"Railway Infrastructure at Risk: High-Impact Wheels Pose Threat to Tracks and Structures"

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a safety advisory recommending the use of Wheel Impact Load Detectors (WILD) to identify and replace high-impact railcar wheels that can cause significant damage to rails and track structures. The advisory comes after an investigation into a Union Pacific coal train derailment in Nebraska, which revealed that high-impact wheels damaged the rail and caused the incident. The FRA recommends that railroads and contractors continue using WILDs to identify and replace high-impact wheels, with specific guidelines for replacement based on WILD measurements. The agency also suggests reviewing procedures for identifying dynamic ratios to predict high-impact wheels when cars are loaded.