The Evolution of Rail Grinding on Canadian Pacific Railway to Address Deep Seated Shells in 100% Effective Lubrication Territories Peter Sroba 1 , Michael Roney 2 , Eric Magel 3 and Joe Kalousek 4 National Research Council Centre for Surface Transportation Technology 1,3 , Calgary, Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway 2 , Calgary, Canada, Consultant 4 , Vancouver, Canada. Abstract A successful program to dramatically improve rail gauge face lubrication on Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was introduced to over 3250 km (2020 miles) of track between 2001 and 2005. This program continues to be rolled out throughout CPR’s 27,000 km (16,780 miles) System. The virtual elimination of gauge face wear on the high rail had been projected to lead to substantial increases in rail life. In late 2004 and early 2005, CPR experienced a substantial increase in Deep Seated Shell (DSS) defects in all degrees of curvature on three of the main line subdivisions in British Columbia. This defect may have resulted in one derailment and has increased the amount of emergent relay rail required by 30% in one of the subdivisions. Rail shells began breaking out from many high rails with rail steels of intermediate standard carbon and premium head hardened metallurgies. The elimination of gauge face wear and previously unseen high contact stresses between the wheel flange and un-ground rail at the steeper angles on the rail gauge corner ha ve been identified as contributors to the fatigue. Further development of DSS defects has been arrested through the design of two new high-rail profiles that require grinding to 60 degrees to gauge, a modification of the rail grinding machine to grind the area of the high rail gauge corner above where the defects were forming, and the implementation of a Prev entive-Gradual grinding strategy. These changes ha ve been successful in controlling the DSS defect initiation in CPR’s well lubricated mainlines, progressively rectifying damaged rail, and restoring the rail life benefits attainable with “100% effective gauge face lubrication”. 1 Introduction CPR operates over 27,000 km (16,780 miles) of railway across Canada and the USA Northeast and Midwest, between Vancouver on the west coast of Canada to New York on the east coast of the USA. In western Canada, coal is transported over 1207 km (750 miles) on a route consisting of sharp curves and steep grades, in unit trains with payloads of 13,250 metric tonnes (14,500 tons), powered by three 4400HP AC traction locomotives. The route carries approximately 81 million gross tonnes (90 MGT) per year of mixed freight, grain, double stack inter-modal container cars as well as coal. The route is predominantly single track, running bi-directional traffic, with 46% of the routing traversing curves sharper than 3492 m radius (½ degree), 129 km (80 miles) of curves shallower than 312 m radius (greater than 6 degrees) and a maximum curvature of 160 m radius (11 degrees). Temperature extremes range from +43°C (110°F) to –34°C (-30°F). The rail is predominantly 68kg/m (136 lb/yd) intermediate strength (320 BHN) standard carbon in curves shallower than 436 m radius (4 degrees) and premium (350-390 BHN) head hardened steel in curves sharper than 436 m radius (4 degrees). Track with curvature equal to and greater than 218 m radius (8 degree) has elastic fastenings. Long (274 cm, 9 ft) hardwood ties are used in curves, spaced at 508 mm (20 inch), on 41 cm (16 in) rolled eccentric plates. For the past 5 years CPR has been progressively rolling out a “100% effective gauge face lubrication” program e1e based on the economic benefits determined in studies by the National Research Council of Canada’s Centre for Surface Transportation Technology (NRC-CSTT). The program has so far replaced the previous hydraulic gauge face lubricators and lower grade lubricants in 3250 km (2020 miles) of CPR main line with the new technology lubricators and higher performance lubricant. CPR is continuing to extend this gauge face lubrication strategy on all high curvature primary and secondary main lines and plans to complete the process in 2006.