Development Status and Standardization Management Strategies of Large Rail Maintenance Machinery

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jes.202602240

Author(s)

Xuemin Liu*

Affiliation(s)

China Energy Railway Equipment Co., Ltd., Beijing, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

During long-term operation, railway lines inevitably experience issues such as rail wear, joint damage, and track geometry misalignment. As key equipment in the system of large-scale track maintenance machinery, rail grinding vehicles, rail welding vehicles, and rail changing vehicles undertake the core tasks of rail profile restoration, continuous welded rail welding, and replacement of damaged rails, respectively. This paper takes these three types of equipment as the research objects and systematically elaborates on their technical principles, functional characteristics, and current development status both domestically and internationally. On this basis, starting from engineering practice, it focuses on analyzing three core challenges currently faced by large-scale rail maintenance machinery in application: the lack of a scientific basis for equipment selection under complex working conditions, the dependence on operator experience leading to fluctuations in operational quality, and the incomplete coverage and insufficient rigidity of the standardization system. The study shows that the development of large-scale rail maintenance machinery is trending in three directions: evolving from single-machine and single-operation to fully integrated processes; expanding from being suitable for a single working condition to adapting to complex and extreme conditions; and shifting from relying on manual experience to intelligent and standardized practices. The research findings can provide a reference for railway maintenance departments in formulating equipment configuration and maintenance strategies.

Keywords

Grinding Vehicle; Rail Welding Vehicle; Rail Changing Vehicle; Rail Maintenance

References

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