Department of Civil Engineering

TECHNICAL SEMINAR
ON

MANUFACTURING OF RAILWAY SLEEPER USING RECYCLED PLASTIC

Under the Guidance Presented by

V
INTRODUCTION:

• Right from initial years of inception of Railways world over and for quite some time thereafter,wooden sleeper was
the standard sleeper for the Railway Track. Indian Railways also in the beginning depended heavily on the use of
wooden sleepers for all portions of Railway Tack.
• Later,as the need arose and due to environmental considerations it gradually started reducing the use of wooden
sleepers and Steel sleepers and Cast Iron sleepers were developed.

• The use of wooden sleepers at steel girder bridges and at specifiedlocations is a standard well known practice all over
the world and all the advanced countries likeUSA, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, France and Australia use wooden
sleepers on steel girder bridges even today.
TYPES OF SLEEPERS
• A railway sleeper/railroad tie/ railway tie is a rectangular support for the rails in railwaytrack. They hold
the rails upright and keep them spaced to the correct gauge.
• Railway ties are generally made of woods, but now a days pre-stressed concrete sleepersand steel
sleepers are widely used.
• Plastic composite ties are also employed now a day,although far less than wood, concrete and steel
sleepers
STONE BLOCK SLEEPERS
• The types of sleeper used on the predecessors of the first true railway consisted of a pairof stone blocks
laid into the ground, with the chairs holding the rails fixed to thoseblocks.
• The stone blocks were in any case unsuitable to the soft ground, such as at chat moss,where wooden
sleepers had to be used
WOODEN SLEEPERS

• Historically wooden rail ties were made by hewing with an axe, called axe ties or sawn to
• achieve at least two flat sides.
• Avariety of softwood and hardwood timbers are used.

CONCRETE SLEEPERS

• Concrete ties are cheaper and easier to obtain than timber and better able to carry higheraxle-weights
and sustain higher speeds.
• Their greater weight ensures improved retentionof track geometry especially when installed with
continuous-welded rail.
STEEL SLEEPERS

• Steel ties are formed from pressed steel and are trough-shaped in section.
• The ends of thetie are shaped to form a "spade" which increases the lateral resistance of the tie.
• Steel ties can be installed onto the existing ballast, unlike concrete ties whichrequire a full depth of new ballast. Steel
ties are 100% recyclable and require up to 60%
• less ballast than concrete ties and up to 45% less than wood ties

HYBRID PLASTIC/COMPOSITE PLASTIC SLEEPERS

• In more recent times, a number of companies are selling composite railroad ties
• manufactured from recycled plastic and recycled rubber.
• Plastic sleepers have service lifelonger than that of wooden sleepers with an expected lifetime in the range of 30 to
80years.
• The plastic sleepers impervious to rot and insect attack.
• These sleepers can be screwed together, nailed or sawed using conventional woodworking tools with a
stronger bond than that which wood produces.
• These sleepers have high compressive and tensile strength Due to the fiber reinforcement material.

PROCESS
• The composite sleeper is composed of a proprietary mixture of plastics(mainly shredded HDPE), rubber from
whole post-consumer tyres, rubber buffingsfrom retreaders, other waste materials, chemical additives and
variousfillers and reinforcement agents like fiberglass or vermiculite.
• The overallrubber content represents approximately 20% of the mixture.
• The company hascreated a five-stage manufacturing process that establishes efficiency andconsistency in
production. The stages of manufacturing are:
1. Raw Material Selection and Handling
2. Compounding and Mixing
3. Shaping, Forming and Cooling
4. Texturing
5. Quality Assurances

• In addition to melting raw materials, composite sleepers contain severalcomponents that do no

melt in manufacturing process. Therefore, the systemsimultaneously melts the plastics and
completely mixes it with the non-meltingcomponents to achieve the appropriate properties for the
finished compositesleepers.
OBJECTIVE

> High Strength and having a life of 40 to 50years.

> Low weight
> High corrosion resistance
> Fire resistant
> Low thermal conductivity
> Low electrical conductivity
> Non magnetic properties
> Good attenuation of sound and vibration
> Excellent design flexibility
> Low life cycle cost
> Resistance to hydrolysis, greases and oils
> Environmentally friendly and completely recyclable
THANK YOU