Among the track components, the rail braces is installed on the outside of the rail to effectively resist the lateral force between the wheel and the rail. It is generally installed on the outside of the outer rail of the curve with a small radius to prevent excessive lateral displacement of the track and even the overturning of the rail when the train passes through the curve. The rail brace is more commonly used in wooden sleeper tracks. In most turnout switch points, rail braces are also installed on the outside of the base rail to increase the lateral stiffness of the rail. There are various shapes of rail braces.

Types of Rail Braces:

Adjustable rail brace: An adjustable rail brace consists of an adjustable rail brace body, an adjustable rail brace rack base, a rail brace washer, and a nylon rail brace base gasket. The characteristic of this type is that the rack base of the adjustable rail brace has a slope of 12° to 15°, and the pitch of the saw teeth is 10 to 15 mm.

Elastic rail brace: The elastic rail brace is mainly set on the non-working side of the base rail, guide curve rail, and guard rail of the turnout switch, as well as the base rail of the double switch of the double crossover turnout. The purpose of setting rail braces in turnouts is to prevent the rail from overturning and the gauge from expanding, and to ensure the stability of the rail.

Anti-crawling rail brace: It includes the base rail, pad, turnout sleeper bolt, and turnout sleeper. The base rail has holes spaced at intervals along its length. The anti-crawling rail brace is connected to the base rail through bolts and anti-loosening nuts. The two sides of the anti-crawling rail brace’s claws are clamped on both sides of the pad, and the pad is connected to the turnout sleeper through the turnout sleeper bolt. Advantages: It can not only effectively limit the longitudinal position of the base rail and prevent the relative displacement between the base rail and the turnout sleeper, but also ensure the stability of the turnout switch structure and the high smoothness of the turnout.

The core mission of the rail brace is to resist the strong lateral force on the rail and maintain the gauge stability:

Strong rigidity, resisting lateral displacement:

When the train passes through a curve, the huge centrifugal force or the lateral force between the wheel and the rail fiercely impacts the outer rail, attempting to push it outward. The rail brace, with its robust and rigid structure (usually forged from cast steel or high-strength steel), tightly abuts against the outer side of the rail web (sometimes also used on the inner rail), forming a physical barrier. It directly and efficiently transmits these lateral forces to the sleeper and ballast, effectively preventing dangerous lateral displacement of the rail and avoiding gauge expansion.

Stable triangle, locking rail overturning:

The rolling of train wheels, especially under heavy load or high speed, easily causes the rail to tip inward (the rail head towards the center of the track). The rail brace, with the sleeper and the fastening system, forms a stable “triangle support” structure. It firmly “supports” the bottom of the rail web from the outside, significantly increasing the rail’s moment of resistance to overturning, maintaining its vertical position, and ensuring the precise geometric relationship of the wheel-rail contact.

Force transmission, distributing a huge impact:

The rail brace acts like an efficient “force converter”, distributing the concentrated lateral impact force on the rail to a larger area of the sleeper top and ballast layer. This greatly reduces the pressure on the fastening system (such as elastic bars, bolts) to bear the lateral load alone, extending their service life and enhancing the overall integrity and stability of the entire track structure.

Key performance: The cornerstone of curve safety

To fulfill such a crucial role, the rail brace must possess a series of outstanding performances:

Extraordinary strength and rigidity:

This is the lifeline of the rail brace. It must be able to withstand repeated huge lateral impact forces without plastic deformation or fracture. Its material (such as high-toughness cast steel, forged alloy steel) and structural design (such as ribbed plates, thickened cross-section) ensure its geometric stability under extreme loads, providing continuous and reliable support. A typical rail brace is required to withstand lateral loads of several tons to tens of tons.

Outstanding Fatigue Resistance:

Rail tracks are constantly subjected to periodic dynamic load impacts. The rail brace must maintain structural integrity after millions of stress cycles and avoid sudden failure due to fatigue crack propagation. This depends on high-quality materials, precise manufacturing processes (such as stress relief) and optimized geometric shape design.

Precise Fitness and Stability:

The rail support must be perfectly compatible with the corresponding rail type (such as 60kg/m, 75kg/m), sleeper type (wooden sleeper, concrete sleeper) and fastening system. The design of the contact surface with the rail web (such as friction surface, slot) must ensure a tight fit and no looseness after installation, and maintain the initial tightness under long-term vibration to prevent functional failure due to “false support”.

Durable weather resistance and corrosion resistance:

Exposed to harsh environments such as wind and rain, temperature changes, and de-icing salt, the rail support needs to have excellent corrosion resistance. Usually, long-lasting protection methods such as hot-dip galvanizing and epoxy coating are adopted, or weather-resistant steel is directly used for manufacturing to ensure that it can effectively resist rust and maintain structural strength over decades of service.

Maintainability:

The design should consider the convenience of on-site inspection and replacement, such as providing clear inspection marks and easy-to-disassemble connection methods (such as bolt connections), so that maintenance or replacement can be carried out without affecting the overall line operation efficiency.

Supplier

Luoyang Fonyo Heavy Industries Co., Ltd, founded in 1998,is a manufacturer in railway casting parts. Our factory covers an area of 72,600㎡, with more than 300 employees, 32 technicians, including 5 senior engineers, 11 assistant engineers, and 16 technicians. Our production capacity is 30,000 tons per year. Currently, we mainly produce casting, machining, and assembly for locomotive, railcar, high-speed trains, mining equipment, wind power, etc.
We are the railway parts supply to CRRC(including more than 20 branch companies and subsidiaries of CRRC), Gemac Engineering Machinery, Sanygroup, Citic Heavy Industries, etc. Our products have been exported to Russia, the United States, Germany, Argentina, Japan, France, South Africa, Italy and other countries all over the world.
Contact Information:
Email:sales@railwaypart.com
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