Rail milling vehicle

1. A rail vehicle, comprising:

a chassis; and

a rail milling assembly movably coupled to the chassis, the rail milling assembly including:

a bracket fixed to the chassis;

a milling workhead coupled to the bracket such that the milling workhead floats relative to the chassis in a lateral direction and in a vertical direction; and

wherein the milling workhead including a cutter configured to remove material from a rail during operation.

2. The rail vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:

the rail milling assembly is configured to float in the lateral direction in a manner independent from the vertical direction; and

the rail milling assembly further includes a front frame member operatively coupled to the milling workhead, the front frame member including an oblong slot for receiving a pin coupled to the bracket.

3. The rail vehicle of claim 2 , wherein:

the pin is capable of moving both laterally and vertically through the oblong slot, thereby permitting the milling workhead to float relative to the bracket; and

the pin extends in a vertical direction relative to the rail.

4. The rail vehicle of claim 2 , further comprising a pair of linkage elements coupled to the front frame member, the linkage elements being coupled by a hydraulic cylinder.

5. The rail vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the hydraulic cylinder is free floating to provide for biasing of the linkage elements in the lateral direction.

6. The rail vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the milling workhead further includes a shroud disposed about the cutter.

7. The rail vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the rail milling assembly comprises a plurality of milling workheads, and wherein the rail milling assembly further includes rollers interposed between the plurality of milling workheads.

8. The rail vehicle of claim 7 , wherein:

each cutter of the plurality of milling workheads is independently moveable, via a cylinder rod, towards the rail relative to other cutters of the plurality of milling workheads; and

at least one milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads is fixed at an angular position relative to the rail.

9. The rail vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the cutter depends downwardly from a spindle via a cylinder rod that is configured to bias the cutter towards the rail.

10. A rail milling assembly configured to be coupled to a chassis of a rail vehicle, the rail milling assembly comprising:

a bracket for coupling the rail milling assembly to a chassis of a rail vehicle such that the rail milling assembly floats relative to the chassis in a lateral direction and in a vertical direction; and

one or more milling workheads each including a spindle and a cutter depending downwardly from the spindle, the cutter configured to remove material from a rail during operation; and

a frame member configured to support the one or more milling workheads, the frame member movably coupled to the bracket;

wherein the frame member defines at least one slot extending in a lateral direction, each slot being configured to receive a vertically extending pin of the bracket such that the pin is independently movable in both a lateral direction and vertical direction relative to the frame member.

11. The rail vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the frame member further includes a front portion defining a first oblong slot for receiving a first pin of the rail vehicle.

12. The rail vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the first oblong slot extends along a single plane.

13. The rail vehicle of claim 11 , further comprising a pair of linkage elements coupled to the frame member, the linkage elements being coupled by a hydraulic cylinder.

14. The rail vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the hydraulic cylinder is free floating to provide for biasing of the linkage elements in the lateral direction.

15. The rail vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the frame member further includes a rear portion defining a second oblong slot for receiving a second pin of the rail vehicle.

16. The rail vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the rail milling assembly comprises multiple milling workheads, and wherein the rail milling assembly further includes rollers interposed between the milling workheads.

17. The rail vehicle of claim 16 , wherein:

each of the multiple milling workheads is fixed at a unique angle relative to the rail, no two milling workheads being positioned at the same angle; and

the rail vehicle further includes:

a sensor; and

a processor configured to:

receive a sensing data from the sensor;

receive a rail profile template corresponding to a desired rail shape;

based on the sensing data and rail profile template, calculate an extension distance for each of the multiple milling workheads; and

actuate the multiple milling workheads to move the respective cutter of each milling workhead to the calculated extension distance.

18. The rail vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the extension distance for a first cutter of a first milling workhead of the multiple milling workheads is different from the extension distance for a second cutter of a second milling workhead of the multiple milling workheads.

19. The rail vehicle of claim 17 , wherein actuation of the multiple milling workheads includes actuating a respective cylinder rod coupled to the cutter in a direction towards or away from the rail.