Water-Trak aims for better adhesion on rails

This is the claim of CoCatalyst Ltd whose new Water-Trak system has undergone successful trials on a specially prepared slippery rail.

According to Network Rail, 10 million trees shed thousands of tonnes of leaves onto railway tracks every autumn. When trains pass over leaves, the heat and weight of the trains bake them into a thin, slippery layer on the rail.

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When the leaf-based layer is lightly wetted, the resulting poor wheel-rail friction leads to greatly increased braking distances and reduces starting traction.

According to John Cooke, director of Farnborough, Hants-based CoCatalyst Ltd, low adhesion occurs at other times of the year in the presence of rail head contamination - such as iron oxides - and light rain or dew.

“The common thread running through all these examples is the presence of a contaminant and a certain critical amount of water,” he explained via email. “While a dry rail and a fully wetted rail give acceptable levels of friction, a damp or lightly wetted rail is associated with poor adhesion.”