Rail joints, usually called fishplate, commonly known as the joint bar, is a component that joint rails end-to-end. It is applied to light rail, heavy rail and crane rail. There are holes in the middle of the fish plate for rail bolt to screw. The top and bottom of the fish plate are made into slopes corresponding to the slope of the lower part of the railhead and the top part of the rail bottom. Thanks to the design which helps the joint bars wedge the rails, the rail joints can be bolted to the rail very tightly. Therefore, good rail joints can reduce the impact of wheels at the joint and improve the smoothness of the passing trains.

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While welded rails are quickly developed and used more often, the rail joints still have their advantages of saving cost and labor since its simple and quick installation. The working state and safety performance of the rail joints directly affect the running state and safety of the line.

Types of Rail Joints

According to the raw materials used, rail joints can be divided into ductile iron, Q235 type, and Q255 rolling type, forging type, etc. In general, medium and high carbon steels are used as raw materials. According to different applications, rail joints can be divided into bolted rail joints, compromise rail joints and insulated rail joints.

• Bolted rail joints

Bolted rail joints are the primary choice for slow-speed, light transport railroads.

• Compromise rail joints

Compromise rail joints are needed when connecting two rails with different sizes. Unlike regular standard linear rail joints, compromise rail joint bars have irregular shapes.

bolted rail joint

compromise rail joint

• Insulated rail joints

Insulated rail joints are a new kind of track material made of high strength composite material. Belong to thermosetting material, the insulated rail joints can&#;t be reprocessed. Insulated rail joints can provide signals when the trains get to a position through electric isolation. Thus, it is widely used in the freight railroad to detect outages and control traffic jams.

Feature of insulated joints&#;

1. Good insulation reliability.
2. Lightweight and high strength.
3. Suitable for a wide range of temperatures, good low-temperature resistance (-55&#;~85&#;).
4. Good impact resistance and strong toughness.
5. Good aging resistance and long service life.
6. Water resistance, corrosion resistance, and good tolerance.
7. Lightweight, easy to carry, convenient to install, time-saving and efficient.
8. Maintenance-free insulation, high efficiency in troubleshooting.

Rail Joints for Sale

• Rail joints for light rail: 8kg, 9kg, 12kg, 15kg, 18kg, 22kg, and 30kg.
• Rail joints for heavy rail: 43kg, 50kg, and 60kg.
• Rail joints for crane rail: QU70, QU80, QU100, and QU120.

Rail Joints of International Standards

AREMA

TypeLength/DiameterWeight115RE4 hole-24&#;17.04Kg115RE6 hole-36&#;25.56Kg132-136RE4 hole-24&#;17.75Kg132-136RE6 hole-36&#;26.63Kg

UIC864

TypeLength/DiameterWeightUIC604 hole-630/Φ.07KgUIC604 hole-600/Φ.47KgUIC604 hole-630/Φ.1KgUIC544 hole14.34KgUIC546 hole-.94Kg

BS 47-1

TypeLength/DiameterWeightBS75R4 hole6.56KgBS60A4 hole5.61KgBS80A4 hole6.5KgBS90A685.8/Φ.23KgBS90A792.9/Φ26.215.34KgBS100A4 hole 

AS

TypeLength/DiameterWeight50kg4 hole14.3Kg50kg6 hole19.5Kg

Other track material such as gauge rods, rail clip, rail clamp, rail pad are available as well.

Types of Rail Joints and Their Basic Requirements

What are the types of rail joints?

The joint formed between two rails, which incidentally forms the weakest part of the track, is called the rail joint. Many fastenings are found to move this joint as much as efficiently as possible. Depending upon the position of the joint or sleeper, the types of rail joints are classified as follows :

Types of Rail Joint According to the Position of Joint

Square Rail Joint :

When a joint on one rail is exactly the opposite of a joint on another parallel rail, it is called a square joint. This type of rail joint is common in straight rails, but staggered joints are currently preferred.

Staggered Rail Joint:

When a joint in one rail is exactly opposite the center of the parallel rail length, it is called a staggered joint.

Advantages of staggered rail joints:

• Centrifugal forces on curved tracks tend to push the track away from the straight line, and since the weakest part of the track is the joint, this effect appears before the joint.
• They reduce the tendency of centrifugal forces.
• It has been observed that staggered rail joints produce smoother running than square rail joints.

Types of Rail Joints According to Position of Sleepers

Suspended Rail Joint:

A rail joint located in the center of two consecutive sleepers is called a suspended rail joint. It is claimed that the load is evenly distributed over 2 sleepers, and when the joint is depressed, both rail ends are depressed. Therefore, they require more maintenance.

Supported Rail Joint:

When the sleeper is located exactly below the rail joint, it is called a support rail joint. This type of joint is not currently used. It is found from experience that the supported joint gives sufficient support with heavy axle load.

Bridge rail joint:

This rail joint is similar to a suspended rail joint. But in this case, a section of metal is used as a bridge to connect the ends of the two rails so that there are no bending stresses in the rails. To rest the bridge on two sleepers they are not heading out. But an experiment has shown that this type of joint is not possible in actual practice so presently it is not favored.

Types of Rail Joints According to the Performance and Application

Ordinary Rail Joint:

The joint formed between two rails, which incidentally forms the weakest part of the track, is called the rail joint. Many fastenings are found to move this joint as much as efficiently as possible. Depending upon the position of the joint or sleeper, the types of rail joints are classified as follows :When a joint on one rail is exactly the opposite of a joint on another parallel rail, it is called a square joint. This type of rail joint is common in straight rails, but staggered joints are currently preferred.When a joint in one rail is exactly opposite the center of the parallel rail length, it is called a staggered joint.A rail joint located in the center of two consecutive sleepers is called a suspended rail joint. It is claimed that the load is evenly distributed over 2 sleepers, and when the joint is depressed, both rail ends are depressed. Therefore, they require more maintenance.When the sleeper is located exactly below the rail joint, it is called a support rail joint. This type of joint is not currently used. It is found from experience that the supported joint gives sufficient support with heavy axle load.This rail joint is similar to a suspended rail joint. But in this case, a section of metal is used as a bridge to connect the ends of the two rails so that there are no bending stresses in the rails. To rest the bridge on two sleepers they are not heading out. But an experiment has shown that this type of joint is not possible in actual practice so presently it is not favored.

That is, the coupling joint of two rails when the standard rail or non-standard rail is laid, and the splint and bolt are used to connect.

Compromise Rail Joint:

That is joints of different types of steel rails connected. To make the top surface of different rails and the inside of the head coincide, the corresponding special-shaped splint and special-shaped pad are used to connect. Special-shaped joints of positive line rails must use special-shaped rails.

Conductive Rail Joint:

a connector for conducting rail current or as a traction current loop, used in automatic blocking sections and electric traction sections. The inter-rail conduction coupling device is composed of two galvanized iron wires with a diameter of 5 mm, inserted into the round holes of the waist of the two rails - plug nail type, or welded into the steel sleeve at the head of the rail with a steel wire cable with a section of about 100 mm² - welding type.

Insulated Rail Joint:

It is also known as glued insulated rail joints. In the automatic blocking section, insulating joints are provided at the rail joints at both ends of the adjacent blocked section to ensure that the track circuit cannot pass from one blocked section to another blocked section. Generally, the insulated rail joint is to use a nylon rail header, nylon splint, and nylon bolt sleeve to separate the rail, splint, and bolt, so as to prevent the passage of current and play an insulating role.

Welded Rail Joint:

The joints formed by rail welding by resistance welding, small gas pressure welding, or thermite welding are mostly used for seamless lines.

Frozen Rail Joint (Rail Joint Bar, Rail Fishplates):

     

This joint is a frozen rail joint realized by increasing frictional resistance. Special crescent washers can be used to squeeze the bolt holes of ordinary rail joints. It is adopted that the rail joints should not be installed within the full length of the small bridge on the exposed bridge and within the temperature span of the steel beam with the rail expansion adjuster. The conditions for rail welding are not available. In the South of China, it is used to connect standard-length rails of ordinary lines into frozen long rail lines, which has received good results similar to welding long rail seamless lines.

Its characteristics are:

• It does not change the structure of the current joint.
• It does not use adhesives.
• It does not use additional mechanical parts.
• The joint resistance is high.

Expansion Rail Joint (i.e. temperature regulators):

It is used to connect ordinary rails with a large amount of expansion at the end of the rail or rail joints with a temperature span greater than 100 meters.  According to the different forms of structural planes, expansion joints can be divided into three types: oblique type, polyline type, and curve type.

AGICO Offers You The Requirements of Good Rail Joint:

• It should be strong, and stiff, and provide the same strength as the original track section.
• It should be cheap and durable.
• The rails provide a continuous and level surface for the movement of a train.
• It should maintain the gauge distance of the track.
• It should not allow the rail end to be battered in any case.
• It should be capable of maintaining the two rails at the same level.
• It should provide free expansion and contraction due to temperature.
• There should be easy removal and replacement of rail without disturbing the whole track.
• It should be elastic both laterally and vertically.

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It is used to connect ordinary rails with a large amount of expansion at the end of the rail or rail joints with a temperature span greater than 100 meters. According to the different forms of structural planes, expansion joints can be divided into three types: oblique type, polyline type, and curve type.