As heavy haul trains continue to push the limits of train size and mass and maximise locomotive performance, improving control of adhesion and slip will continue to be in demand. In considering the need to realise maximum adhesion forces for a rail vehicle, it is important to provide the development of new algorithms for traction control in a proper way that takes into account the need to avoid rail and track damage. This paper presents a strategy based on the Polach contact model for the detection of maximum adhesion force, and this strategy also includes slip compensation. The proposed traction control system has been verified by means of a co-simulation approach between the Gensys multibody code and the Simulink package.