Good news on failures and rejects

In the ten month period prior to January 2006, the number of rail breaks occurring at a weld was only 20. This is a significant drop on the previous year when the figure stood at around 60.

Weld breaks usually account for about 25% of the total number of breaks but in the recent period this figure was only 10%.

Weld reject rates also fell; the year to date figures (April to December 2005) are shown below:

Network Rail maintenance

Total welds installed 43,922
Total welds rejected 1,484
% rejection rate 3.38

Track Renewals (including projects)

Total welds installed 15,939
Total welds rejected 368
% rejection rate 2.31

National (includes maintenance, track renewals and projects)

Total welds installed 59,861
Total welds rejected 1,852
% rejection rate 3.09

The top three causes of rejection are; weld position/location (proximity), porosity in the ground head and black holes. The main cause of rejection is weld position/location which currently accounts for 12.7% of all weld rejections.

Network Rail have welcomed the trends and draw attention to the positive effect of a number of continuous improvement measures that have been introduced.

Readers comments on the data would be welcome!