The characteristics of the selected types of wheel wear and their effect on the rail vehicle – track interaction

The aim of this paper is to present the selected types of rail wheel wear and their influence on vehicle-track interaction. The first part discusses the wheel-rail interface and presents the essential information about the wear of rail vehicle wheels. Differences in the nature of the wear of rail and tram wheels are pointed out. Then, characteristics of typical forms of wheel wear are presented, together with the description of the mechanisms of their occurrence and the existing technical measures leading to their reduction. In the last part of the text, the impact of the previously described forms of wheel wear on the vehicle-track interaction is discussed.