One of the fundamental aspects of rail maintenance is controlling the wear on the wheel rims in contact with the track. This can be verified by checking the condition of the profile compared to the nominal for the vehicle in question.

Regardless of the profile that is used, there are three parameters for estimating the degree of wear that is defined based on the real profile being evaluated.

• Thickness of the rim
• Degree of wear on the rim
• Height of the rim

These parameters must fall within certain limits set by the Rail Authorities in order for the train to be allowed to continue in service.

Traditionally, mechanical gauges specially designed for the three control parameters have been used for this task. However, Erion Mantenimiento Ferroviario also uses laser-operated profilometers to obtain the actual profile and highly precise measurements of the three parameters.

The advantages of using a tool such as this one is that it minimises measurement reading errors, makes it possible to compare the profile obtained against a standard and automatically loads the obtained measures into a database for future studies and for monitoring the advancement of wear on wheel rims.

In addition to this equipment, we also use a digital meter to determine wheel diameter.