Application of On-Line Rail Milling in Rail Maintenance of High-Speed Railways

On-line rail milling technologies have been applied in rail maintenance, and are proving to be efficient and environmental friendly. Based on the field data of on-line rail milling, a program for comparing rail transverse profiles before and after milling was designed and the root mean square (RMS) amplitude of longitudinal profile was calculated. The application of on-line rail milling technology in removing rail surface defects, re-profiling railhead transverse profiles, smoothing longitudinal profiles and improving welding joint irregularity were analyzed. The results showed that the on-line rail milling technology can remove the surface defects at the rail crown and gauge corner perfectly, re-profile railhead transverse profile with a tolerance of -1.00.2 mm , improve longitudinal irregularity of rail surface, with the RMS amplitude of irregularity reduced more than 50% and the number of out-of-limited amplitude reduced by 42%82% in all wavelength ranges. The improvement of welding joint irregularity depends on the amount of metal removal determined by the milling equipment and the primal amplitude.