CWR TURNOUTS- A NEW DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN RATLWAYS Veer Narayan, IRSE-87 Associate Director, Systra India Formerly Chief Engineer, Northern Railway 1.0 Introduction: Provision of LWR/CWR in the Railway Track has brought a revolutionary change in the maintenance and riding quality of the Railway as they save rail joints and reduce Wheel-rail dynamic interactions considerably. Its major advantages are: * Removal of ail joints * Significantly decreased impact load from the wheel * Greater integration and evenness of the rail surface * Significantly lower maintenance cost of Track as well as Rolling stock Furtherithas provided the technical possibility and base for high speed and heavy haul revenue. Hence, ithas been widely accepted as a standard for modern railway tracks. However,in Indian Railways,presentlyCWRs are not permitted through turnouts which results in the bad riding quality over the turnouts as well as increased maintenance of these structures. However, these are now being planned in Dedicated freight corridors although these are already in use in Metro tracks. In this article, the design features and the principle behind CWR tumouts are detailed. The ba philosophy behind the design and the force transmission structure has been discussed. 2.0 Brief Concept of LWR/CWR: Before going further let us refresh the basic concepts of LWR/CWR. Following is the brief Sketch of LWR. be TOTAL LENGTH OF LWR —! Figure1- Components of a LWR 3 | Journal of IPWE (Vol.-16, No.4) | January, 2018Followings are the basic definitions: a. Long Welded Rail (LWR) is a welded rail, the central part of which does not undergo any longitudinal movement due to temperature variations. In Indian Railways, a length greater than 250 metre on Broad Gauge (BG) and 500 metre on Metre Gauge (MG) will normally function as LWR. The maximum length of LWR under Indian conditions shall normally be restricted to one block section Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) is a LWR which would continue throughstation yards including points and crossings. Breathing Length is the length at each end of LWR/CWR, which is subjected to expansion/contraction on account of temperature variations. Switch Expansion Joint (SEJ) is an expansion joint installed at eachend of LWR/CWR to permit expansion/contraction of the adjoining breathing lengths due to temperature variations, Destressing is the operation undertaken with or without rail tensor to secure stress-free conditions in the LWR/CWR at the desired/specitied rail temperature, Installation Temperature (t) is the average rail temperature during theprocess of fastening the rails to the sleepers at the time of installation of the LWR/CWR. Stress-free Temperature (t,) is the rail temperature at which the rail is freeof thermal stress, When tensors are utilised for the destressing operation thework has to be carried out at t,, which shall be lower than stress-free temperature. Destressing Temperature (t,) is the average rail temperature during theperiod of fastening the rails to the sleepers after destressing LWR without theuse of rail tensor.If rail tensor is used, td forall practical purposes is equal tot,as defined in para above, Clause 4.53 of Indian Railways LWR manual states as below: LWR/CWR shall not normally be taken through points and crossings. Three normal rail lengths shall be provided between stock rail joint (SRJ) and SEJ as well as between the crossing and SEJ. These normal rail lengths shall be provided with elastic rail clips/anchors to arrest creep. However, where concrete sleeper turnouts are laid, instead of three normal rail lengths, onethree rail panel shall be provided between SEJ and SRJ as well as between heel oferossing and SEJ. LWRICWR shall not be taken through points & crossings. For any exceptionsin thisregard, special arrangements shall have the prior approval of RDSO, Basic Features of CWR turnouts: ACWR turmout is the turnout in which all rail joints are Welded or glued and the rails at the two ends of the turnouts are welded with CWR tracks in both Straight and divergent directions. It minimizes rail joints and the impact of transitional and breathing areas.It withstands the same temperature forces in the CWR track as the main line withstands. Following diagram shows the comparison showing joints provided in the normal turnout which 4 | Journal of IPWE (Vol.-16, No.4) | January, 2018are eliminated in CWR turnout. TT, WR Track. Figure 2- Joints in a Normal turnouts Ina CWR tumnoutall the joints are eliminated leading to better riding quality and longer life of turnout. 4.0 Basic Requirements of a CWR turnout: ACWR turnout withstands the same thermal forces as the main rails of CWR. The inner rails ofa CWR turnout may be under different stresses at two ends and thus the thermal forces in a turnout are unbalanced. This unbalanced force makes the rail stresses and deformation displacement unstable. So, the main concem of design of CWR tumoutis to address this instability. The CWR such instability. Following prerequisites must be met before installing CWR turnout to minimise the effects of thermalforces: i ii, ili iv, vi. Vii. Rails at both the ends of the turnout must be weldable, so as to be welded with long rail strings of CWR track. Rail fastenings for the turnout must have proper elasticity; displacement resistance must be greater than the longitudinal resistance of the turnout bed. The closure/inner rails of the tumout should be locked from creeping, preferably with elastic clips and/or anti- creep devices. The fastening bolts shall be tightened as per required torque. Fillers, retainers, or the like should be arranged at the heel of the switch rail and point rail to transmit the longitudinal force between two rails. High-strength bolts must be used to couple these force transmission components and increase the frictional resistance and shearstrength. The bolts will be tightened as per required torque. The sleepers of the CWR turnout must have proper lateral bending stiffness The bed ofa ballast turnout should be well filled and compacted, especially in the sleeper area, The shoulder ballast should be widened as specified fora CWR track. Conversion, locking, and closure detection devices etc. must be compatible with the expansion displacement of the switch rail/point rail, No rail expansion-induced conversion failure is allowed. The effect of rail expansion must be considered in designing turnout components (including position of bolt holes), so as to avoid misplacement of bolt holes, parts 5 | Journal of IPWE (Vol.-16, No.4) | January, 2018