Juan Fiori
EMOVA, Argentina

Gabriel Ehler
EMOVA, Argentina

Guido Ambrosio
EMOVA, Argentina

The Buenos Aires subway network expansion, for the last 15 years, incorporated new railway technologies and designs, but also implied the coexistence of different technologies for the same service: modern infrastructure systems with old conception fleets; and new fleets working in old infrastructure.

Diversity of fleets and technologies in the same commercial service. The problems associated with the wheel-rail interface were immediate.

The challenge is to articulate the optimization of the wheel-rail interaction with the increasingly demanding commercial service standards, in a diverse technical context. The design of strategies to mitigate the problems, associated with the wheel-rail interface, began with the formation of an interdisciplinary committee, for the articulation and application of preventive maintenance practices related to the investigation and management of the wheel-rail interface. Some of the activities from this committee are: dynamic tests in the field, wheel profiles, rail grinding management, wheel-rail friction management, wear surveys and measurements, traceability and information management system. The track renovation and extension of Line E (2017-2020) and the incorporation of the new fleet in line H (2018-2020), of the Buenos Aires City network subway, are two relevant cases of action on interface management