{"id":24067,"date":"2024-04-02T09:13:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T23:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/?p=115791"},"modified":"2024-04-02T09:13:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T23:13:41","slug":"knowledge-to-be-shared-at-field-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=24067","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge to be shared at field day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A tamper in its natural environment. Image\/RTAA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Preparations are in full swing for the RTAA<\/a>\u2019s much-anticipated Field Day for 2024.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It always amazes me how fast the beginning of the year slips away. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It feels like yesterday that we were taking some time off for the end of year holiday and now we are rapidly approaching mid-year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Importantly that means that the RTAA Field Day is just around the corner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bookings are still being finalised but already there are some amazing displays and demonstrations planned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We will have the time-honoured showcase of rail management technologies from Speno on rail grinders, and Linmag with the rail milling\u00a0machines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the welding area, Pandrol and Goldschmidt will provide demonstrations of aluminothermic welding alongside mobile flashbutt welding.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere we are looking at demonstrations of track slab and green track construction techniques, and as always the latest and greatest in track maintenance equipment and\u00a0machinery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This fantastic show is only possible with our sponsors and supporters, such as our event partner Sydney Trains and our Gold event sponsor Pandrol.<\/p>\n

The field day is not complete without the No Tie Dinner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year we will be holding the dinner at Waterview in Bicentennial park. This is an exceptional venue and I very much look forward to unwinding with everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets are on sale now, and will sell out so don\u2019t wait! The dinner is proudly supported by our Platinum sponsor, Anric Developments, and our Gold dinner sponsors Saint-Gobain Abrasives and Blackwoods.<\/p>\n

Planning for the Field Day never fails to make me consider how we work in rail, and in particular the nature of maintenance and track maintenance in particular.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Often when we think of maintenance it is in the context of preserving an asset in a condition through some intervention task like lubrication, cleaning or adjustment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in a track asset context it is far more concerned with detection of variance; this in turn then results in an intervention program such as resurfacing or rail replacement. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are very few tasks in the track world at least that would be considered truly\u00a0preventative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rail husbandry, through either milling or grinding, is one of these and important for preserving the good condition of the rail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tamping or resurfacing prompts some interesting discussion in this context. Is it a corrective program or a preventative? The extension of this is the debate around undertaking resurfacing as a cyclic program to maintain condition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examining it in more detail,\u00a0 <\/span>resurfacing is a corrective activity that restores the line and position of the track back to its design position and is used to improve stability and smoothness of the ride.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the flip side, the act of resurfacing degrades the ballast through crushing and abrasion and in the short term reduces resistance to buckling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over time the ballast column will consolidate and resistance will be restored.\u00a0 <\/span>When we then look at maintenance programs, they are normally implemented cyclically with a task being repeated at a regular interval determined by the expected system decay. Is there then value in setting a cyclic ballast resurfacing program?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe. In a system with rapid degradation or that has a lack of good quality information, then the benefits from regularly tamping likely outweighs the costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, where the network has access to good quality and frequent condition monitoring data, then a proactive program of resurfacing can be implemented that targets intervention only where it is needed, gaining the benefits of correction while minimising disruption as far as practical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I find this change in ballast maintenance because of technology particularly fascinating and it nicely shows the need to continually review practices and adapt to rapidly developing technologies. For anyone interested I would be very happy to discuss over a coffee at the field day.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, I recently attended an interesting technical presentation on air quality in underground subway systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How is this related to track maintenance? The link between them is fascinating, I
\nassure you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The presenter was talking about the particulate matter that the site monitoring had recorded and he made a bit of an off-hand comment that the ferrous microparticles that they had detected were very anomalous as they require very high temperatures and particular conditions to form that they couldn\u2019t explain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And there is the link. Through other research into rail surface conditions, we had postulated that the earliest stage in a squat\u2019s life was a phase transition in the rail steel caused by very short duration heat and pressure in the wheel-rail contact zone, conditions that would coincidentally explain the ferrite nanoparticles being detected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An amazing correlation of results that help explain one of the most concerning conditions in rail management.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Makes you wonder, how many other research overlaps are there to explore?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All the more reason and value for in-person sharing like conferences and the
\nField Day.<\/p>\n

The post Knowledge to be shared at field day<\/a> appeared first on Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preparations are in full swing for the RTAA\u2019s much-anticipated Field Day for 2024. It always amazes me how fast the \u2026 <\/p>\n

The post Knowledge to be shared at field day<\/a> appeared first on Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t