Derailments of facing switches - a preliminary investigation into wheel/rail contact conditions by graphical methods (IM-FT-016)

During the past two years the Research Department has investigated a number of flange-climbing derailments on facing switches. As this type of derailment is relatively infrequent no association was recognised between the nine mishaps investigated in this period until recently (ref. 1). These mishaps have occurred predominantly on chamfered...