Module-4

1. Define Permanent ways and list its requirements.

A. The track or permanent way is the rail road on which trains run. The combination of
rails, fitted on sleepers and resting on ballast and subgrade is called the railway track
or permanent way.

Requirements for permanent ways are:

 The gauge should be correct and uniform.

 The rails should be in proper level. In a straight track, two rails must be at the
same level.

 On curves, the outer rail should have proper super elevation and there should
be proper transition at the junction of a straight and a curve.

 The alignment should be correct i.e. it should be free from irregularities.

 The gradient should be uniform and as gentle as possible. Any change of

gradient should be followed by a smooth vertical curve, to give smooth riding
quality.

 The track should be resilient and elastic in order to adsorb shocks and
vibrations of running tracks.

 The radii and super elevation on curves should be properly designed and
maintained.

 Drainage system must be perfect for enhancing safety and durability of track.

 Joints, including points and crossings which are regarded to be weakest points
of the railway track, should be properly designed and maintained.

 There should be adequate provision for easy renewals and replacements.

 The track structure should be strong, low in initial cost as well as maintenance
cost.

 The various components of track i.e., rails, fittings, sleepers, ballast and
formation must fully satisfy the requirements for which they have been
provided. If any component is lacking in fulfilling its requirements, then either
it should be improved or replaced.
 2. Define gauge and list its types. Also draw a neat sketch of single line BG track with all
dimensions.

A. Gauge in the railway track is defined as the clear distance between inner or running
face of two track rails. The distance between the inner faces of a pair of wheels is
called wheel gauge.
Types of Gauges:
 Standard gauge -1.67m
 Meter gauge- 1.0m
 Narrow gauge-0.762m
 Feeder track gauge/ Light gauge-0.610m

3. Draw a neat sketch of double line BG track with all the dimensions

4. Explain coning of wheels and tilting of rails.

A. Coning of Wheels.
 The Surface of wheels are made in cone shape
 The diameter of wheel is different at different cross section
of the wheel, when the train running on the straight track try
to move in any direction, the diameter of the wheel
increases over one rail and the wheel assembly is
automatically forced to move back in its original central
position due to difference of distances moved over two rails.
 Whereas on a curved track, due to centrifugal force the train
is forced in outward direction, the diameter on outer track
increases and the distance on two tracks are adjusted.
 These wheels are coned at a slope of 1 in 20.
Purpose of coning:

 coning of wheels in railways will always keep the train in the central position

of the rails.

 This does not allow the train to move in sideways directions on a straight track.
  This allows the wheels to move in different directions while taking turns and thereby
reduces wear and tear.

Advantage

 It will remove slipping action between wheel and rails

 Coning of wheels helps in easy movement of wheels on the track while taking turns &
provides a smooth ride .
 This reduces friction and rupture between the wheel and the rails.
 The service life of wheels will be Increased.
 To reduce the wear and tear of the wheel flanges and rails.

Disadvantages

 The horizontal component of force will act at the inner edge of the rails and cause wear of
rail quickly.
 Due to this horizontal component, the gauge may be widened.
 For removing these errors, we have to do the tilting of rails.

Tilting of rails:

 Rails are tilted inward at an angle of 1 in 20 to reduce wear and tear on the rails as well as on
the tread of the wheels.
 As the pressure of the wheel acts near the inner edge of the rail, there is heavy wear and
tear of the rail.
 Lateral bending stresses are also created due to eccentric loading of rails.
 To reduce the wear and tear as well as lateral stresses, rails are tilted at a slope of 1 in 20,
which is also the slope of wheel cone.

Advantages:

 It maintains the gauge properly

 The life span of the wheel and rails will be increased.

5. Define rail and explain various types of rails.

A. Rails on the track can be considered as steel girders for the purpose of carrying axle loads.
They are made of high carbon steel to withstand wear and tear.

Various types of rails include:

Double headed rails:

 The rail sections, whose foot and head are of same dimensions, are called Double
headed or Dumb-bell rails. In the beginning, these rails were widely used in the
railway track.
 The idea behind using these rails was that when the head had worn out due to
rubbing action of wheels, the rails could be inverted and reused.
 But by experience it was found that their foot could not be used as running surface
because it also got corrugated under the impact of wheel loads.
  This type of rail is not in use in Indian Railways now-a day.

Bull headed rails:

 The rail section whose head dimensions are more than that of their foot are called bull
headed rails.
 In this type of rail, the head is made little thicker and stronger than the lower part by adding
more metal to it.
 These rails also require chairs for holding them in position.
 Bull headed rails are especially used for making points and crossings.

Flat footed rails:

 The rail sections having their foot rolled to flat are called flat footed or vignole`s rails.
 This type of rail was invented by Charles Vignole in 1836.
 It was initially thought that the flat-footed rails could by fixed directly to wooden sleepers
and would eliminate chairs and keys required for the B.H. rails. But later on, it was observed
that heavy train loads caused the foot of the rail to sink into the sleepers and making the
spikes loose.
 To remove this defect, steel bearing plates were used in between flat-footed rails and the
wooden sleeper. These rails are most commonly used in India.

6. What are the functions and requirements of rails.

A. Function of rails:
 Rails provide a hard, smooth and unchanging surface for passage of heavy moving loads with
a maximum friction between the steel rails and steel wheels.
 Rails bear the stresses developed due to heavy vertical loads, lateral and braking forces and
thermal stresses.
 The rail material used is such that it gives minimum wear to avoid replacement charges and
failures of rails due to wear.
 Rails transmit the loads to sleepers and consequently reduce pressure on ballast and
formation below
Requirements of rails:
 The vertical stiffness should be high enough to transmit the load to several sleepers
underneath. The height of rail should therefore adequate.
 Rails should be capable of withstanding lateral forces. Large width of head and foot endows
the rails with high lateral stiffness.
 The head must be sufficiently deep to allow for an adequate margin of vertical wear. The
wearing surface should be hard.
 Web of rails should be sufficiently thick to bear the load coming on it and should provide
adequate flexural rigidity.
 Foot should be wide enough so that rails are stable against overturning, especially on curves
 Bottom of the head and top of the foot of rails should be so shaped as to enable the fish
plates to transmit the vertical load efficiently from the head to the foot at rail joints.
  Relative distribution of material of rail in head, web and foot must be balanced for smooth
transmission of loads.
 The center of gravity of the rail section must lie approximately at mid height so that
maximum tensile and compressive stresses are equal.
 The tensile strength of the rail piece should not be less than 72kg/m2

7. Explain various types and defects of rails.

A. Corrugated/ roaring rails: In Certain places where frequent breaks are applied or at the train
start, the head of the rails are found to be corrugated rather than of smooth and straight,
when the train pass over such rails a roaring sound will occur.
Hogged Rails: Due to battering action of wheels over the end of the rails, the rails get
bent down and get deflected at the ends.
 This hogging of the rails at the end is due to loosen packing under the
joints and/or loose fish plates.
 This defect causes rough riding

Kinks in rails: When the ends of adjoining rails move slightly out of position, “shoulders” or
“kinks” are formed.

Causes:

 Loose packing at joints

 Defects in gauge and alignment
 Defect in cross level at joints
 Uneven wear of rail head

Buckling of rails: Buckling means the track has gone out of its original position or alignment
due to prevention of expansion of rails in hot weather an account of temperature variations. It may
take place on tangent lengths and at curves.

Causes:

 When expansion gap is not sufficient, the force of expansion throws

 the track out of position, resulting in bending/ buckling
 The fish plates being bolted so tight that the rails are not allowed to

slip or expand

 Due to presence of longer welded rails on weak tracks which results

in excessive expansion.

8. Explain track fitting and fasteners in brief.

A. Track fittings and fastenings are fittings requires for joining of rails end to end and also
for fixing the rails to sleepers in a track.

Functions of track fittings and fastenings

 1. To join the rails, end to end to form full length of track.

2. To fix the rails to sleepers.

3. To maintain the correct alignment of the track

4. To provide proper expansion gap between rails.

5. To maintain the required tilt of rails

Fish plates

 Fish plates are used in rail joints to maintain the continuity of the rails.
 Two types of fish plates are commonly used on Indian Railways for joining F.F. and B.H. rails,
each fish plate is 457 mm long and provided with four holes 32 mm at a spacing of114 mm
c/c.
 These are manufactured of steel and are so designed that they fit in between the head and
foot of the rail.

Bearing Plates

 Bearing plates are cast iron or steel plates placed in between the F.F rail and wooden
sleepers of a railway track.
 F.F. rails if fixed directly on wooden sleepers sink in the sleeper due to the heavy loads of
trains and thus loosen the spikes.
 To overcome this difficulty bearing plates are used under F.F. rails to distribute the load over
a wider area and bring the intensity of pressure within limit.

Spikes

 Spikes are used for holding the rails to the wooden sleepers.
 These can be used with or without bearing plates below the rails.

Types of Spikes

1. Dog spikes: Dog spikes are the cheaper type of spikes which hold the rails at correct gauge
and can be easily fixed and removed.
 These are commonly used for holding F.F. rails. Four dog spikes are used per sleeper, two on
either side of the rail.
2. Screw spikes: Screw spikes are tapered screws with V-threads.
 Their head is circular with a square projection and are used to fasten rails with wooden
sleepers.
 The holding power of these spikes is more than double to that of dog spikes and can resist
the lateral thrust better than the dog spikes.
3. Round spikes: Round spikes are used for fixing chairs of B.H rails to wooden sleepers and
also for fixing slide chairs of points and crossings. These have both cylindrical or
hemispherical head.
4. Elastic spikes: Elastic spikes are used for fixing F.F rails to wooden. These give better grip and
result in reduction of wear and tear of rail. The advantage of this type of spike is that it is not
pulled by the wave action of the moving train.
9. What are the functions and requirements of Railway ballast.
A. Ballast is the granular material usually broken stone or brick, shingle or kankar, gravel or sand
placed and packed below and around the sleepers to transmit load from sleepers to
formation and at the same time allowing drainage of the track
Functions of Railway Ballast:
 It transfers the load from the sleeper to the subgrade and then distributes it
uniformly over a larger area of the formation.
 It holds the sleepers in position and prevents the lateral and longitudinal movement,
due to dynamic loads and vibrations of moving trains.
 It imparts some degree of elasticity of the track.
 It provides easy means of maintaining the correct levels of the two lines of a track
and for correcting track alignment.
 It provides good drained foundation immediately below the sleepers and helps to
protect the top surface of the formation. This is achieved by providing coarse and
rough aggregates with plenty of voids.

Requirements of Railway Ballast:

 It should be able to withstand hard packing without disintegrating. In other words it should
resist crushing under dynamic loads.
 It should not make the track dusty or muddy due powder under dynamic wheel loads but
should be capable of being cleaned to provide good drainage.
 It should allow for easy drainage with minimum soakage and the voids should be large
enough to prevent capillary action.
 It should offer resistance to abrasion and weathering. Abrasion means wear due rubbing
action of particles with each other and weathering means cracking and shattering of the
material due to variation in temperature, moisture and freezing.
 It should retain its position laterally and longitudinally under all conditions of traffic,
particularly on curves, where it should be able to prevent transverse displacement of
sleepers.
 It should not produce any chemical action in rail and metal sleepers
 The size of stone ballast should be 5cm for wooden sleepers, 4cm for metal sleepers and 8.
2.5cm for turnouts and crossovers.
 The materials should be easily workable by means of the implements in use.
 The ballast should be available in nearby quarries so that it reduces the cost of supply. It
should also fulfil the requirements of quality, amount of traffic, life and maintenance cost.

10. Explain different types of sleepers with advantages and disadvantages.

A. Sleepers are members generally laid transverse to the rails on which the rails are supported
and fixed, to transfer the loads from rails to the ballast and subgrade below.
Different types of sleepers include:
1. Wooden sleepers: Wooden sleepers are regarded to be best as they fulfill almost all the
requirements of ideal sleeper. Their life depends upon their ability to resist wear, decay,
attack by vermin (white ants) and quality of timber used.

Advantages:
 Timber is easily available in all the parts of India.
  Fittings for wooden sleepers are few and simple in design.
 These sleepers are able to resist shocks and vibrations due to heavy moving loads
and also give less noisy track.
 These are easy to lay, relay, pack, lift and maintain.
 These are suitable for all types of ballast.
 Wooden sleepers are over-all economical.

Disadvantages:
 These sleepers are subjected to wear, decay, attack by white ants, warping, cracking,
end splitting, rail cutting etc.
 It is difficult to maintain gauge in the case of wooden sleepers.
 Track is easily disturbed.
 Wooden sleepers have got minimum service life (12-15 years) as compared to other
types.
 Maintenance cost of wooden sleepers is highest as compared to other types.

2. Sleepers : Due to growing scarcity of wooden sleepers, high cost and short
life metal sleepers were being used. Metal sleepers are either of cast-iron or steel. Cast-iron
is in greater use because of its resistance to corrosion.

Advantages:
 Metal sleepers are uniform in strength and durability.
 In metal sleepers, the performance of fittings is better and hence lesser creep occurs.
 Metal sleepers are economical as life is longer and maintenance is easier.
 Gauge can be easily adjusted and maintained.
 Frequent renewal is not required.
 Have good scrap value, easy to manufacture and not susceptible to fire hazards.

Disadvantages:
 More ballast is required than other types of sleepers.
 Fittings required are greater in number and difficult to maintain/inspect.
 They are liable to rusting/corrosion.
 Metal being good conductor of electricity interferes with track circuiting.
 They are unsuitable for bridges, level crossings and in case of points and crossings.
 These are only suitable for stone ballast and for rails which they are manufactured.

3. Concrete Sleepers These are made of strong homogenous material, impervious to effects
of moisture, and is unaffected by the chemical attack of atmospheric gases or subsoil salts.
These can easily moulded to size and shape required to withstand stresses produced by fast
and heavy traffic.

Advantages:
 These are free from natural decay and attack by vermin etc.
 They have maximum life as compared to others (40-60 years)
 These are not affected by moisture, chemical action of ballast and subsoil
salts.
 There is no difficulty in track circuiting of electrified tracks.
  Increased weight helps to reduces joint maintenance, greater stability of track and
better resistance against temperature variation.
 These have higher elastic modulus and hence can withstand the stresses induced by
fast and heavy traffic.
 They offer an ideal track in respect of gauge, cross-level and alignment

Disadvantages:

 The weight of concrete sleeper is as high as 2.5 to 3 times of wooden sleeper,

requiring the mechanical appliances for handling.
 These require pads and plugs for spikes.
 They damage the bottom edge during packing.
 The scrap value is almost nil.
 The damages to the concrete sleepers are very heavy in case of derailment.

11. What are the design factors considered for metro train and high speed train.

A. Metro Train:
Design should be focused on urban transport efficiency and passenger comfort.
Designed for high passenger volumes with frequent services.

Key Factors:
Capacity Management: Optimal use of space for high passenger throughput.
Accessibility: Doors, ramps, and interiors designed for easy access. Also access to stations
and integration with other transportation modes must be considered.
Energy Efficiency: Regenerative braking, lightweight materials.
Noise Reduction: Soundproofing, aerodynamic design.
Safety: Emergency exits, fire safety measures, crashworthiness.

High speed train:

Rail systems designed for high-speed travel over long distances.
Examples: TGV in France, Shinkansen in Japan, ICE in Germany, Vande Bharat Trains in India
(semi high speed train).
Design should be aimed at high-speed travel with safety and comfort.
Design of Systems for collision avoidance, derailment prevention, and passenger protection.

Key Factors:
Aerodynamics: Streamlined shape to reduce air resistance.
Propulsion Systems: Electric or magnetic levitation for efficiency.
Track Compatibility: High-speed tracks with gentle curves and stable foundations.
- Examples: Dedicated high-speed rail lines, advanced track
materials.
Safety Systems: Advanced signalling, collision avoidance.
Common Design factors

Materials: Lightweight yet durable for performance and safety.

 Impact: Minimizing carbon footprint through design. Low environmental impact through
energy-efficient technologies and reduced emissions

Maintenance: Easy access for inspection and upkeep.

Passenger Experience: Seating arrangement, amenities, onboard services.

Both Metro and high-speed train designs are tailored to specific operational needs and passenger
expectations.