Technology Digests / Effects of Lubrication on Rail Wear in a High Tonnage Route: Phases I, II, and III

TD25-010

August 20, 2025
Authors
  • Ananyo Banerjee
  • Beatrice Rael
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Key Findings

  • The results from Phase I (dry), Phase II (GF lubrication), and Phase III (GF and TOR lubrication) indicate that lubrication, in general, helps decrease wear rates on the gage face and gage corner of the high rails of curves.
  • The orientation and distance of the curve from the lubricators played a role as the lubrication on the low rail of the 3- and 5-degree curves had less carryover into the high rail of the 4-degree curve which was oriented opposite the 3- and 5-degree curves.

Effects of Lubrication on Rail Wear in a High Tonnage Route: Phases I, II, and III

MxV Rail has a long history of carrying out lubrication-related tests.1 In 2021, MxV Rail began testing on BNSF Railway’s Canyon subdivision (sub) to monitor rail wear in both the presence and absence of gage-face (GF) lubrication in a variety of curves ranging from 1 to 5 degrees. The curves are located in a high-tonnage route extending from East Guernsey to Bridger Junction in Wyoming with an average yearly accumulation of 90–100 million gross tons (MGT). The route traffic is 80 percent coal with 20 percent intermodal and crude oil, and most of the loaded traffic travels from west to east.  The Canyon sub testing focused on measuring the wear of the high and low rail on curves with different degrees of curvature in order to monitor the effects of curvature and lubrication on rail wear. This study focuses on understanding 1) how lubrication affects rail wear on different curvatures…