Manav School of Polytechnic, Vyala, Akola

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Academic Year - 2022-23

Semester - IV

Railway and Bridge Engineering

Submitted To M.S.B.T.E. In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement For

The Diploma In Civil Engineering.

Project on:- Study of rail materials, rail joints with their

requirements & Type
Submitted By

Mr. Abdul Tasleem Abdul Saleem

Mr. Husen Hasan Beniwale

Project Guide:- P.M. Waghmare

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MAHARASHTRA STATE BOARD OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr.Abdul Tasleem Abdul Saleem Roll No……….
of Fourth Semester of Diploma in Civil Engineering of Institute
Manav School of Polytechnic (Code: 1668) has completed the
Micro-Project Satisfactorily in Subject Railway and Bridge
Engineering for the Academic year 2022 to 2023 as prescribed in the
curriculum.

Place:……………………………… Enrolment No:…………………………….

Date:………………………………. Exam Seat No:……………………………..

Subject Teacher Head of the Department Principal

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 Acknowledgement
I feel proud to present my Micro project in Railway and
Bridge Engineering on the topic “Study of rail materials, rail joints
with their requirements & Type”
This Report wouldn’t have been feasible without the proper
and rigorous guidance of Miss P.M.Waghmare who guided me
throughout this project in every possible way an investigatory Report
involves various difficult lab experiment which have to be carried out
by the me to obtain the observation and conclude the report on a
meaningful note. I would like to thank both Miss P.M.Waghmare and
Principle Dr. S.D Mahajan for guiding me on a step by step basis and
ensuring that I completed all my experiment with ease.
Rigorous hard work has been put in this project to ensure
that it proves to be the best. I hope that this project will prove to be a
breeding ground for the next generation of student and will guide
them in every possible manner.

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 Index
Sr..No Topics Page No
01 Abstract 05
02 Introduction 06
03 Requirement of ideal rail joints 07
04 Types of Joint 08
05 Conclusion 11
06 References 12

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 Abstract
Railways or railway transport is now a days, the life line of the
nation and more essential for mass transportation of men and
materials for long distances.
The part on which the railway actually moves consists of steel rails,
wooden or pre-cast concrete sleepers ballast and sub-grade. Railway
is commonly termed as permanent way for transportation means.
The railway track constructed with rails of standard length and these
rails are joined together by means of two fish plates one on either side
o joint.
The following are the types of rail joint commonly used by Indian
railways.
Supported rail joint
Suspended rail joint
Bridge rail joint
Welded rail joint
Square rail joint
Staggered rail joint
Compromise rail joint.

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 Introduction
Rail joint has always been an integral part of the railway track, it is
looked upon as a necessary evil because of the various problems that
it presents.
Earlier, rails were rolled in short lengths due to difficulties in rolling
and the problem of transportation. With increase in temperature, rails
expand and this expansion needs to be considered at the joints.
It was, therefore, felt that the longer the rail, the larger the required
expansion gap, and this too limited the length of the rail.
A rail joint is thus an inevitable feature of railway tracks, even though
it presents a lot of problems in the maintenance of the permanent way.
Let’s have a look on rail type and its requirements.

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 Requirements of An Ideal Rail Joint

An ideal rail joint provides the same strength and stiffness as the
parent rail. The characteristics of an ideal rail joint are briefly
summarized here.
 Holding the rail ends
An ideal rail joint should hold both the rail ends in their precise
location in the horizontal as well as the vertical planes to provide as
much continuity in the track as possible.
This helps in avoiding wheel jumping or the deviation of the wheel
from its normal path of movement.
 Strength
An ideal rail joint should have the same strength and stiffness as the
parent rails it joins.
 Expansion gap
The joint should provide an adequate expansion gap for the free
expansion and contraction of rails caused by changes in temperature.
 Flexibility
It should provide flexibility for the easy replacement of rails,
whenever required.
 Provision for wear
It should provide for the wear of the rail ends, which is likely to occur
under normal operating conditions.
 Elasticity
It should provide adequate elasticity as well as resistance to
longitudinal forces so as to ensure a trouble-free track.
 Cost
The initial as well as maintenance costs of an ideal rail joint should be
minimal.

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Types of Rail Joint:
The nomenclature of rail joints depends upon the position of the
sleepers or the joints.
Classification According to Position of Sleepers
Three types of rail joint come under this category.

 Supported joint
In this type of joint, the ends of the rails are supported directly on the
sleeper. It was expected that supporting the joint would reduce the
wear and tear of the rails, as there would be no cantilever action.
In practice, however, the support tends to slightly raise the height of
the rail ends. As such, the run on a supported joint is normally hard.
There is also wear and tear of the sleeper supporting the joint and its
maintenance presents quite a problem.
The duplex sleeper is an example of a supported joint (Fig. below).

 Suspended joint
In this type of joint, the ends of the rails are suspended between two
sleepers and some portion of the rail is cantilevered at the joint.
As a result of cantilever action, the packing under the sleepers of the
joint becomes loose particularly due to the hammering action of the
moving train loads.
Suspended joints are the most common type of joints adopted by
railway systems worldwide, including India.

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  Bridge joints
The bridge joint is similar to the suspended joint except that the two
sleepers on either side of a bridge joint are connected by means of a
metal flat [Fig (a)] or a corrugated plate known as a bridge plate [Fig
(b)].
This type of joint is generally not used on Indian Railways.

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 Classification Based on the Position of the Joint

Two types of rail joint fall in this category.

 Square joint

In this case, the joints in one rail are exactly opposite to the joints in
the other rail. This type of joint is most common on Indian Railways
(Fig. below).

 Staggered joint
In this case, the joints in one rail are somewhat staggered and are not
opposite the joints in the other rail. Staggered joints are normally
preferred on curved tracks because they hinder the centrifugal force
that pushes the track outward (Fig. below).

 Welding a Rail Joint

The purpose of welding is to join rail ends together by the application
of heat and thus eliminate the evil effects of rail joints.
There are four welding methods used in railways.
1. Gas pressure welding
2. Electric arc or metal arc welding
3. Flash butt welding
4. Thermal Welding
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 Conclusion
From the above study we can conclude that there are various
types or methods of rail joints which we can used according to
situation and needs.

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 Reference

1) Principles Of Railway Engineering" by Rangawala S C

2) Railway Engineering" by Amit Gupta and B L Gupta
3) A Text Book Of Railway Engineering" by S C Saxena and S
PArora
4) www.rail-fastener.com/rail-joint-types.html
5) https://civilengineeringnotes.com/types-of-rail-joint

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