Interpipe, under the KLW brand, has delivered 9,923 railway wheels to Saudi Arabia in 10 years.
Over 10 years, Interpipe has delivered 9,923 railway wheels to Saudi Arabia with a total weight of 24,883 tons and continues to develop in this market.
The company noted that rolling stock in Saudi Arabia had specific operating conditions – a hot climate and sand dunes. Therefore, railway operators are faced with the problem of increased wear of wheels, which also leads to an increase in their consumption.
The first order was to produce a 36-inch wheel for freight cars and a 42-inch wheel for locomotives.
“The development of such designs was a challenge even for our experienced experts. The first difference in the design of the 36-inch wheel was to increase the axle load by at least 5% compared to the AAR M-107/M-208 requirements. The second feature was lower weight, while the rim width had to be smaller and closer to the European one (135 mm). Therefore, we faced the problem that the wheel had to have a lower mass of steel that could distribute the heat flow from the friction of the brake pads during braking, and at the same time it had to have higher performance characteristics. In addition, the new wheel design had to have higher mechanical characteristics than required by the AAR, namely: the internal hardness of the wheel, made of class C steel, had to be higher than that regulated by the standard, and the surface hardness had to remain at the same level,” said Oleksandr Roslik, technical director of the railway products department.
He specified that the wheels were made by the hot-rolling method, which implied restrictions on deformation (forming), comparable to casting. (Rail Insider)