16 04 Section Activities.Indd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Section Activities A round up of recent activities in our Sections AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal April 2016 Volume 134 Part 2 V.1.0 1 of 39 Sections BIRMINGHAM CROYDON AND BRIGHTON DARLINGTON & NORTH EAST EDINBURGH Our online events calendar holds all GLASGOW of our Section meetings. IRISH LANCASTER, BARROW & CARLISLE You’ll also fi nd full contact details on LONDON our website. MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL MILTON KEYNES NORTH WALES NOTTINGHAM & DERBY SOUTH & WEST WALES THAMES VALLEY WESSEX WEST OF ENGLAND WEST YORKSHIRE YORK V.1.0 2 of 39 Here is a roundup of some of our Sections’ activities. ASHFORD SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available. BIRMINGHAM SECTION December 2015 Annual Section Quiz and Social evening On December 10th 2015 Birmingham Section hosted its annual quiz and social evening. Bob Langford, Section Chairman, hosted 8 rounds of general knowledge which was thoroughly enjoyable for all. The night’s winning team was formed of Andy Thornton, Brian Evans, Colin Ainsworth and Simon Roseveare. Congratulations to them. January 2016 Welding advanced Rail Steels, Ian Banton and Howard Smith, Thermit Welding Section Chairman Paul King introduced the speakers and asked them to present their talk. Howard commenced the talk by describing the make-up of rail steels and how this presents unique challenges to welders. Howard discussed the perlitic micro‐structure of rail and elements which are included in small quantities only a few parts per million and why chemically these are included. Howard continued to discuss why in the mid 70s rail production had changed from ingots to a concast methodology and why this had effectively eradicated defects such as tache ovals. These defects formed due to tiny impurities in the steel such as hydrogen which the new process could eradicate. Moving on the talk discussed different ways steel can be changed in its chemical properties to provide different characteristics from the normal 260 grade. Examples included Bainitic steel, mill heat treated, mill head hardened and HP. Each type had its own speci c advantages and disadvantages speci cally that the harder rails can help reduce the onset of Rolling Contact Fatigue but also need a different style of rail management to traditional 260 grade. Ian started his section of the talk by discussing how the well‐known Thermit welding technique has evolved since its rst introduction. From the rst processes, the failure rates have been driven down dramatically both through better processes and better equipment such as the latest single use Thermit Crucible. He also discussed how the latest computerised equipment tted to the welding kit measured each stage of the weld checking that the steel was at the correct pre‐ heat temperature and other key points delivering the information to Thermit remotely straight from site. Ian explained how Thermit’s versatility was one of its greatest strengths both in its ability to weld different rail sections together and in its portability and ease of use for a two man team and small van. Ian touched on how the latest Thermit equipment for rail maintenance could be used to repair squat or wheel burn defects by cutting them out and re-building the head of the rail with material that was equally as hard as the original steel. 11 February 2016 An Introduction to Friction Modifcation Joint Section Chairman Bob Langford introduced the speaker, Dr Chris Hardwick of LBFoster Ltd. Chris began his talk by explaining that the wheel/ rail interface can appear deceptively simple, but is in fact a complex mixture of many interacting phenomena, which are affected by a multitude of variables, many of which are uncontrollable” and that Friction Management is the practice of attempting to deliberately control some of these parameters...Chris explained – with some excellent pictures and diagrams – the nature of the wheel/rail contact and the many purposes of this contact – carrying the vehicle load, providing driving and braking forces and steering the wheel on curved track. He then outlined the impacts that this has – anging noise, wheel squeal, RCF, squats corrugations and other rail wear/ fatigue issues. We were then introduced to the concept that, in addition to the wheel and the rail, there is a ‘third body’ which sits between them – made up of iron oxides, sands, we paste, leaves, etc and it is this third body which determines wheel/rail friction. Chris went on to explain why there is a need to control friction and how this can be achieved by introducing a ‘friction modi er’ at the interface between wheel and rail whilst taking steps to ensure that adhesion is V.1.0 3 of 39 Section meetings. not reduced to levels which cause problems for traction or braking. He demonstrated, with short videos, the reduction in ange noise by application of a friction modi er and went on to explain how, similarly, a friction modi er can help reduce the angle of attack that the wheel makes with the rail on tighter radius curves. The presentation concluded with a detailed case study of a set of switches at Nuneaton Cemetery Junction. The switches were located on a canted curve with a line speed of 40mph and traf c consisted of a mixture of Class 170 multiple units and loaded freight trains. In the period 2004 to 2012, the high rail half-switch had had to be replaced every 15 – 18 months due to side wear and cracking. LBFoster carried out a review of the issues and developed a proposal to install automatic Keltrack © applicators on the approach to the switch. The results have been very encouraging with a period of over two years before the rst weld repair was required. Chris explained that this generated signi cant bene ts not only in terms of reduced cost of repairs/ replacement but reduced train delays, less inspection and fewer man-hours on track. BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available. CROYDON AND BRIGHTON SECTION 14 January 2016 Following the Formal notices by the Section Secretary Martin Cresswell, Mike Curthoys the Section Chairman opened the meeting to four young Engineers to present their papers on recent developments in the Permanent Way field. Senaya Kerawala presented her paper on the interfaces required between structures and alignment when planning a new railway. These had been used recently to develop schemes for both high speed and heavy haul railways. The paper also identified where changes in the vertical and horizontal alignment can reduce costs by removing tunnels and shortening bridges but this may result in steeper gradients and curvature which may decrease speed or increase power consumption. Alignment may have an effect on climate resilience e.g. susceptibility to flooding and additional structures require more of the earth’s resources to construct. Difficulties may be encountered at later stages when land has to be purchased at an early stage and additional areas are subsequently required e.g. for maintenance. James Lineton outlined his experiences of the Network Rail Star Track two year training programme. This included a large portion of permanent way work. He commenced at Network Rail’s Westwood and Walsall facilities and moved on to 23 weeks at Sheffield Hallam University in each of the years, with onsite work between. The site work included placements with Network Rail’s maintenance team at Clapham Junction, Mott Macdonald’s design office and subsequently Network Rail’s Track Renewals Project Team. He can see that wet beds spotted during his time with the track maintenance team adjacent to a renewals site shows the importance of considering drainage when scoping a renewals job otherwise a renewal can easily lead to additional unforeseen costs. Tom Mitchell followed with his paper on his four months’ experience on the challenges of gauging when introducing new rolling stock to a line. Gauging has many factors and even nominally smaller trains may have different suspension characteristics which give a different swept envelope and different bogie lengths and centres may give different end and centre throws. These differences may have effects on bridges, platforms and other structures along the route. Abi Onabanjo concluded the evening with her paper on Track Alignment and BIM (Building Information Modelling). The team has used the BRT (Bentley Rail Track) computer alignment software to produce a railway alignment for a new underground line. This line is required to fit the tunnel below the current and proposed buildings and their underground piles etc. along the route. Abi explained how a BIM model of the track had been developed within the tunnel. Currently a large number of points are used to define a rail at each location along the route to aid processing and data handling Abi explained how this had reduced dramatically and the logic used, since a rail can be represented by two gauge corners, 2 ends and centre of foot and the centre of head. This reduced size object can then be used to extrude a swept envelope of the vehicle or its gauge to assist other teams and ensure that space proofing and clash detection can be effectively carried out for the new tunnel. Following a very interesting time of questions on each of the papers where one telling observation in particular was made that BIM should now stand for Better Information Modelling, Tim Kendell proposed a vote of thanks for four excellent and well presented papers. V.1.0 4 of 39 Section meetings. 11 February 2016 Following the Formal notices by the Section Secretary Martin Cresswell, Mike Curthoys the Section Chairman introduced Geoff Kennedy – Professional Head of Permanent Way Atkins and Roger Squance – Technical Director Structures Atkins to give their paper Box Tunnel – Bath, Track lower challenges for Electrification.