Talk:Rail inspection

untitled
Well, I've completed the rest of the article. Let the editing begin! I have future plans to add pictures, but I'm still trying to decipher copywrite and taging issues. Let me know what you think, and please write somthing on the talk page if you change anything.

-- MNboy 03:36, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I know, it's not finished yet. I'm open to suggestions and I will be back to work on this in the morning. I haven't linked it to any other article, so it should be isolated unless someone does a search on this topic. At least my references are listed and if someone needs info on the topic they can pursue those options.

-- MNboy 04:32, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Shelling
A detailed discussion of shelling and how it is detected would be nice to have here. Fredric Rice (talk) 23:43, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Inspection Methods and providers
The statement that rail management requires us to inspect at 50mph is unclear and innacurate. I'm not familiar enough with the particular derailment you are referring to, but I will find out what the details were.

UT or UT/Induction testing occurs at speeds that are a result of track conditions and indications presented on the screen. Most inspections do not exceed 25mph and usually average in the 10mph range. If you look at any given roads' inspection data, it will support this. Furthermore, all HiRail equipped cars that I am familiar with have a maximum speed rating of 45mph in forward. This is a safety rating from the gear manufacturer, so stating a required 50mph test won't happen with one of these. If you've ever been in one of these vehicles, which I would expect not, you would know what I am talking about.

To achieve the 50mph range you are claiming, it would have to be done with a rail-bound inspection car. There are not many of these dinosaurs left as they tie up traffic and there are special considerations that are made when clearing for trains or going idle. That makes these units unacceptible with most high traffic lines. Even so, the 50mph inspection cars can do just that. Inspect the rail at 50mph. As a matter of fact, the Europeans test at speeds of 100km/hr (60mph) with success. However, they are NOT dealing with the heavy axle loads that our American freight lines do and DO NOT have the immediate verification requirments that our inspection teams do. In short, their rail is not as punished as ours and doesn't require as stringent inspection codes.

Also, the verification or "chase" vehicle is also a thing of the past. All test vehicles I am aware of that are testing in the U.S. today run in a "Start-Stop" mode. This requires the operator to pinpoint a suspect indication with the test vehicle and perform the hand inspection right then and there. GPS is primarily used to report the defects for database tracking and post service failure investigations.

Troy Elbert (talk) 17:22, 25 September 2009 (UTC)