Page 8 - August 2022 Track N Times

INTERNATIONAL NEWS—INDIA

Test Site Establishment in India for SRGM

Background:
Currently, six specialty rail grinding machines (SRGMs) quality of rail grinding and make suitable decisions

are being deployed in India. In order to monitor the pertaining to the overall grinding program. The pat-
progress of the SRGMs, the project envisions the es- tern of deterioration and defect formation at the
tablishment of twelve (12) test sites per SRGM. These chosen test site is considered to be reflective of all

locations are to be used for the long-term planning and rails in a similar section of the said track. Therefore,
analysis of the working of the SRGMs in India. it is essential to develop test sites for each Zonal

It is intended that the SRGMs will be primarily used for Railways in India where the machines are planned to
grinding turnouts, thus, we would need to focus on be deployed. The key requisites for the development
four (4) test sites per size of turnout(s), as used in In- and identification of test sites are as mentioned be-

dia. Therefore, the final distribution of the proposed low.
test sites would be based on the following turnouts: Test Locations should be established near the termi-

• 4 turnouts of 1:8.5 nation of speed zone for passenger trains (TP) pole
• 4 turnouts of 1:12 so that they may be recognized even if the paint
• 4 turnouts of 1:16 fades. With the help of monitoring these locations, it

Proper data collection from each test site is an ex- would be possible to determine whether the metal
tremely important exercise as this would allow us to being removed from the rail surface is adequate in
provide reliable results for Indian Railways (IR). There- terms of the growth of rolling contact fatigue cracks,

fore, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in India, the the effectiveness of the grinding pattern in achieving
Loram team trained the team of Vandhana Internation- the target rail profile and the frequency of grinding

al Pvt. Ltd. (VIPL) virtually to ensure establishment of cycles.
proper test sites and collection of appropriate data.

Establishment of Test Site
Test sites play a critical role in the management of a

successful rail grinding program. A test site is a section
of track that is designated as a representative track
location. This representative track location is to be

used for intensive monitoring as well as measuring pre
and post rail grinding results in order to evaluate the
Figure 1 Test Site Establishment

Page 6
VOLUME 3 : ISSUE 7