The wheel–rail interface is the area of contact between wheels and rails of railways. The interaction between wheel and rail is a specialized subject covering the design and management of the high stresses in the small contact area between a steel wheel and a steel rail. The focus is on safety improvement, maintenance and replacement costs reduction, downtime reduction, and energy and environmental management. The surface of the wheel that rests on the rail is known as the tread. A wheel may have either a single flange on the gauge side of the rail or two flanges, one on each side of the rail.
References
Tuzik, Bob (8 January 2014). "Taking the Long View: 20 years of Wheel/Rail Interaction (Part 1 of 2)". Interface: The Journal of Wheel/Rail Interaction. http://interfacejournal.com/archives/882 ↩
Fröhling, Robert. "Wheel/Rail Interface Management in South Africa – The Past and the Future" (PDF). Transnet Freight Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 1, 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140201173349/http://globalview.uic.asso.fr/cd-rom3_sans/2008_06_30_spo_uic_global_view_workshop_rf.pdf ↩
"Wheels and Bogies". Railway Technical Web Pages. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20170223212618/http://www.railway-technical.com/whlbog.shtml ↩