SLIGHTLY STAGGERED RAIL JOINTS

The staggering of rail joints is logical because it avoids placing two weak spots, the joints directly opposite each other; it reduces the impact at the joints to that of a wheel load instead of an axle-load; and it produces a more uniform vertical continuity of the track. Certain railways in India experimented with short-pitch staggered joints. Graphs obtained with the Hallade track recorder showed that the running over the slightly staggered road was inferior to that over normal square-joint track. Selection of the optimum pitch for the stagger is half the length of the wheelbase of the standard type of bogie fitted to passenger stock. This complies with the condition that the stagger must be less than the minimum wheelbase of any bogie allowed to run over the line, namely, 6 ft.

• Corporate Authors:

  Temple Press Limited

  161-166 Fleet Street
  Longon EC4,   England 
• Publication Date: 1951-2-23

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 201
• Serial:
  • RAILWAY GAZETTE
  • Volume: 94

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Rail joints; Railroad tracks; Ride quality; Structural design; Technology; Trucks; Wheel base
• Uncontrolled Terms: Track design
• Geographic Terms: India
• Subject Areas: Design; Motor Carriers; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00039473
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 8 1994 12:00AM