Investigate the track gauge widening on the Iron-ore line and suggest maintenance limits

Sammanfattning: Iron ore export remains a major player in the Swedish economy to date, with 90% of all iron ore produced in Europe stemming from the relatively small northern country. A large amount of this ore is transported from the mines to harbours for world-wide freight on railways. On such railway is the SwedishIron-ore Line running from Kiruna to Riksgränsen, connecting to the Norwegian Ofoten line which continues to Narvik. The line has the highest permissible axle-load in Europe at 30 tonnes, which poses challenges in its own. Historically, damage on the high rail of curves have been problematic, butremedies introduced in the form of wear adapted rail profiles has brought light to a new issue. Lowrail spalling damage, caused by rolling contact fatigue (RCF) has been problematic on the line, as it reduces the life of the rails and increases maintenancecosts. It is believed that a major factor to this damage is the track gauge width. The current limit values for maintenance of the track gauge is set at 1450mm, a figure derived from empirical studies. It is therefore the wish of the infrastructure manager Trafikverket to investigate the effect the gaugewidth has on this RCF induced damage, in order to review current maintenance practices. By applying current state of the art in rail vehicle dynamics simulations and contact mechanics, the current maintenance limit has been investigated.The outcome of said investigation has yielded a foundation of support for the current maintenance limit, as it closely aligns with where damage is calculated to form at a significantly higher rate than at lower gauges.