Vossloh W30HH heavy-duty fastener assembly

Railway Era, October 2021 Issue: Railway fastener system technology continues to evolve to provide tight maintenance and longer track life in heavy-duty freight, high-speed passenger railway and transportation applications.

Instrument retention capability. elasticity. Noise reduction. Easy to install and maintain. The life cycle cost is low. Safety. The railway depends on these qualities when selecting and installing new railway fasteners. 

To meet these requirements, suppliers continue to incrementally update their system technologies for heavy-duty freight, high-speed passenger transportation, and transit applications. 

How has the fastening system market developed in the past 10 years? “The elastic fastener system continues to gain popularity due to its high gauge, widening resistance and prevention of railroad rollover, especially on high slope and high slope curves,” said Yin Gao, a senior engineer at the Transportation Technology Center (TTCI). "In addition, the hook bolt system used between the bridge deck ties improves the safety and productivity of the installation." 

Gao told the railway era that design and materials are also advancing. "Insulators used for concrete connections are a good example," he said. "TTCI tested certain types of insulators, but they failed relatively quickly due to exposure to sunlight. We discussed this situation with our suppliers. The new insulators with improved formulations performed well. Another example is for concrete. Rail seat cushions for sleepers. Track seat cushions are continuously improved to reduce the aging of the track cushions. In addition, the new rail cushion design for concrete sleepers has been used to quickly repair the sleepers."

Gao said that R&D will continue to focus on system improvement. "The improved fastening system can not only improve the fastening components, but also reduce the maintenance of other track engineering components and train subsystems," he pointed out. "In addition, with the help of more advanced data collection systems and data analysis tools, site-specific data will be used to determine what to install and how and when to perform maintenance."

The Railway Times contacted fastening system suppliers to learn about their latest technology and market conditions.

"Our fastening products are in strong demand worldwide, and the market is still very strong," Pan Delu said. Customers are "seeking innovation, usability, and simple applications." Some manufacturers, such as Progress Rail, "foresee stronger prospects" as the federal government prepares to target infrastructure investment. 

The following is a summary of the supplier's products.

Howmet's Huck 360, C50L and BobTail fasteners can be used in a variety of track applications, such as insulated joints; gauge plates; and intersections, including RBM frogs and diamonds. They provide "uniform clamping force and unparalleled vibration resistance, thereby reducing bending and extending track and crossover life," Howmet said. Since they will not be lost, “maintenance intervals are greatly extended and the railway line benefits from reduced downtime,” the manufacturer added.

Howmet said that in traditional nut and bolt installations, the gap between the nut and bolt threads can cause looseness. To help eliminate the gap, the company's HuckBolt design has "complete metal-to-metal contact between the molded collar and pin." The swaged connection also helps resist vibration.  

In addition, depending on the bolts used, HuckBolts' bolt cross-sectional area can be increased by up to 30%, and the root radius can be increased by up to 5 times, depending on the bolt used, resulting in a "stronger and safer joint", Howmet told The Age of Railways.

The company specializes in locking bolts of one inch or larger in diameter. According to Graham Musgrove, HFS Industrial Marketing and Product Manager, smaller diameter options have a lower value proposition, so they have recently been phased out. "We decided to refocus and re-use additional production capacity, engineering resources and inventory for other product lines, not only for the railway industry, but also for our other strategic industries."

Sarah McBrayer, general manager of transportation products, told Railroad Times that while the pandemic has delayed some transportation authorities' purchases due to the availability of employees, others have used track closures to speed up maintenance projects. However, the supply of raw materials, labor shortages and shipping delays have all prolonged the delivery time for material procurement.  

Sheen Fong, Technical Sales Director of Transit Products, said that customers in the market are looking for "more flexible options, compact designs and corrosion-resistant coatings." In addition, they hope to "get a more flexible product in the same footprint as the existing direct fixed plating system," McBreyer said. "These can be double-anchor and quad-anchor footprints." Equally important: noise and vibration mitigation, corrosion control, easy maintenance and fewer assembly parts.

The Chicago Transportation Authority (CTA) installed LB Foster's F51R4 model, a direct replacement for the four-anchor direct-fixed electroplating system, and is currently implementing it as part of its red-purple modernization project. "This DF fastener provides excellent resilience, noise and vibration mitigation, and electrical isolation," McBreyer points out. 

McBrayer said the special coatings LB Foster is developing are suitable for DF fastener applications (helping to extend fastener life by preventing rust and corrosion) and third rail insulators to help prevent dust and debris accumulation. 

The company is also committed to "prototyping and qualification of highly elastic DF fasteners in the standard DF fastener footprint," McBrayer said. "This new product line will be very suitable for applications that require greater elasticity, noise, and vibration reduction. In areas such as transfer stations, bridges and overpasses, and residential areas. It is designed for new buildings and renovation and maintenance replacement projects because it provides the same anchoring positions as standard DF fasteners."

Lewis bolt and nut co.

According to George Apostolou, vice president of sales, Lewis Bolt and Nut Company's latest product is the G2™ (or second generation) Evergrip Screw Spike for freight rail and transportation agencies. G2 offers "significantly improved fatigue resistance" because it has a longer, stronger full-body handle, and a new "belt barb designed to prevent withdrawal," he said. With this design, the fins/barbs are located on the lower part of the screw, "allowing us to significantly increase the strength of the screw in its most critical area, which is located a few inches below the shank of the screw head." G2 One of the advantages is its steep thread angle, which allows it to be turned or driven; according to the company, it only takes 2-1/2 turns to install it from start to finish. G2 provides double-head or single-head design for easy disassembly. 

Apostolou said that Lewis Bolt and Nut Company continues to strive to provide customers with incremental product improvements and has been seeking internally to improve the efficiency of its manufacturing process. 

"In the past few years, market competition has become more intense, which is good for us and our customers," Progress Rail told "Railroad Times." "Increasing competition shows how we create new products, create value for our customers, and let us stand out from the competition." The company said that an example of this is its ADFF55 fasteners. Launched a few years ago, it is "a more economical solution to our traditional high-elasticity DF egg-shaped DF. ADFF matches the noise and vibration attenuation performance of Egg DF, and it also matches the standard full-system DF anchor bolt style It matches the height of the track seat. This makes the construction less complicated and economical."

Progress Rail also introduced the DF Block system. The company explained: “It is especially useful in tunnels. Contractors no longer need to embed steel bars, form bases, handle various hardware, or perform post-lifting procedures to level the concrete and fill the voids under the footprint of the DF device.” “DF Block provides a factory-finished surface. DF and hardware are already connected as part of the system.” According to Progress Rail, the contractor clamped the DF Block system to the rail, set the rail to its final position and height, and poured the final Concrete.

The company is currently providing systems for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Western Purple Line, Sound Transit’s Federal Way and E130 "floating bridge" projects; and has signed agreements with CTA, Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Material supply contract. "In terms of freight, we will continue to provide durable fastening solutions for the maintenance and expansion of concrete tie rod installations in North America and some international projects, and we expect to announce them soon." 

According to Progress Rail, “consistent and rapid supply” is one of the top customer requirements. "With our state-of-the-art laboratory, we can perform multiple testing procedures," the company added. "This ensures that product testing is completed on time" and allows for scheduled shipments. 

"Progress Rail continues to invest in fastening technology solutions that add value to our customers in terms of longevity, ease of installation and reliability," the company told "Rail Times."

Officials told the "Rail Age" that Vossloh had "sustained success" in rolling out transportation fastening systems to the North American market in the past few years, and it had a "healthy" backlog of projects. Transportation agencies continue to use Vossloh's tethered elastic fasteners. 

"Using the lessons learned from the rich experience of cooperating with Class I freight railways to meet their railway fastener system requirements, the performance advantages of Vossloh fastener systems-the high multi-directional fatigue limit of the tension clamp, the secondary stiffness and the optimized track Mat geometry-has been introduced to meet the needs of the public transportation market," the official said. 

All of the company's fastening systems are delivered to the pre-assembled work site, and it is said that the minimum labor required to complete the installation after the track is delivered. 

For the past 50 years, Vossloh has developed and delivered rail and turnout fastener systems for more than 10,000 miles of high-speed tracks worldwide. "Many projects have unique requirements that stimulate innovation and advance the tasks that rail fastener systems can accomplish; therefore, as the North American industry develops and the focus shifts to high-speed rail, Vossloh has the ability to cooperate to meet their unique needs ," Vossloh official said.

Currently, Vossloh is providing concrete tie fastener kits for multiple public transportation projects in North America. 

One of the latest Vossloh products developed to meet the needs of railways is the Cellentic track pad. "Cellentic is a microporous EPDM-based elastomer with a closed-cell structure, which ensures high elasticity and load absorption within its own structure," the Vossloh official said. "Result: The deformation of the permanent elastic layer is very small, reducing load, vibration and track maintenance. The honeycomb intermediate layer has been used to optimize the elasticity of the ballasted track and the flat track."