TWI projects carried out for the rail sector

TWI conducts short term project work and longer term research and development for its Industrial Member companies for product and process innovation, and to improve efficiency in all aspects of joining technology including materials and structural integrity. As a result, Members from all industrial sectors can introduce novel designs, new fabrication or inspection techniques in order to improve business profitability or to enhance product safety and reliability.

Contact projects@twi.co.uk.

Single client projects (SCPs)

1. Diesel locomotive engine repairs using electron beam welding.
2. The welding of a steel axle using friction welding techniques, followed by weld quality assessment using bend, tensile, charpy and crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) tests, as well as metallurgical examination.
3. Fatigue design assessment of a bogey.
4. Assistance with design, material selection and fabrication or railway rolling stock.
5. Collaborative project to measure residual stresses in rails and welded specimen using neutron diffraction.
6. Assistance with the fabrication of component parts for a generator
7. The development of a machine to friction weld electrical connections to railway lines.
8. The determination of local 'hot-spots' in C-Mn and stainless steel railway vehicles using strain gauging.
9. Laser welding trials for an experimental railway body panel.
10. Consultancy work addressing design and fabrication problems of fatigue cracked aluminium alloy railway wagons.
11. The application of fatigue life improvement methods to rolling stock.
12. Review of design, welding and post assembly procedures to minimise bodyside distortions in rail cars.
13. Spot welding of zinc coated steels in rail vehicle manufacture.
14. Electron beam welding of heat sinks (See Case study )
15. Adhesive bonding to repair motor packing plates (See Case study )
16. Failure investigation of escalator steps (See Case study )
17. Flying Scotsman (See Case study )
18. Coatings for scratched windows (See Case study )
19. Fatigue testing of escalator steps (See Case study )