RSIME has extensive experience in the railroad industry.  We have specialized in failure analysis and root cause determination for the purpose of derailment investigations.  Extensive material and component testing has also been conducted at the RSI Materials Engineering Laboratory.  We have also extensively used data acquisition on railcars and locomotives while during service to help determine the load environment for the vehicles themselves and also the track.

 Railroad components tested
  and evaluated:

• Wheels
• Bearings
• Axles
• Rail
• Ties
• Joint Bars
• Suspension Members
• Car Bodies
• Diesel Engine Components

 Testing methods used on
  railroad components:

• Fatigue testing
• Tensile testing
• Ultrasonic and magnetic particle crack inspection
• 3 & 4 point bend testing
• Metallographic inspections

• Accelerometer and strain gauge measurements

Rail Breaker: 
RSI Materials Engineering had been asked by a railroad client to design and build a portable rail breaking tester.  It was designed to test rail in 3 and 4 point bending configurations.  Use of the RSIME Rail Breaker was intended to test rail weld quality and suspected defective rail on-site at a railroad track. More...

Rail Vehicle Bearing Tester:  
RSIME custom designed and built a bearing tester for the purpose of simulating service onto rail vehicle bearings.   More...

Derailment Investigation Capabilites
RSI Materials Engineering is a national leader in railroad derialment investigations.    More...