from largely manual to computer aided;• track has gone from mainly jointed rail to Continuously Welded Rail; and• the introduction of Rail Grinding has allowed a better rail/wheel interface resulting in less friction,hence less rail and wheel wear, and also less fuel consumption.