A Smooth Train Ride Requires a Smooth Track — Which Can't Be Achieved Without Precise Rail Grinding Technology
Keeping train tracks smooth and efficient takes a heavy-duty grinder that operates with precision and efficiency.
Edited by EE Staff
Cool Stuff
Jun 1, 2026
Trains, for a lot of people, are cool and fun to ride in. Trains provide enhanced comfort and space, scenic views, and convenience. It’s much easier to relax or to get work done while traveling by train, especially when it’s a smooth ride, which takes a smooth track. Harsco Track Technologies is a global supplier of railway track maintenance equipment and services to major railroads, short lines, and transit systems. In fact, the company is a leading source for over 140 types and models of work equipment used in the maintenance, renewal, and new construction of railway track.
When it comes to the strength and precision required for railway track grinding machines, the company designs, manufactures, and sells five of the world’s most successful systems. Harsco’s RGH-8-C and RGH-10-C remove surface irregularities and restore the profile of the rail to extend track life, reduce wear on rolling stock and track components, and cut fuel consumption—providing valuable cost savings.
These rail track grinders incorporate independently adjustable heads to efficiently grind critical track sections such as switches, turnouts, and road crossings. These grinding heads run along railway tracks and manage their position using rotary encoders.
Rugged Technology
The operating environment for rotary position sensors on railway track grinding machines is extremely heavy-duty and Harsco’s engineering team needed a bullet-proof solution.
The challenge was unique. Unlike most industrial applications, railway track grinders operate across an incredible range of conditions and temperatures, requiring an equally rugged encoder. For example, Harsco sells and operates rail grinders throughout the U.S., China, Japan, UK, and Germany to name a few places, subjecting the machines to frigid winters, scorching summers, and dense humidities.
Harsco Track Technologies discovered the Advanced Micro Controls Inc (AMCI) DuraCoder™ while researching heavy-duty rotary sensors that could output an Analog signal. Although other analog rotary sensors exist, none of them could match the industrial strength, construction, and operational precision of the DuraCoder. Provided with Ingress Protection 67 (IP67) ratings, these sensors are capable of performing in a wide range of applications that could easily render conventional encoders useless.
What separates the AMCI DuraCoder encoders from competing units is its resolver-based technology. Referenced as an analog sensor that is absolute over a single turn, the resolver was originally developed for military applications. Industrial segments recognized the benefits resolver technology to withstand the punishment of a military application and began employing them in product packaging plants and stamping press lines. In typical applications, the resolver sensor feeds rotary position data to a decoder stationed in a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) that interprets the data and executes commands based on the machines’ position.
Recent advances in technology have enabled the integration of a resolver and on-board electronics in one housing as an alternative to other types of encoders. Referred to as DuraCoders, these motion sensing devices are available with the following output types: absolute parallel, incremental digital, analog current, analog voltage, and DeviceNet. Featuring an integrated NEMA 4 housing, the AMCI DuraCoder leverages a brushless resolver sensor, absolute over a single turn. AMCI recognized the benefits of the resolver and adapted this rotary position sensing technology for the DuraCoder's design. Using integrated circuitry, each DuraCoder type is capable of producing virtually every resolution output configuration required in an automation environment. The 2.5” size DuraCoder is manufactured using a cast aluminum housing and a sealed stainless-steel shaft.
The units are ideal for high-impact applications for its ability to withstand mechanical shock and vibration. Through the evolution of machine development, builders and system integrators alike, agree that the resolver transducer is unsurpassed in its ability to reliably supply rotary position data in the harshest industrial environments.
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