Sub: Modernization of track.

1.0

Inputs Track Structure In order to have track compatible with higher axle load and higher speed operations, the modernization of Track is essential. The Track structure shall be such that operation of 25t freight at 100 Kmph and Passenger trains with speed at 200 Kmph is feasible without any significant restriction with reduced maintenance requirement. The broad parameters to be kept in view while deciding the modernization inputs are .1 Uniformity of Track structure: Multiplicity of track components result in high inventory. So standard track structure shall be adopted. .2 It should be feasible to continue the long welded rails on all locations without any restriction. .3 The maintenance regime shall be predictive rather than periodicity based. .4 Suitable diagnostic aids shall be available so that dependence on manual inspection is minimized and safety is enhanced. With above in review, the details are deliberated in following Para. Rails: 60 kg 90 UTS Rails are used on IR at present. The existing Rails suffer drawbacks of being brittle in nature and inadequate corrosion resistant properties. As assessed in Lab. evaluations, Ductility and corrosion resistant properties can be improved even for 90UTS rails by suitable micro alloying. BSP is already working on new chemistry of rails. With commissioning of DFC, the operation of 25t axle load will be regular on majority of routes. The Rails stresses for 60 Kg 90 UTS rails are exceeding safety limits. Thus Higher Rail section of 68 Kg will have be used. Field weld are inherently weak, thus need of rolling longer Rails. Only long Rails of length 130m need to be supplied to reduce number of welds. Suitable arrangement for transportation and unloading of Rakes will have to be developed. The new EUR rakes shall be capable of running at 100 Kmph with 260/ 520 m panels. Thus, for new constructions and renewal works, 68 kg 90UTS rails within improved ductility and corrosion properties shall be used.

1.1

1.2

PSC Sleepers:

Size of PSC

The existing design of PSC sleepers has served the present traffic needs sleeper to be satisfactorily. However, the design needs review particularly on tentatively following accounts: decided. 1. The increased longitudinal and lateral resistance of track will be pre requisite for continuation of long welded rails. Heavier sleeper will significantly add to resistance of track. IR sleepers are much smaller in size as compared to one used in Railway systems worldwide. 2. The rail seat area is small, resulting in small plan area thus size of GRSP. This has been one of the major factors for poor in service performance of rubber pads. There is need to increase Rail seat area. The new design of PSC sleeper shall be such that it has more concrete mass with reduced reinforcement and increased plan area at Rail seat. The rail seat shall be designed such a way that it is suitable for 68Kg UIC rails with feasibility of using 60Kg rails, so that the rail replacement subsequently does not require sleeper replacement. The rail seat able to accommodate the width of rubber pad minimum 200mm wide. It shall be possible for existing Tamping machines to work without any limitation. 1.3 Fastening System: Details to be With the existing fastening system, toe load in range of 600 - 800Kg is provided. observed in service. In ideal condition, rail - sleeper resistance and sleeper - ballast resistance should be almost of the same order to avoid the rail creep. With new design of sleepers, the fastening system will also require change. While designing the fastening system, following broad guide lines be adhered: 1. In service Toe load - 1100 to 1200Kg 2. Minimum Thickness of GRSP: 10 mm 3. Reduced tolerances in fastening components The performance of fastening system depends upon the combined effect of tolerance in ERC, Liners and SGCI inserts. In case the tolerances of individual component are added on one side, even with new fastening component the toe load can be in range of 400 to 500Kg, which is grossly inadequate. Thus, the regime of fastening procurement system also needs review. The system of tolerance individual components shall give way to overall tolerances in complete fastening system. The complete fastening system should be procured as one unit with strict performance criteria rather than individual components. 1.4 Rail Welding: The supply of long rails (rolled rail length of 130m) will substantially reduce the quantum of welding.

For new construction/ planned renewals, only flash butt welds shall be allowed. No dispensation shall be given for undertaking AT welding in any situation. The site welding shall be done necessarily with Mobile flash welding plant. The casual welding/repair weld shall also be done by the mobile Flash butt welding Plants. As already decided, the procurement of Mobile Flash Butt welding plants shall be expedited. For urgent repair welds, only improved SKV welding technique with compressed air pre-heating, three piece mould, auto thimble and single shot crucible shall be used. The strength parameters for SKV welds should also be reviewed and it should be comparable with Flash butt welds.

1.5

1.6

Ballast: The clean ballast cushion of 350mm shall be mandatory for all new constructions/ Planned renewals with width of shoulder ballast as specified at present. Formation: For better retentively of ballast, formation width shall be suitably increased to provide minimum cess width of 600mm to facilitate un obstructed movement of small track machines and labour. Stable formation is pre requisite for heavy axle load operation as well as for high speed. For new constructions, minimum 75mm blanket shall be provided and formation shall be well compacted.

Details to be provided.

Details to be provided.

1.7

Switch Expansion Joint: The switch expansion joint should not have any discontinuity on running gauge face for reliable service life. The improved SEJ designed by RDSO, shall be standard SEJ and conventional SEJ should be phased out. Glued Insulated Joint: Glued insulated joints are discontinuity in track and are not desirable. In new construction (new lines as well as Gauge conversion), the signaling system adopted should be such that there is no need for glued insulated joint. On existing routes, with improvement/ modernization of signaling system, the glued insulated joint should be gradually phased out. Prefabricated Glued Joints require minimum Two additional welds at each location. As such, till such time the glued insulated joint is required, technique for in-situ manufacture of glued joint shall be developed and standardized. This will reduce the number of site welds

1.8

which are weak link in track. The manufacturing methodology of glued insulated joint shall be reviewed thoroughly to obtain consistency of in situ Glued Joints for better in service reliability. Only in-situ glued joint shall be allowed. 1.9 Details to be Bridge Sleeper: On Girder Bridges, Steel channel sleepers are mostly used at present. provided. The in service performance of these sleepers have not been satisfactory due to number of loose components and corrosion problem. The composite sleepers have performed well in trials and are proper replacement of bridge timbers due to inherent advantage of ease in use. The composite sleeper shall be standardized for use on steel girder bridges and shall be the bridge sleeper for track. The suitable fastening system having zero toe load and adequate torsional resistance will be needed for continuation of long welded rails over Girder Bridges. Such fastening systems shall be designed and developed, which will be standard fastening for use with composite sleepers. 1.10 Turnouts:The fabricated curved switches and CMS crossings being used at present have limitation on maintainability and continuation of LWR. These limitations are addressed in Thick web switches and weldable CMS crossings. As such, it shall be mandatory to use Thick web switches and weldable CMS crossings on all new constructions and Planned renewals. This will facilitate immediate continuation of long welded rails through turnouts. The spring setting device shall be integral part of thick web switches. The design shall be reviewed and proper design of SSD shall be provided. The fastening system for turnouts shall be re-designed to address the problem of working out of rubber pads in crossing area and other such locations. On high traffic density routes explosive depth hardening crossing shall be provided. There is also need to develop the suitable design of swing nose crossing for use on high speed routes. 1.11 Level Crossing: In new constructions, no level crossing or surface crossing shall be Details to be provided.

provided in any circumstance. On existing network, all out efforts shall be made for elimination of level crossings. Till such time, the LCs are eliminated, the arrangement at Level crossing needs review to provide arrangement which does not require provision of check Rails. The surfacing of existing level crossing shall be re-designed and standardized so that there is no requirement of check rails & resurfacing shall be possible without delay. This will also eliminate the restriction of continuation of LWR at number of locations. 1.12 Approach slab at Bridges: Continuity of track modulus over sufficiently longer length is essential for higher speeds. Slab bridge approaches suffer drawback on this account. The provision of suitable approach bridge slab shall be mandatory for all new constructions. 2.0 Diagnostic tools for Track inspection and maintenance: With increasing traffic, manual inspection is no longer effective for planning the maintenance activity. The traffic blocks for maintenance are also decreasing considerably. As such, the maintenance regime has to shift to predictive maintenance, for which Continuation monitoring of track is necessary. Computerized Track maintenance management & monitoring system: The track management system developed so far takes the inputs only from TRC & OMS. There is need to develop a system on line with OHE monitoring system, which continuously monitors the system and send alert. As such, the TMS need to be upgraded to incorporate the user friendly features with inputs from other diagnostic tools which are to be provided during modernization. Ultrasonic Testing of rails: The present system of USFD testing of complete network with pedestrian SRT/ DRT will not be a reliable system with increased traffic. Thus, Vehicle based ultrasonic testing with follow up testing by pedestrian USFD machines shall be implemented. Both the systems i.e. vehicular and Pedestrian should be GPS compatible for precise location on defects and monitoring flaw growth rate. The vehicle based USFD system shall be capable of preciously recording the defect at speed of about 40 to 50 Kmph with facility of automatically preserving both the A and B scan of defects.

2.1

2.2

The pedestrian testing should have facility for hand probing and shall be able to record the details of defects with flaw size. The software system of USFD should be capable of comparing the recording of different runs and shall be compatible for direct input with track management system. 2.3 Rail stress monitoring system: The long welded rails require lesser maintenance but require continuous monitoring for Rail stresses to prevent Track Buckling and Rail fractures. The continuation of long welded rails through various locations will require regular monitoring of locked up thermal rail stresses and determination of stress free temperature for deciding the need based destressing of welded panels. The following two systems need to be implemented: a) Stationary rail stress continuous monitoring system: This shall be installed at critical/vulnerable location such as bridges, bridge approaches, sharp curves, gradients etc. for safety against rail breaks and buckling tendency. The software shall be compatible with direct inputs to track management system. b) Portable rail stress monitoring system and determination of stress free temperature: Determination of stress free temperature is essential for planning need based distressing of LWR. The portable system shall be deployed for periodically monitoring of stress free temperature with provision of necessary software for calculating the factor of safety against buckling of track. One system for each sub-division will be essential. System shall be compatible for direct interface with track management system. 2.4 Broken rail detection system: The rail weld fractures are major safety hazard. The system of broken rail detection system and warning system with suitable interface to signaling system shall be deployed to warn the broken rails to prevent mishap. Installation of way side lubricators: With introduction of heavier axle loads and rail grinding, even for mild curves gauge face lubrication will be required. Manual lubrication is not effective, as lubricant is lost after few trains. Automatic gauge face lubricators shall be installed on all curves on Indian Railways as per technical specification of track based lubricators issued by RDSO. Study shall also be undertaken to judge efficacy and need for top of rail lubrication in heavily graded/curved section. Worldwide experience has

2.5

been very encouraging. After detailed study the system top of rail lubrication shall be developed and adopted. 2.6 Vehicle monitoring system : Non conformities in rolling stock such at wheel flats, out of round wheels in adequate/in effective suspension system increase the dynamic augment on track significantly. There is need to install way side detectors such as WILD which give the dynamic augment on track for preventive action to control rail weld fractures. The WILD shall be installed by Track department, as not much headway has been made in this regard.