7th International Heavy Haul Conference, 2001

A Case Study of Wheel/Rail Cost Reduction on Canadian Pacific

Railway's Coal Route

Michael D. Roney and David K. Meyler, Engineering and Mechanical Services, Canadian Pacific Railway

Summary: For over 30 years, the Canadian Pacific Railway has battled the disadvantage of a high curvature, heavy grade
alignment to get high quality metallurgical coal to port. To remain competitive, the CPR has applied technology to
progressively reduce the costs of wheel and rail wear, and in the process, the fuel cost of metal on metal wear. This paper
statis with a historical perspective on the successful application of steerable bogies, extended rail wear limits and premium
rails and rail profile grinding. It concludes by reporting on current and future wheeVrail control measures being tested and
applied, such as anti-shelling wheel profiles, super premium rail steels and the newest rail lubricators.

Index terms: wheel wear, rail wear, wheeVrail wear control

1. INTRODUCTION
Figure I: Schematic of the Routing of the Canadian Coal Traffic over
Since the late 60's, one of the most important lines of segments of the CPR system in British Columbia

business for the Canadian Pacific Railway has been the

h'ansportation of metallurgical coal from the mines of
southeastern British Columbia to tidewater at Vancouver.
The coal is of good quality and is competitive on world
markets, and as such it finds its way into the furnaces of
Pacific Rim steel mills.

But this is in spite of the challenge of moving this coal

from mines more than 1100 kms. (700 mi.) from tidewater,
and lifting it over two mountain ranges and through some
of the toughest railroading country in the world, CPR
carries more than 25 million metric tonnes of coal per year
over this route in unit h'ains with payload capacity ranging
from 11,000 to 13,250 meh'ic tonnes, powered by three
4400HP AC traction locomotives.when negotiating the
steep grades
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROUTE
Figure 1 provides a schematic of the routing, fi'om the four
mines shown in the inland foothills near the Albetia border The route is predominantly single h'ack with 46% of the
to the port at Roberts Bank near Vancouver. Between routing traversing curves tighter than 3492 m radius (112
Golden and Robetis Bank, the coal traffic joins up with the degree) and 133 kms. (80 miles) of curves less than 312m
primary east west mainline, which carries in the order of radius (over 6 degrees). Maximum curvature is 170m
73 million gross tonnes per year ( 80 MGT/yr.). For 156 radius (11 degrees). The controlling grade westbound is
miles of the routing, loaded trains cross over the Fraser 1.1% and the route passes through several tunnels,
River and run on the Canadian National (CN) mainline including the Mt. Macdonald tunnel, at 14.6 km. the
with all westbound traffic. Over this shared bi-directional longest in the Western Hemisphere.
running segment, all eastbound CN and CP h'affic return
over the Canadian Pacific Railway h·ackage. Weather is another factor in the operation. Temperature
exh'emes in the Thompson River valley range from +43C

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(110F) to -34C (-30F). The routing also passes tlu·ough 1. The 655 Mpa (95,000 psi) yield strength of the alloy
132 potential avalanche paths and encounters annual rails was inadequate for heavy axle load unit train
snowfalls tlu·ough the Rogers Pass of 1220cm. (40 ft.). service.
2. Wheels were traversing curves with a great deal of
When the coal business stmied in earnest, the track was slippage or creep and lateral forces. were
laid with 66kg/m rail. Rail used in curves was a 1.3% correspondingly high;
clu·omium steel with a hardness of 325BHN minimum, 3. The rail grinding being performed was ineffective at
with conventional 260BHN standard carbon rail in preventing the re-occurrence of cOrIugations.
tangents. Sleepers were typically a 2438mm long ( 8 ft.). 4. Low rail damage was being affected by wide gauge.
Douglas Fir softwood tie fastened with cut spikes.
Domestic rail manufacturers found that it was very
3. TRAIN MAKEUP difficult to make a conventional alloy steel with greater
yield strength without making it too brittle. By 1984, CPR
Canadian Pacific's coal unit train operations started in was substituting a 350-390BHN chromium-alloyed head
1970, using remote control mid-train power and up to 13 hardened rail from Japan that was head hardened tlu·ough
locomotives, or 39,000HP on the steepest grade. The 111 heat u·eatment. This steel was also metallurgically
cars in the consist were a bathtub gondola capable of cleaner, having lower densities of brittle oxide-inclusions
carrying 95 tonnes (105 tons) of coal, for an axle load of which were often found at the initiation points of
30 tonnes (33 tons). They were equipped with standard transverse defects. Rail was also convelied to 68 kg/m
tlu·ee-piece Barber S-2 uucks and rotary couplers. (136RE) as curves were changed out to take advantage of
an additional 5mm (3116in) vertical wear allowance.
4. EARLY PROBLEMS
The periphelY head hardened rails from Japan showed
As tonnages built, it became apparent that rail and sleeper reduced wear and plastic flow, yielding a 25-100%
damage was occurring at a rate that was eating up profit improvement in rail life. In addition, the cleaner steels did
margins. Rail in curves tighter than 468m (4 degrees) not show the usual infant mortality phenomenon,
was lasting an average of only 200 million gross tonnes characterized by an early appearance of a population of
(212 MGT). Whereas in the past, rail would work harden transverse defects. On the other hand, some of the head
in service, curve low rail had begun to flow plastically. hardened rails developed deep gauge corner shells that
With excessive plastic flow came head checking and were attributed to the fact that the hardened rail gauge
development of corrugations in 3 years or less. The gauge corners did not quickly conform to the tlu·oat of the wheel
face of curve high rails began to abrade and white flakes of and were subjected to a "point" load.
metal would sprinkle the right-of-way.
Wide gauge was attacked by conveliing curves to 274 cm
Of more concern was the onset of deep gauge corner long (9 ft.) hardwood ties in curves. The 36 cm (14 in)
shelling, initiating around 9.5mm (3/8 in) below the gauge tieplate was changed out for a 41 cm. (16 in.) plate
corner. These shells were associated with an increased eccentric to the field to resist overturning.
risk of u·ansverse defects and rail fracture.
A research study on rail grinding, prompted by success in
Timber sleepers began to display excessive cutting of the the Australian Pilbara with profiling to asymmetrically
tieplate into the tie on the outside of curves. This would reshape rail, found that the rate of regrowth of corrugations
then lead to wide gauge conditions. could be reduced by 40% by preferential grinding of the
field side of the low rail. This provided some relief from
CPR uses two-wear Class C wheels with a hardness contact with the sharp reverse curvature of hollowed wheel
between 321 and 363 BHN. These wheels were found to treads when gauge widened.. On the high rail, it was
last 283,000 km (170,000 mi.), with the prime cause (63%) found that grinding down the high rail gauge corner
of changeouts being shelled treads. Crack initiation was preferentially reduced the rate of occurrence of shelling.
caused by a combination of lateral tangential forces due to Both actions were made easier by initially grinding the rail
frequent curve negotiation in conjunction with the heat to a 200mm ( 8 in.) head radius. Grinding cycles were
inputs of braking. Once initiated, the moisture present also progressively tightened down to 16 million gross
from blowing snow would provide the hydraulic action tonnes (18 MGT) between grinds, with the goal of
that caused such cracks to grow. providing better control of rail shape and surface cracking
with a single pass, if possible. This action, in conjunction
5. INITIAL ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL RAIL AND with the phasing in of metallurgically cleaner, harder rail
WHEEL WEAR COSTS steels, was successful at eliminating cOrIugations as a
reason to change out rail.
It was determined that there were several maIn factors
leading to high rail costs: On the wheel side, CPR began testing different wheel
profiles in the late-70's, with the theory that a "worn"

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wheel profile when machined onto a new wheel, would not • A 20" field-side roll-off is another notable change,
exhibit the wearing-in that foreshortens the life of the since it fwiher improves the wheelset steering
AAR 1 in 20 coned profile used at the time. Professor moment, and increases significantly the time to
Heumann of Germany had introduced this "worn wheel" development of a false flange.
profile into Europe in 1934, suggesting that a profile that
provides a single point of contact in curving would offer
Figure 2: The NRC's second generation anti-shelling wheel (ASW)
better performance than the usual two-point scenario. This
profile compared with the AARIB wheel.
idea was appreciated by engineers at the Canadian
National Railway, who in early 1970's introduced a wide­
flange Heumann profile for locomotives in mountain - MRIB-N.,t"o"NFlange

service. When their tests found that wear life (primarily

- ASW·MK2

limited by flange wear) was doubled over the conventional

thiner flange AAR 1 :20, the "CN wide flange Heumann"
profile (Profile A) was adopted as their standard. The
AAR followed the CN progress closely and based on a
different sample of wheels and rails developed a similar
Besides the NRC-ASW profile, CPR has been testing
"worn wheel profile", presented as the interchange
wheels of different chemistry and steel cleanliness, with up
standard AAR l B profile in 1986.
to 8 different wheels being tested. While wheels with
micro alloying elements look promising , the evaluation
Wheel profiles were subsequently converted from the CN
continues.
Heumann Profile "A" to the new industry standard, the
AAR IB. The l B brings many of the benefits of "worn
6. BENEFITS OF FRAME-BRACED STEERABLE
wheel" profiles and is a good balance between what is
TRUCKS
needed for good curving and for reduced track hunting,
albeit without as much metal in the throat area as the CN
CPR became interested in steerable radial trucks after field
Profile A.
tests with the Barber-Sheffel and DR-2 trucks in the early
80's showed flange wear reduced to � that of control cars.
According to testing subsequently done on several
Further extensive field tests with 240 steering tluck
railroads in Canada, the AARIB wheel had shown some
equipped cars confirmed the saving and added the
lack of matching to their rail. The CN found that the
observation that wheel tI'ead shelling was reduced by 2/3,
AARIB wheel provides a two point contact in sharp
simply because of the reduction in lateral slippage through
curves that undergoes high rates of slip induced wear until
curving. ImpOliant from an economics point of view was
after about 60,000 km of run-in. The CN Heumann A
the fact that reh'ofittable versions showed a performance
wheel required about 30,000 km of run-in, with
that was close to comparable to the new trucks. Frame
subsequent designs reducing that number to lower than
braced hucks became the standard for the coal fleet in
8,000 km. At the Quebec Cartier Mining Co. railway, the
1989
AARIB was associated with the wheel version of "infant
mOliality" - a high incidence of contact fatigue induced
Recent analysis indicates that Frame Brace (FB) has
wheel-shelling failures within the first 20-30,000
improved wheel performance on the coal fleet by
kilometers of life. A QCM Heumann wheel profile was
approximately 40%, increasing average wheel life from
designed and in "head-to-head" field testing, the new
325,000 km (195,000 mi.) to 453,000 km (272,000 mi.),
profile reduced the incidence of wheel shelling by about
while gross vehicle weight has increased from 120 tonnes
60 percent. The success of an optimized wheel profile at
(263,000 lbs. to 130 tonnes (286,000 lbs.).
QCM led the Railway Association of Canada in 1996 to
commission the development of the NRC-ASW, "anti­
In addition, previous conh'olled fuel testing indicated that
shelling" wheel profile for Canada's captive grain and coal
the use of FB resulted in 5.8% fuel savings over the length
fleets.
of the coal loop.

The NRC-ASW is a "worn" wheel profile designed to

Besides improved wheel perfOlmance and fuel efficiency,
minimize creepage and contact stresses that conh'ibute to
recent teardown of trucks with FB after 1.4 million miles
rolling contact fatigue shelling of steel wheel treads. This
showed minimal wear , with cars able to go many more
wheel profile provides the following geometrical features
miles without attention.
compared with the AARIB (see Figure 2):
• The addition of 1.6mm of metal in the flange root,
To contl'ol the risk of rail, wheel and bearing failures due
which significantly improves steering performance,
to tread shells, CPR installed a flat wheel detector at two
reducing creepage and wear.
one locations along the route in 1987. This detector
• The 1:20 cone angle in the tread contact region (same
removes any impacts exceeding 140 kips from the mix,
as the AARIB) leaves unchanged the wheel's
setting out the offending cars for wheel changeout. There
resistance to hunting in standard gauge, tangent track.

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are now 11 such flat wheel detectors strategically located
across the entire CPR trackage.
7. PREMIUM RAIL STEELS AND EXTENDED
WEAR LIMITS
The experience with periphery-hardened Japanese rails had
illustrated the benefits of clean steel-making practices and
of increased hardness and yield sh'ength, but it had also
shown the importance of managing the contact sh'esses
between wheel and rail, largely the result of the degree of
conformance between the profiles. The bottom line was
that if the risk of rail failure could be reduced, rail could be
allowed to wear to reduced sections.
Canadian Pacific then embarked upon a program to extend
rail wear limits to get extended like from the new, cleaner
rail steels. The pillars of the program were:
I. Frequent reprofiling of rail to ensure good contact
sh·esses.
2. Regular laser-based measurement of rail cross
sections to ensure that the railway knew the status of
wear of each curve on the system.
3. More frequent ulh'asonic inspection to manage the
risk of internal defects.
4. Computerized analysis of wear rates to project the
optimal time for rail renewal.
5. Improvements in the metallurgy of rail steels at
deeper depths within the rail head, in anticipation of
stressing the base metal to greater limits.
Parameters were set on the tolerances on the maximum
deviations of the rail profile from design templates and
these were used to program rail grinding to reduce damage
from high contact stresses. At this time, the profile
templates were changed to be more conformal with the
worn wheel and the extent of gauge corner undercutting
was reduced to balance the need to promote good steering
with the need to conh'ol gauge corner fatigue. Different
profiles were used for tangents, low curvatures, mild
curvature and high curvature. The sharper the curve, the
more the gauge face undercutting and the more the field
side relief of the low rail. A frequent rail grinding cycle
was maintained to concenh'ate on preventively dressing
surface cracks before they cracked out to form surface
spalling. By controlling surface cracking, the rail surface
layers was prevented from gross weakening that
conh'ibuted to formation of corrugations.
Tightening up on ulh'asonic rail flaw detection further
mitigated the risk of internal rail fatigue. This increased
the probability that an internal defect would be detected in
the time between reaching a detectable size and growing
under traffic to the size that represents a significant risk of
fracture.
The third factor that helped to reduce rail fatigue was the
adoption in 1987 of a deep head hardened heat-treated
1 10
alloy rail from Japan. Deep head hardened rail had rail
surface harnesses in the 370-390 Brinell range, an
improved yield strength, and was able to retain hardness in
the 340BlIN range to depths of 18mm (3/4 in.) into the rail
head. CPR also adopted an intermediate grade rail for
tangent and mild curves with a 325-340BHN range now
available in clean steelmaking practice from domestic
sources. This rail raised the surface yield strength above
the threshold that had previously succumbed to heavy rail
flow and corrugation. CPR began to purchase all rails to a
200mm (8 in ) head radius, which is how they were being
ground in the field.
With the three factors of frequent single pass profile rail
gripding, frequent risk-based rail testing, and deeper
hardness, higher yield rail steels, the reason for changing
out rail in curves shifted overwhelmingly to wear. This
left CPR poised to extend rail wear limits with immediate
and large savings to the rail budget.
The new rail wear limits moved the average percent head
loss from 25% of the head to 35-40%. They were based
upon finite element analysis of the rail and were designed
to ensure that internal rail sh'esses did not exceed 2/3 of
yield at depths in the rail head where catash'ophic defect
types like vertical split heads were seen to initiate.
It was found that the new extended wear limits did not
increase the risk of failure, but that rail would wear rapidly
beyond these limits. If they were significantly exceeded,
rail fracture could and did occur.
The key element in conh'olling risk of extending wear
limits was knowing the wear condition of rail accurately,
and being able to project the right time to change out the
rail. Optical rail measurement technology proved to be the
answer. CPR started with LITESLICE optical rail
measurement on their Track Evaluation Car in 1992, and
converted to the more accurate laser-based LASERAIL
measurement system in 1994. CPR now measured rail
wear three times per year and developed computer
programs that projected the observed wear up to five years
into the future. This also pelmitted centralized planning of
rail programs with the computer projections being the
prime input to rail planning.
8. INCREASED AXLE LOADS AND AC TRACTION
As always in railroading, nothing stands still and the
improved conh'ol of rail and wheel wear was the catalyst to
reduce operating costs by increasing axle loads. Increased
car capacities with improved net-to-tare reduce car-miles
and operating costs.
If the track is in good shape and designed for the h'affic,
increased maintenance of way costs, constituting only 12-
14% of variable costs of traffic, are overwhelmed by fuel,
crewing and motive power cost savings,

CPR indexed up gross vehicle weight to 125 tonnes
(275,000 Ibs.) and then 130 tonnes (286,000 Ibs.) on 4
axles by 1995. Again, radial frame-braced
controlled damage in the high curvature environment.
Newer coalsets were purchased with aluminum cal'bodies,
which had overcome the weld-fatigue problems of earlier
aluminum constmction. These cars raised the weight-to
tare ratio of the 130 tonne (286,000 lb.) GVW cars to 5.2.
Canadian Pacific converted to 4400HP AC traction units
in 1996. These new units initially put the rail top surface
to the test as algorithms were perfected to
wheels lip. With the available adhesion increased from
19% to 38% on normal running and 48% on lifting the
train from a start, the rail takes a high longitudinal
tangential force, but what is critical is that adhesion in the
contact patch does not become slippage. With
perfection of computerized microslip conh'ol,
indications of surface damage disappeared and the AC
units have not produced any incremental damage that is
not handled by regular rail grinding. 6000 HP units with
radial hucks are poised to become the new standard for the
coal service and have contributed substantially
operating cost savings.
9. FURTHER COST SAVINGS
It has been observed in the field that rail deterioration
increases when gauge is permitted to progress to greater
than 13 mm (Y2 in.) wide. This is likely due to the greater
tendency of wheel tread hollowing to contact the low rail
field side. While predominantly a timber-sleepered
railway, CPR became concerned with the continued use of
cut spikes in the sharper curves of the western conidol'
under AC traction and heavier axle loads. A program was
undertaken to replace cut spikes with a rolled plate held
down by 5 screw spikes with spring washers, and Pandrol
e-c1ips. This fastening system was designed to give exh'a
safety against rail rollover and to reduce timber sleeper
deterioration by greatly conh'olling tieplate movement and
the subsequent abrasion of the wood fibers in the rail seat.
But as a very impOliant side benefit, it has been found that
rail life is double in such curves because gauge is typically
conh'olled and rail does not rotate as freely and maintains
good contact conditions with the wheel.
Another good news story has been the effect of continued
installation of harder, cleaner rail steels in curves.
clearly been shown through rail profile measurements that
the harder steels maintain their lower surface sh'ess shapes
longer, are less susceptible to surface cracks, and have the
sh'ength to resist gross plastic flow and conugation. As a
result, CPR reduced from four to three annual grinds of the
coal route, again predominantly single passes. The cycle
between grinds is now in the 23 million gross tonne
(25MGT) range and the annual saving is $676,000 Cdn.
Rail grinding templates have also been adjusted to more
conformal design rail profile shapes, which has reduced
metal removal through grinding from 60% of average
7th International Heavy Haul Conference, 2001
veliical head loss to 40%., while conh'olling surface
fatigue.
hucks
CPR has recently installed min. 370BHN low alloy
hypereutechtoid rail steels in curves on the coal route.
These steels have a higher carbon content and thicker
cementite in the mah'ix. In field tests, they have shown a
10% improvement in wear life on low rails and a 25%
improvement on curve high rails. They appear to be more
resistant to surface cracks and work harden well. The
railway has also installed some rails to the AREMA 141
control section (71 kg/m). This rail is attractive as it offers an
additional 5.6mm (7/32 in) vertical wear and is completely
compatible with the 136RE section already in place.
In 1999, CPR conh'acted for a survey of the status of rail
the lubrication using a new hi-rail equipped tribometer car.
early The survey uncovered major opportunities to improve rail
life through better and more consistent protection of the
friction coefficient of the rail gauge face.
CPR attempted to implement the optimal friction
to guidelines developed by the TTCI in the US in a 50-mile
test zone. These were designed to both protect the rail
gauge face, reduce lateral gauge widening and improve
fuel efficiency. The guidelines were:
• Maintain top of rail friction coefficient differential,
left to right <0.1f.,l
• Maintain top of rail friction>0.30f.,l
• Maintain gauge friction coefficient of <0.25f.,l
New electronic lubricators were carefully spaced to
achieve the desired result. They incorporated two 55-inch
wiper bars with 48 lubricant ports on each rail. A more
expensive rail grease was also applied. In spite of a
doubling of the lubricator spacing over what had existed,
these lubricators were successful in meeting the 0.25f.,l
gauge face criterion. On the other hand, the top of rail
friction was difficult to meet. Notwithstanding, the results
showed that lateral rail wear was reduced by 75%, high
rail vertical wear was reduced by 10%, but low rail veliical
wear was increased by 15%. With further improvement in
delivering lubrication to the top of rail, it is hoped that the
full fuel benefits will be achievable in the near future.
Another new development has been the installation of low
It has alloy hypereutechtoid rails in sharp curves, starting in
200 l . The new rail steels have a higher carbon content,
improving hardness and yield, but without the loss of
ductility usually expected of increased carbon. This is
achieved by thickening the cementite layer. In early
testing, these rails have shown a 10% improvement in low
rail life and a 25% improvement in high rail life over low
alloy deep head hardened rails.
There also appears to be good economics to changing the
rail standard from the 136RE rail section to the new
AREMA 141 section. The 141 has 20% more available
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vertical wear at a net cost increase including installation of be of great value not only in reducing wheel and rail costs,
only 5-7%, This is under test as the new standard for the but in facilitating operating cost efficiencies such as
western mainline, increased axle loads and fuel consumption improvements,

On the mechanical side, studies of wheel h'aed hollowing
on cars in the coal fleet have sought to determine whether
there are benefits to reprofiling wheels that are hollowed to
greater than 3mm, at which time, studies have indicated a
significant deterioration in curving performance, It was
found that the coal wheels had only 4% of wheels in this
category, less than the 6% found for a sampling of the US
rail industry by TTCI.
Looking back, in 1970, the average wheel lasted 280,000
krn (170,000 mi,), while today wheels average 453,000 krn
(272,000 m,), Average rail life on the highly curved coal
route has improved from 293 million gross tonnes (325
MGT) to 612 million gross tonnes (680MGT), At the
same time, the new AC h'action consists and heavier axle
loads have reduced car mile costs by 25% and fuel costs
by 15%,

10. CONCLUSION 11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Strategies to improve wheel and rail wear control on The authors would like to acknowledge the conh'ibutions
Canadian Pacific Railway's coal route have been an of the field staff of the Canadian Pacific Railway in British
evolutionary practice that has progressively balanced the Colombia who have h'ied and perfected the various
wear mechanisms of rail, risk management, wheel and rail measures discussed above, the members of Canadian
profile matching, and the changing demands of the Pacific's former Research Department and the strong and
operating environment. The job will never end as creative technical inputs of the Centre for Surface
competitive pressures in the world coal market demand a Transportation Technology of the National Research
continuous sh'eam of operating cost efficiencies, On the Council of Canada,
CPR, wheel and rail wear conh'ol sh'ategies have proven to

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