How Much Do You Know About the Types of Railway Fastenes

Railway fasteners are the components of the track that are used to join steel rails and railway sleepers (or others under rail foundations), also known as the intermediate connection parts. Their functions are to fix steel rails on railway sleepers, maintain the gauge and prevent the rails from moving longitudinally and laterally relative to the sleepers. They include railway spikes, rail pads, and elastic or rigid fasteners. The fasteners should be able to maintain a reliable connection between the rails and the sleepers for a long period of time, give full play to their cushioning and damping performance under dynamic action, and delay the accumulation of residual deformation of the track. Therefore, they are required to have sufficient strength, durability and certain elasticity. They should also be simple in structure and easy to install and disassemble in installation. In addition, for the pre-stressed concrete sleepers, the fasteners should also have sufficient the clamping force and horizontal adjustment range of the gauge.

Railway Fasteners Classifications

1. Railway Fasteners used for wooden railway sleepers
The railway fasteners are used to connect steel rails and wooden railway sleepers on wooden sleeper railway track. According to their relations between steel rails, tie plates and wooden sleepers, they can be divided into three types: the separated type and the composite type.
2. Railway Fasteners used for concrete railway sleepers
The railway fasteners are used to connect steel rails and concrete railway sleepers on concrete sleeper railway track. 

Railway Fasteners Used for Wooden Railway Sleepers

1. The separated type fasteners

The separated type railway fasteners are to separate rail bolts and rail spikes that are respectively used for holding the rails and fixing tie plates. In general, the tie plates are fixed on the sleepers by rail spikes, and have the rail bearing shoulders. The bolts are to be fixed on tie plates for holding the rails, and then the rails are fixed by the elastic clips or clamping plates.

2. The composite type railway fasteners

The composite type railway fasteners consist of tie plates and rail spikes. They are connected by using dog spikes (square shape) to connect steel rails directly with tie plates and the sleepers. The clamping force is smaller. In order to prevent the rails from the creeping phenomenon longitudinally, people need to install more anti-creeping equipments. 

Railway Fasteners Used for Concrete Railway Sleepers

Due to the characteristics of large weight and high rigidity, concrete railway sleepers require the high-performance railway fasteners and have stricter requirements for the clamping force, the elasticity and the adjustability. The railway fasteners used for concrete railway sleepers can be divided into three types according to their structures: the elastic clip type fasteners, the clamping plate type fasteners, and elastic blade type fasteners. According to their elasticity, the fasteners can be divided into rigid fasteners and elastic fasteners. According to the rail bearing shoulders, they can be divided into the fasteners for the shoulders and the fasteners for the non-shoulders.
In China, the fasteners used for concrete railway sleepers mainly adopted the clamping plate type and the blade type in the initial period. Due to low strength, the arched elastic blades are easily deformed and even broken, so they are no longer used on Chinese railway tracks. Because of no enough elasticity and low clamping force, the clamping plate type fasteners are easy to get loosened in use. At present, it has gradually been replaced by the elastic clip type fasteners on the Chinese railway lines. The elastic clip type fasteners adopt the elastic clips as the clamping parts. The material of steel bar has the characteristics of the bending deformation and the torsion deformation and does not have the sectional weakening problem. Besides, the clips have a reasonable structure. Therefore, they have become main fasteners of the concrete sleeper type of railway track in China. The main types of railway fasteners currently used are Type I Clip. With the development of heavy-duty high-speed railways, Type II and type III Clips have been made out successfully in recent years. Among them, Type III Clip is a kind of fastener with no bolts and non-shoulder design.

• A. The clamping plate type railway fastener is composed of clamp, screw spike, spring washer, iron seat and cushion pad. The screw spike is anchored in the reserved hole of the bearing platform of the concrete sleeper by sulfur cement mortar, and then the bolts are used to make the clamps fastened.
• B. The elastic clip type railway fastener includes Type I, II and III Clips. Type I Clip consists of ω shape elastic clip, screw spike, gauge baffle and rubber pad. Its clamping force is insufficient, and its elastic range is smaller.
• C. Type II Clip is the same with Type I Clip in shape design. The elastic range is not less than 10mm. The clamping force has been slightly improved compared to that of Type I Clip.
• D. Type III Clip I is a kind of non-shoulder railway fastener, which is suitable for large transportation capacity and high-density transportation conditions. It has the advantages of large clamping force, good elasticity and so on. In particular, the concrete shoulders are eliminated, and. The possible lateral displacement under the lateral force from rail base is eliminated.

Performance Characteristics of Railway Fasteners

1. Good anti-breaking performance

All-steel cold-press national standard railway fasteners have the advanced structure, their all-steel plate cold forming, strength and toughness have exceeded national and international standards, completely eliminating the possible accidents caused by broken fasteners and scaffold collapse.

2. Strong anti-rusty performance

The galvanized anti-corrosion treatment can greatly improve the anti-rusty performance and so the service life of new fasteners exceeds that of old fasteners, overcoming the problems of old fasteners, eliminating the hidden dangers. These can guarantee and improve the overall mechanical performance and safety performance.

3. Fast and Convenient

The structure optimized railway fasteners are lightweight, beautiful and comfortable. They can reduce labor intensity in working process.  
 
AGICO Company specializes in manufacturing railway accessories. To ensure higher quality, our railway fasteners have undergone many key tests. We can manufacture other types of high speed railway fasteners according to the requirements of the clients. Contact with us for more information, please!