INVESTIGATION OF THE GLUED INSULATED RAIL JOINTS APPLIED TO CWR TRACKS

Abstract

This article summarizes the research results related to our own conducted extensive laboratory tests of polymer composite and steel fishplated glued insulated rail joints (GIRJs), namely axial tensile tests as well as vertical static and dynamic tests. The investigation dealt with the examination of GIRJs assembled with steel and special glass-fiber reinforced plastic (polymer composite) fishplates, both of them for CWR railway tracks (i.e. so-called gapless tracks or, in other words, railway tracks with continuously welded rails). The exact rail joint types were MTH-P and MTH-AP, consistently. The MTH P types have been commonly applied for many years in the CWR tracks in Europe, mainly in Hungary. The MTH-AP rail joints consist of fishplates that are produced by the APATECH factory (Russia). They are made of a fiberglass-amplified polymer composite material at high pressure and controlled temperature. This solution can eliminate electrical fishplate lock and early fatigue failures just as it can ensure adequate electrical insulation. The advantage of such rail joints can be that they are probably able to ensure the substitution of the glued insulated rail joints with relatively expensive steel fishplates currently applied by railway companies, e.g. Hungarian State Railways (MÁV). The aim of the mentioned research summarized in this paper is to formulate recommendations on technical applicability and on the technological instructions that are useful in everyday railway operation practice on the basis of the measurements and tests carried out on rail joints in laboratory.