Abstract
At least 10 wide-gage derailments since 2000 have been attributed to broken spikes in track constructed with premium elastic fastening systems. Premium fasteners on timber crossties were introduced into heavy axle load (HAL) freight service in North America over the past few decades and have gained popularity given they are thought to reduce maintenance costs, reduce rail-rollover risk, and do not generally require rail anchors. However, given recent derailments and identification of failed spikes during field testing at higher rates than traditional fasteners, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is investigating the stress state of cut spikes in premium fasteners. This presentation provides an overview of the broken spike problem, documents the loading environment that the fastening systems are subjected to, and provides an overview of mitigation methods that could be considered in reducing spike stress and resulting failures.
Speaker
Marcus Dersch, P.E. is a Principal Research Engineer with the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and 2010 respectively, where he completed research in railroad engineering focusing on fouled railroad ballast performance and ballast performance improvement techniques. Marcus worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as an engineering intern in 2008 and has worked for RailTEC since 2011. He obtained his Professional Engineer’s License in 2015 and will become the Chairman of AREMA Committee 30 (Ties) later this fall. Marcus’ current research interests are railway crosstie and fastener design and railroad ballast performance.
