WHITING Corporation, United States, has acquired LB Foster's rolling stock and locomotive repair and service assets in Pittsburgh for an undisclosed sum.

Effective rail lubrication strategies play an important role in optimising wheel and rail life, but developments in rail and rolling stock technology in recent decades have shifted the goalposts for friction management. Barnaby Temple, head of technology with LB Foster Rail Technologies, explains how research into the issue in Britain is redefining top-of-rail friction management.