A new process for the aluminothermic weld repair of discrete rail surface defects
3 December 2008 | By Professor Andrew McNaughton, Chief Engineer, Network Rail and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member, Brian Whitney, Head of Rail Management, Network Rail and Ian Banton, Technical Development Manager, Thermit Welding (GB) Ltd.
Isolated rail head defects formed under traffic, detected either by visual inspection or ultrasonic flaw testing, can significantly reduce the service life of rails if not managed correctly. Surface initiated defects account for approximately 50% of all defects removed from Network Rail (NR) Infrastructure. These are predominately made up of…