RAIL MAINTENANCE ON CONVENTIONAL LINES IN EAST JAPAN RAILWAY COMPANY

Abstract

 Recently, the working-age population has been declining. The environment surrounding the rail industry is changing rapidly. The conventional lines in East Japan Railway company, reducing rail maintenance is the urgent task. The results show that rail flaws tend to occur on the top surface of rails, on heat treated rails and on curves. This led to the introduction of a new rail material and a revised rail grinding pattern to reduce the occurrence and development of rail head surface defects.Also, optimisation of rail maintenance, including reviewing rail management classifications to take into account the impact of traffics and the importance of line sections, and improving the accuracy of ultrasonic testing.