PERFORMANCE MEASURES FROM TRACK GEOMETRY CARS: A VEHICLE DYNAMIC RESPONSE PREDICTOR

This report presents the results of a year-long test and analysis program aimed at developing better performance indicators for railroad track geometry. The test program involved the instrumentation of two freight cars identified as those with a higher derailment of risk from geometry condition to record events of undesirable suspension unloading and the associated track geometry at these locations. The instrumented freight cars were transported across Canadian National and Pacific rail networks coupled with the respective railway's track geometry car. The analytic part of the program involved the development of predictive software that can be run on board the geometry car to predict where the occurrences of undesirable vehicle response will occur. Results presented demonstrate the capability of the predictor in isolating track conditions that will produce significant vehicle response. The results are compared to existing regulatory definitions of track geometry defects.