SKV welds - limitations

Fatigue life only 50 % of Rail Skill of welder very important

Quality control difficult Heating Tapping fusion

The Age of weld also becomes a factor

SKV welds - limitations

Requires very close in service monitoring
USFD Joggle fish plating

Hindrance in track maintenance

Its Failure Biggest concern for P way Engineers

Scope of work
TWR with FBWP taken up as pilot project
Total Sanctioned TWR on SCRly is 700 Km

183 kms to be done through MFBWP in S C Rly

Total number of joints 15000 At present being done in SC-DHNE section of HYB

divn

The Plant
Plant mounted on a Road Truck

modified to run on track also

Speed on track 5 kmph Unlike Rail cum Road vehicle

Turn table not provided

Earthwork

to be done in continuity of LC road to align the vehicle along the track to be removed facilitate turning of vehicle to

Fencing

Working- On track
Welding of running rail on which plant is standing is

possible
Being done in construction projects, however Problem

of high joint/ mismatching of rail head has been reported

Progress in open line will be limited because of

limitation of traffic blocks

 Welding can be done in depot

made at suitable location

Each depot requires a level ground of

about 80-100 x 10 mts. The top surface preferably should be at sleeper top level. Length of depot = lenth of welded panel +length of feed rail + working space.
Length of panel - decided by the

handling and trucking effort required to take the panel and put it along the track for TRR.
Presently 3 rail panel is being made in

depot

Working- Off track

Working- From 4RP to

4 rail SW Panels welded in depot are

kept in between the rails on the track for further in situ welding
Short Panels are not inserted in track

and welded to avoid getting high joints working space is available

In between the rails sufficient level

Running rail will infringe the working

of plant if rail kept outside

Working- From 4RP to

By keeping 4 RP on the roller in between the rails as

is done in depot Proper head matching and proper butting force for welding is ensured

Working- From 3RP to

The mix of depot and in situ welding

ensures Good progress as

only one fourth joints welded in block

And three fourth joints are welded in depot.

Where is the other end ?

Welded panel of any length

as required can be made subject to track features like LC gate , bridge, points and Xing, SEJ etc.

Steps

Depot Depot

Depot
Free rail

Welded 4 RP

Rail cutting

Squareness testing

Bringing it to depot

Bringing free rail to depot

Web grinding for Web grinding proper current passage

Depot welding

Depot Welding

Grinding of Weld

Geometrical tolerance test

USFD testing

Spreading Welded 4 RP along track

Putting the plant on track

Welding along the track

Welding on Track

The Panel

TRR

Progress
3 hr block being taken every day
Approx 15 joints done in block Correspondingly 15 4RP to be made in depot hence 45

joints to be done every day in depot

To make one KM track panel it will take 3-4 working

days

Tests
Parameter validation of plant
Squareness of rail cut

Geometric tolerance of weld after grinding

USFD testing Load test

Training
Two day course for supervisors in flash butt welding

plant Moulaali
Operator given training and tested Need for a training centre

Welding contract Cost (for track

where free rail has been converted into LWR with only SKV welds )
Cost of each welding = 2700 Cost of weld per KM = 170 x 2700 = 4.5 lakhs It includes
handling of Rail in depot, Handling of short welded panel for in situ welding, grinding of Rail web current passage,

grinding of weld for profiling,

USFD testing, and cost of pull out test

Cost of ancillary work

Approx 2.5 lakh per km
It includes
Making two cut for each welded joints ie 320 cuts per km trucking out 3 RP from depot to track TRR Making Depot at every two KM

Other precautions/activities

Measuring the corrosion pit

Match marking of rail ends to ensure head matching

Painting of old corrosion pit of liner contact

Sealing of liner contact area

Long welded panel kept on rollers

Problems faced
Synchronizing the work
Feeding the rail Locations without manned LC gate

Challanges
How to do three RP TWR
Scheme and schedule will be entirely different

Problems faced
Synchronizing the ancillary and welding work
Feeding the rail to depot