A practical methodology to prioritise reprofiling sites for corrugation removal

Abstract

A method is proposed to determine objectively where track or a railway system should be reprofiled to control corrugation. The method includes criteria that are pertinent to corrugation in different wavelength ranges. It has been applied successfully over eight years on one tram system. Measurements also illustrate how it could have been applied to a metro line. Examples of ‘track memory’ are given insofar as corrugation remains more or less fixed even after reprofiling.