Ultrasonic rail testing is used internationally to inspect rail and locate internal rail defects. A key question that arises is the appropriate frequency of testing which depends on the condition of the rail, traffic density, and type of traffic. This paper presents a risk based methodology for scheduling of ultrasonic testing that allows the railroad to define a level of risk, corresponding to the maximum number of allowable service defects per unit of track and traffic. This methodology went beyond the simple rules of thumb or empirical equations used in the base and introduced a new objective methodology that was based on defect development, growth and detection behavior, as quantified and defined by today's state of the art research and technology. In order to allow for the methodology's implementation on a large scale basis, to permit analysis of thousands of miles of railway, a sophisticated computer model (RailTest) was developed for determining test scheduling requirements based on a defined level of risk. This risk based scheduling methodology was successfully implemented on several major rail systems in the US and Europe to include the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk Southern in the US and RailTrack (now Network Rau) and Banverket in the UK and Sweden respectively. As, since 1998, more than 200,000 km of railroad have been analyzed, the application of RailTest show a well documented reduction in both service defects and in rail related derailments.
Risk based ultrasonic rail test scheduling: Practical applications in Europe and North America
Risikobasierte Ultraschall-Schienenprüfplanung. Praktische Anwendungen in Europa und in Nordamerika
2003
12 Seiten, 9 Bilder, 2 Tabellen, 12 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Risk based ultrasonic rail testing scheduling: practical applications in Europe and North America
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