Railroad Spike's Function and Manufacturing Process

The most common rail spike is made of Q235 steel（China Steel Standard）.The production process of the road spike is generally divided into machinery manufacturing, hand-made manufacturing and machinery & hand-made manufacturing combined.

Different production processes of the railroad spike need different technologies. For example, productions of screw spikes need the use of special steel and a variety of technologies for manufacturing. Manufacturers need to consider the production processes and productions of various different materials to offer the price to clients. Because of production technologies and productions, hand-made spike in all the spikes made of different materials becomes the lowest in production cost and it can also sell in bulk, but high quality railroad spike manufactured by machinery and complexity of production processes is in high cost itself and sell in quantity.  

It is necessary for us to notice that machinery spike compared to hand-made spike has its unique advantages in the product. 

Though machinery spike costs higher than hand-made spike, it can be made through high efficient production and simple process due to use modern automatic equipments. It is good for completion of the corresponding orders on time. The railroad accessory manufacturers can also get the best interests.

Defective rate of hand-made spike is very high, parts of finished products can’t meet the requirements of railroad spike industry and technology. Machinery manufacturing process can keep most spikes qualified in weight, length and shape adopting one-time molding press method. It can be good for avoiding the situations above. So machinery spike in production appears very low probability of defective products. That could make it into using directly in the installation instead of secondary screening and keep a project completed in appointed time. The more important reason lies that the machinery spike can effectively avoid the track climbing and rollover accidents. So machinery spike possesses the most favorable competitive advantage. 

In the use of railroad spike, people also need to consider the railway track. For example, spike is generally different from ballasted turnout. But with the continuous upgrading of railroad equipments, installation of railroad spike in the turnout become fewer and fewer. 

The use of railroad spike is the auxiliary function for elastic rail system and keeps the rail with no moving laterally or horizontally. It can be used to better conform to technology requirements and installation of the elastic rail fastening system and help to exert the maximum capacity of railroad spike in railway locomotive running process. The most important meaning of railway machinery spike is that it increases the safety factor, guarantees convenience and smooth railway transportation.