Railgrinder

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This Windhoff railgrinder is used on the Berlin Straßenbahn. The inscription reads "We grind tracks quietly."

A railgrinder (also spelled rail grinder) is a maintenance of way railway car that is used to remove irregularities from rail tracks and restore their profile, in order to extend the life of the rails.

Many forms are known, from the simple angle grinder through to the multi stone grinders used by Serco and Loram. Modern rail-grinding equipment may be mounted on several connected vehicles (forming a rail grinding train) with 48 or more grind wheels set at controlled angles which in combination restore the track to its correct profile.

The railgrinder is viewed as a cost effective means of extending rail life and is considered an integral part of Network Rail's forward strategy in the United Kingdom. The machines have been in use in the UK and Europe since the early 1990s. The company who makes them, Loram Maintenance of Way, sited their first European office in Glasgow. Serco Rail Operations, based in Derby and Cumbernauld, is the current holder of the main railgrinding contract on the UK rail network. Other companies involved in this work are Harsco and Speno.