Dimapur, April 19 (EMN): The 'long welded rail' (LWR) has been installed in rail tracks to make train rides ‘safe and jerk free.’ An update from the Northeast Frontier Railway (NF)issued on April 19 Thursday stated that 90% of the rail tracks had been covered with LWR since 2017 to 2018, which is about 648 km.
Long welded rails are said to be tracks where there are no ‘fish plated joints.’ Since rail joints are a potential source of jerk, LWR gives a much smoother ride and also very safe as possibility of joint failure is eliminated altogether.
The LWR is said to be made of end-to-end welding of single piece rails, each of 13 m in length. The single rails are rolled under very strict conditions to comply with exact standards in the factories of SAIL. The rails are then welded end-to-end by a process known as 'flash butt' welding. NF Railway has set up 'flash butt' welding plants and commissioned mobile 'flash butt' welding plants which carry out ‘in-situ welding’ (or 'in proper place'), the updates issued.
The LWR is said to have been installed over important bridges, tunnels and even on platforms in railway stations. Since the length of the rails run several kilometres, there is a great amount of expansion and contraction which are taken care of by switch joints, the updates informed.
Conversion of 'fish plated track' into the LWR is an important prerequisite to improving the riding quality to introduce higher speed and improved rolling stock, the updates added.
