Wheelsets still pose challenge

摘要

Despite being one of the oldest railway technologies, the assembly of two steel wheels mounted on an axle, known as a wheelset, continues to represent a technical challenge after nearly 200 years of railway operation. A number of recent high-profile accidents have also emphasised the critical role in safety of the wheelset which represented a single point of failure.rnA recent seminar on wheelset management held by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers focused on the requirement to balance safety, performance and cost. Comparison with the previous seminar held in 1989 showed that safety issues had not merited a paper then.