Rail Grinding Technology and China’s Rail Grinding Market

With the modern train transport capacity and speed of the continuous improvement of traffic safety, stability and comfort requirements of the car is becoming more stringent.  The quality of the tracks, direct contact with the train wheel, has a direct impact on the safety and stability of traffic. Due to the dynamic effect of the train, the natural environment and the quality of the track itself, rails often suffer from damage such as cracks and abrasion. In addition, the rails each year to withstand the millions of tons of heavy trains in the track formed by the enormous pressure, which can easily lead to deformation of the rail, rail and train wheels contact surface distortion. And improper wheel-rail contact surface may have a negative impact on driving, such as fuel consumption, vibration noise, accelerate wheel wear, increase maintenance workload and cost, and even lead to serious damage to the track and vehicles and traffic accidents happened. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate or repair the rail damage in time. Maintenance of the tracks to polish, to eliminate irregularities and defects in the surface of the track will be restored to the original rail profile of the original design requirements, thereby slowing the further expansion of surface defects to improve passenger comfort and reduce wheel and rail noise. In addition, this maintenance can extend the service life of rails by about 50-100%. In addition, the method of maintenance grinding is more cost-effective and time efficient than replacement rails. According to European railway staff estimates, the cost of laying a new track of one mile (including labor and material costs) is as high as $ 1.5 million, while the cost of maintaining polished railways is much lower, which makes this approach highly valued by national railroads . The basic principle of rail grinding and rail grinding wheel Rail grinding is mainly through the grinding machine or grinding the top of the rail rolling surface grinding. To the most efficient, most widely used rail grinding car as an example: grinding train driven grinding machine at a walking speed on the track, forming the grinding head and the relative movement between the rail, polished vertical and put the motor directly drive Grinding wheel rotation, while grinding head to exert some downward pressure to achieve pressure on the rail grinding and polishing. Obviously, it is essential to equip the grinding head with a reliable, high-performance grinding wheel. High-quality grinding wheel can effectively withstand the grinding head of the pressure, speed and harsh external environment. As a Saint-Gobain’s century-old world-renowned brand of abrasive abrasive, Norton (Norton) mainly used in machinery manufacturing and maintenance of abrasive abrasive products. At present, the Norton rail grinding wheel is mainly imported through the rail grinding car matching in the Chinese market. Norton has 3 different types (6 type, 10 type and 11 type) grinding wheel grinding wheel product portfolio, applicable to all rail grinding machine. 6-type grinding wheel for 20 and 48 grindstone (grinding stone grinding wheel is equipped with the number of grinding wheel). 10-type grinding wheel for the mainstream of 96 grinding stone mill. The type 11 grinding wheel, which is suitable for 20 grinding stone grinding machines, is less applied due to the low utilization rate of the market (mainly used for grinding rail transition and junction). Grinding wheel grinding wheel in the Norton product line by “good”, “better” and “best” distinction grade. At present, from my company and OEM manufacturers of rail grinding wheel manufacturers agreement, “better” and “best” two series is more popular. The two grades of grinding wheel in the grinding efficiency and service life has a good performance. “Good” level of the wheel in the price of a certain competitiveness. At the same time, Norton is working with OEM rail grinding manufacturers to develop more efficient, longer life of the wheel, in order to reduce end-user and contractor maintenance costs. For example, Norton uses high-quality abrasives and binders that can withstand the stresses and speeds created by train operations and improves product performance while also focusing on the safety of operators and their work areas. We are proud that all Norton grinding wheels have been tested rigorously for speed, balance, etc. to meet or exceed the ANSI American Standard, and have passed the compulsory certification of many countries, meeting the highest standards of the international railway construction industry. Chinese rail grinding market has great potential Benefit from the 4 trillion economic stimulus plan on the railway and other infrastructure construction strong investment, it is learned that from 2009 to 2010, the state will approve the new railway mileage of 10,000 km or so, the scale of investment of 1 trillion yuan. In addition, since early 2004, the State Council approved the “medium and long-term railway network planning”, as of now, China has approved the new railway mileage of 23,000 km, according to the plan is expected by 2020 the total scale of railway construction investment will exceed 5 trillion yuan, Railway operating mileage will reach 120,000 km or more. Track maintenance Polishing in China’s history is relatively short, the first rail grinding car in the early 90s of last century was introduced. At present, people are increasingly aware of the regular maintenance of the track grinding to ensure safe and efficient operation of the locomotive necessity, coupled with longer-term considerations can be more cost savings, the Chinese Ministry of Railways plans in the next 5 years to purchase more than 60 rail grinding car . Ten of them will be produced by Speeno’s joint venture in China (a large 96 grinding mill), and more than 50 will be supplied by a North American railcar manufacturer, which has an OEM relationship with Norton. According to China’s existing railway length and the number of rail grinding car estimates, rail grinding market has great potential, a conservative estimate of up to 15-20 million US dollars scale. The next 10-15 years, China will replace the United States as the world’s largest rail grinding consumer market. Sum up It is foreseeable that rail grinding technology will increasingly be used by high-speed railway, heavy-duty rail and urban rail traffic, proper maintenance and polish to ensure that the track is in the ideal working condition is necessary.