AU2014252723B2

AU2014252723B2 - Sleepers having elevated rail fastening as protection against sand coverage

Info

Publication number: AU2014252723B2
Application number: AU2014252723A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Eduard Guggenberger; Heinz Ossberger; Klaus Riessberger
Original assignee: Voestalpine VAE GmbH; Voestalpine Weichensysteme GmbH
Current assignee: Voestalpine Turnout Technology Zeltweg GmbH; Voestalpine Railway Systems GmbH
Priority date: 2013-04-10
Filing date: 2014-03-06
Publication date: 2017-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 2034-03-06
Also published as: AT514166B1; WO2014165871A1; MA38550B1; CN105247138A; CN105247138B; AU2014252723A1; EP2984230A1; MA38550A1; TN2015000447A1; AT514166A1; EP2984230B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a track section for rail vehicles having sleepers (1) arranged one behind the other and rails (3) supported on the sleepers (1), wherein the sleepers each have support regions (20) for the rails (3) arranged at a distance from each other. According to the invention, the sleepers (1) have an elevated design in the support regions (20) and optionally in the region (21) lying between the support regions.

Description

1

Sleepers having elevated rail fastening as protection against sand coverage

The invention relates to a track section for rail vehicles with consecutively arranged sleepers and rails supported on the sleepers, wherein the sleepers each exhibit respectively spaced apart bearing areas for the rails.

The invention further relates to a track with such a track section, as well as to sleepers for such a track section.

The sleepers of a track are used to keep the rails spaced apart at a defined distance from each other. To this end, the rails are fastened to bearing areas on the sleepers, wherein attachment involves either direct bolting, in which sleeper screws screwed into the sleepers hold down the rail base, e.g., with the assistance of spring-loaded tensioning means, or the use of base plates, which are fastened by sleeper screws to the sleeper and exhibit tensioning means (e.g., Pandrol clips) for holding down the rail base. The sleepers can be made out of wood, steel, concrete, or composites. The sleepers lie in a track bed that most often consists of gravel. However, the sleepers or other rail fastening beams can also be integrated into a track slab comprised of concrete or asphalt. The present invention can be used basically independently of rail fastener type, sleeper material, and design of the rail bed.

Travel on the track can be hampered or even prevented by various environmental influences. For example, in regions with sand drifts, there are major operational and safety problems affecting track installations, in particular in the area of switches, which arise when the tracks are 2 covered with sand, and sand penetrates into the switch system, making it necessary to routinely inspect the track and clean it as required prior to its use. Sand drifts have previously been eliminated either manually or by means of clearing vehicles, e.g., excavators, which of course entails a high outlay. Switch systems can often only be cleaned manually. WO 2012/135913 A1 disclosed a rail system design for use in desert regions, in which the sleepers and rails are mounted on a separate, permeable supporting structure with an open configuration. This measure is very involved from the standpoint of construction, and can also only be used during the manufacture of new rail and switch systems.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to create a track design that can be realized as inexpensively as possible, with which obstacles to rail traffic posed by sand drifts can be avoided to the greatest extent possible, and which can be used both in the manufacture of new tracks and for retrofits.

In a track section of the kind mentioned at the outset, the invention solves this object by essentially providing that the sleepers are raised in the bearing areas and potentially in the region lying between the bearing areas. Placing the rails on raised sleepers creates free space for the drifting sand between the lower edge of the rail and the track bed and, in the longitudinal direction of the rails, in the region of the sleepers lying between the bearing areas, markedly improving the permeability for drifting sand. The drifting sand approaching the side of the track is divided into a plurality of flow passages, 3 which each run between two adjacent sleepers, wherein this division of flow reduces the overall flow cross section, and in terms of flow thus increases the flow rate in the region of the flow passages, thereby facilitating the transport of sand under the rails and to the other side of the track, so that no sand is deposited in the track area. In a preferred further development, this nozzle effect can be improved even further by rounding the raised bearing areas of the sleeper at their ends as viewed from above.

The elevation is preferably designed in such a manner that a free space between a lower edge of the rails and the track bed is remaining, wherein the free space preferably extends over a vertical height of at least 8 cm, especially at least 12 cm.

The sleeper elevation can basically only be provided in the bearing areas, or additionally in the region lying in between as well. In the former case, the design is preferably such that the sleepers are raised in the bearing areas in relation to the region lying between the bearing areas. In the latter case, the sleeper exhibits a continuous elevation, which extends without interruption over all bearing areas.

In order to avoid sand drifts in an especially effective manner, care must be taken to maintain enough free space between the lower edge of the rails and the track bed, wherein it is preferably provided in this conjunction that the elevation measures at least 6 cm, preferably at least 9 cm, especially preferably at least 12 cm. 4

Accumulations of drifting sand can preferably be avoided on the lateral faces of the sleepers and in particular the elevated bearing areas by giving the ends of the sleeper elevation(s) an ascending or descending ramp-like design.

The elevated area(s) can be designed as a single piece with the remaining body of the sleepers, which is especially advantageous in the manufacture of new tracks. As an alternative, a retrofit of existing tracks preferably provides that the sleeper encompass a base body designed with an essentially uniform height and at least one raising element that is attached to the base body and forms the elevation. The retrofit here takes place in such a way as to detach the rails from the conventionally designed sleepers, then arrange the at least one raising element in the respective area of the sleeper and joined with the base body of the sleeper, and finally fasten the rails to the at least one raising element. For example, the at least one raising element can be designed as a metal body, wherein the lateral, rounded areas of the at least one raising element can be comprised of separate caps.

The rails can be fastened in a conventional manner using base plates, wherein the design in this conjunction is preferably such that a respective base plate serving as a rail pad is fastened in the elevated bearing areas of the sleepers. The base plate can here exhibit retaining and/or clamping members for rail fastening means.

As in conventional sleeper designs, the base plate can here be fastened to the sleeper by means of sleeper screws, wherein the sleeper screws must lengthened in design to an extent corresponding to the sleeper elevation. In this 5 conjunction, a preferred embodiment provides that the base plate is secured by means of sleeper screws, which pass through boreholes of the at least one raising element, and are screwed into the base body. In such a design, however, the lengthened sleeper screws lead to elevated bending loads on the sleeper screws. In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the sleeper screws are therefore countersunk in the at least one raising element, and the corresponding openings are closed flush with cover caps. A one-piece configuration of the sleepers allows the use of sleeper screws having a conventional length, wherein a corresponding stability for the sleepers is also ensured in the region of the elevated bearing areas by having the sleeper reinforcements also be designed to extend into these elevated bearing areas.

In order to directly fasten the rail onto the sleeper without base plates, anchor fittings or shoulder elements can be cast into the elevated bearing areas, or shoulder elements or ribs can be welded on.

In an especially advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the track section provided with the elevations according to the invention is designed as a switch or junction. The latter takes stock of the fact that sand drifts are encountered especially often in particular in the area of switches or junctions, wherein the switch systems are especially difficult to clean. If the elevations according to the invention are provided only in the area of the switch or junction, and the adjoining transition track sections do not exhibit such elevations, suitable measures must be taken to achieve the required 6 leveling. This is preferably ensured by giving the track a ramp-like ascending or descending design in the transition track sections. In selecting the length of the transition track section, care must be taken to provide a sufficiently large radius transition in the depression and in the tilt.

As an alternative, leveling takes place in such a way that the track bed in the track section designed as a switch or junction lies deeper by comparison to the track bed of the transition track sections. The extent to which the track bed is excavated here essentially corresponds to the extent to which the raised bearing areas of the sleepers are elevated.

In the area of a switch or junction, the rails are as a rule fastened to the sleepers by means of base plates, wherein the base plate exhibits either a slide plate or a wing rail or check rail attachment, depending on its position.

The rail can also be directly secured to the sleepers without base plates in the intermediate rail region lying between the set of switches and frog.

The invention will be described in greater detail below based on exemplary embodiments schematically depicted in the drawing. In the latter, Fig. 1 presents a cutout of a sleeper with an elevated rail bearing area in cross section, Fig. 2 a top view of the design according to Fig. 1, Fig. 3 a view according to Fig. 1 in a modified design, Fig. 4 a cross sectional view of a track in the region of a switch, Fig. 5 a top view of the design according to Fig. 4, Fig. 6 the layout of a track with a switch, Fig. 7 a depiction of the height profile for the track according to 7

Fig. 6 in a first design, Fig. 8 a depiction of the height profile for the track according to Fig. 6 in a second design, Fig. 9 a section along line A-A on Fig. 6, Fig. 10 a section along line C-C on Fig. 6, and Fig. 11 a section according to line B-B on Fig. 6 in a first design, as well as Fig. 12 a section according to line A-A on Fig. 6, Fig. 13 a section according to line C-C on Fig. 6, and Fig. 14 a section according to line B-B on Fig. 6 in a second design, Fig. 15 a side view according to the arrow XV on Fig. 9, and Fig. 16 a side view according to the arrow XVI on Fig. 12.

Fig. 1 presents a sectional view of a conventional sleeper marked 1. For example, the sleeper is designed as a concrete sleeper, and conventionally exhibits a planar surface 2. In the bearing area of a rail 3, the base body 1 of the sleeper has fastened to it a raising element 4, which rests on the planar surface 2 of the base body 1 with a plastic intermediate layer 5 interspersed. The raising element 4 exhibits an essentially square shape, and has a width slightly smaller than the width of the base body 1 of the sleeper. Both ends of the square-shaped raising element 4 are provided with cap elements 6, which ascend like a ramp and, as evident from the top view according to Fig. 2, are rounded and in particular designed with a tangential transition passing over into the lateral surface of the raising element. Situated on the raising element 4 is a base plate 7, upon which the rail base of the rail 3 rests between two rib-like elevations 8. A plastic intermediate layer 9 can again be arranged between the base plate 7 and the rail base of the rail 3. The base plate 7 is fastened with the raising element 4 and base body 1 of the sleeper by means of sleeper screws 10, which in an unthreaded region pass through a borehole in the raising element 4, and are screwed into a corresponding female thread of the base body 1. As may be gleaned from the top view according to Fig. 2, a total of four sleeper screws are provided per base plate. The rail base of the rail 3 is held down by clamping elements (not shown in any greater detail).

For example, the raising element with the rounded cap parts can be made out of steel or a steel fiber or plastic reinforced concrete.

Providing the raising element 4 causes the rail 3 to be positioned significantly higher by comparison to the conventional arrangement, in which the rail is situated on the surface 2 of the base body 1 of the sleeper, thereby yielding a distinct free space between the lower edge of the rail 3 and the track bed in the free region between two consecutive sleepers. This free space forms a flow cross section for windborne sand, so that the sand is blown under and through the rails without sand drifts being created in the area of the track.

In the modified design according to Fig. 3, which for purposes of clarity does not depict the rail, the raising element 4 exhibits depressions 11, so that the sleeper screws 10 can be arranged in a correspondingly countersunk position. In this way, the sleeper screws 10 can be given a significantly shorter configuration than in the design according to Fig. 1. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the load placed on the screws. In the design shown on Fig. 3, the base plate 7 is fastened to the raised element 4 without screws, for example through welding. 9

Fig. 4 shows the sleeper design according to the invention in the region of a switch, so that, as opposed to Fig. 3, the base plate 7 now carries a slide plate 12, on which a switch rail can be displaced between an abutted and released position in relation to the stock rail 3. The base plate 7 is fastened to the raising element 4 by means of separate screws 13, which as shown on the top view according to Fig. 5 are arranged further outside than the sleeper screws 10. Fig. 6 shows a track 14 that exhibits a switch 15 in a central section. In the region of the switch 15, the sleepers not depicted on Fig. 6 for the sake of clarity exhibit elevations, while the track sections leading to the switch and away from the latter exhibit no such elevations. Therefore, care must be taken to perform a corresponding leveling operation, for which two alternative embodiments are available. In a first embodiment, Fig. 7 provides that the track is designed like an ascending and descending ramp in transition track sections 16 adjoining the switch 15, wherein the ramp is preferably realized by having the sleepers exhibit elevation elements designed with an increasing or decreasing height. In the design according to Fig. 7, the track bed runs over the entire track at the same level.

By contrast, leveling is assured on Fig. 8 by having the track bed lie more deeply in the region of the switch 15 in relation to the track bed of the transition track sections 16, wherein the level of the sunken track bed is schematically denoted with 17. 10

Fig. 9 and 11 now present sectional views in the region of the switch 15, wherein one embodiment of the invention takes the form of a retrofit kit. By contrast, the corresponding sectional views according to Fig. 12 to 14 present a design that can be used when manufacturing a new track. The same reference numbers as on Fig. 1 to 5 are used on Fig. 9 to 14.

Fig. 9 shows a sectional view in the region of the switch rails 18 of the switch 15, wherein the switch rails 18 can be moved onto the slide plate 12 as denoted by the double arrow 19. The rails are again elevated by arranging raising elements 4 on a sleeper 1 designed as a conventional base body. As a consequence, it is assumed that the existing track has conventional sleepers 1, and is reconfigured by retrofitting the raising elements 4 in such a way that the rails 3 and 18 can assume a correspondingly elevated position. The raising elements 4 are here only provided in the schematically depicted bearing areas 20, while no such raising element is provided in a region 21 lying in between.

The same holds true for the intermediate rail area shown on Fig. 10, in which a total of four bearing areas 20 are provided for rails 3. A total of three raising elements 4 are provided in the frog region depicted on Fig. 11, wherein the base plates 7 in the two outer bearing areas carry check rails 22 and, in the central bearing area, a frog 23.

The level surface of the track bed 25 also extends to the sides of the sleeper faces, as shown by example on Fig. 11. 11

The design according to Fig. 12 to 14 essentially corresponds to the design according to Fig. 9 to 11, the difference being that sleepers already provided by the manufacturer with areas 24 designed as a single piece are used instead of conventional sleepers with separate raising elements 4. In this case, the base plates 7 can be fastened by means of sleeper screws that exhibit a conventional length, wherein the female thread of the sleepers 1 interacting with the sleeper screws is formed in the region of the elevations 24.

Visible in the views on Fig. 15 and 16 is the free space formed by the sleeper elevation y between the track bed 25 and lower edge of the rail 3. The increased vertical distance caused by the elevation y is marked x.

Claims

Claims :

1. A track section for rail vehicles with consecutively arranged sleepers and rails supported on the sleepers, wherein the sleepers each exhibit respectively spaced apart bearing areas for the rails, wherein the sleepers (1) are raised in the bearing areas (20) , and the ends of the sleeper elevation(s) are rounded as viewed from above, characterized in that the elevation is designed in such a manner that a free space between a lower edge of the rails and the track bed is remaining, wherein the free space extends over a vertical height of at least 8 cm, especially at least 12 cm.
2. The track section according to claim 1, characterized in that the sleepers (1) are raised in the bearing areas (20) in relation to the region (21) lying between the bearing areas.
3. The track section according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the elevation measures at least 6 cm, preferably at least 9 cm, especially preferably at least 12 cm.
4. The track section according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sleeper comprises a base body (1) designed with an essentially uniform height and at least one raising element (4) that is attached to the base body (1) and forms the elevation.
5. The track section according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a respective base plate (7) serving as a rail pad is fastened in the elevated bearing areas (20) of the sleepers (1).
6. The track section according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that anchor fittings or shoulder elements are cast into the elevated bearing areas (20), or shoulder elements or ribs are welded on.
7. The track section according to claim 5, characterized in that the base plate (7) exhibits retaining and/or clamping members for rail fastening means.
8. The track section according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the ends of the sleeper elevation(s) are given an ascending or descending ramp-like design.
9. The track section according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the base plate (7) is fastened by means of sleeper screws (10), which pass through boreholes of the at least one raising element (4), and are screwed into the base body (1).
10. The track section according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that the at least one raising element (4) is fastened to the base body (1) by means of sleeper screws (10) , whose screw heads are countersunk in the raising element (4).
11. A track comprising a track section designed as a switch (15) or junction according to one of claims 1 to 10, and transition track sections (16) adjoining its two ends.
12. The track according to claim 11, characterized in that the base plate (7) exhibits a slide plate (12) or a wing rail or check rail attachment (22) .
13. The track according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the track is designed like an ascending or descending ramp in the transition track sections (16).
14. The track according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the track bed lies more deeply in the track section designed as a switch (15) or junction in relation to the track bed of the transition track sections (16).
15. Sleepers for a track section according to one of claims 1 to 10.
16. Use of a track section according to one of claims 1 to 10 for manufacturing a track in a region endangered by sand drifts, e.g., a desert area.