Rail pads are elastic polyurethane mats which are interposed between steel rails and railway sleepers to protect the sleeper top from wearing and impacting.
Can other rail fastenings replace rail pads?
No, other railway fastenings like rail clips or tie plates cannot fully replace rail pads because they serve different, complementary functions, with pads providing essential cushioning, vibration damping, load distribution, and electrical insulation, while clips provide clamping force and tie plates offer a rigid base, all working together in modern systems for safety and longevity. Trying to substitute them leads to system failure, increased wear, and unsafe track conditions.
The rail pad laid under the rail is used to guarantee:
- The load distribution covering a larger surface area
- Reducing load concentration and usage fatigue stress
- Even contact area between the rail and supporting components
- Reducing noise and structural vibrations
- Sealing function between the top support and rail bottom
- Reducing rail wearing and relevant supporting components
What are the features of a rail pad?
Rail pads are crucial track components providing cushioning, vibration dampening, and noise reduction by absorbing impact, distributing wheel loads, and protecting sleepers from wear, featuring properties like elasticity, durability, electrical insulation (sometimes), and resistance to aging, abrasion, and temperature extremes, ensuring track stability and longer component life.
Features of Rubber Rail Pad from GNEE RAIL
- Shock absorption, ageing resistance, abrasion resistance, stability, thermal stress resistibility. Rubber rail pads are made of natural rubber, butadiene-styrene rubber, chloroprene rubber adhesive, HDPE and EVA. The rubber rail pads made by GNEE RAIL has many features like high elasticity, non-deformation and non-breaking in a large range of temperatures.
| Raw Material | Rubber, EVA, TPEE, HDPE |
| Standard | UIC, AREMA, TB/T2626-95 |
| Application | 43kg/m, 50kg/m, 60kg/m, 75kg/m,115RE, UIC54, UIC60, S49 |
| Model number | 43-7-7, 43-10-7, 50-7-9, 50-10-9, 60-10-17, 60-12-17 |
| Operating temperature | -50~70 degrees |
| Certificate | MSDS, ROHS, REACH |
| Notes | They should be stored in a clean, ventilated place. Don't be in direct sunlight, and keep away from the heat source and chemical reagent. Don't touch the oil, organic solvent, and other chemicals. Banned exposure. |
- Long service life, low maintenance and replacement costs.
- We can produce various standards of rubber rail pads with different materials, the rubber rail pads are suitable for wooden railway sleepers, concrete railway sleepers and steel railway sleepers.
Why must Rail Elastic Pad be used in railways?
Rail Elastic Pads are essential in railways for absorbing shock, reducing noise, distributing wheel loads, and preventing wear between the rail and sleeper, which extends track life, improves passenger comfort, ensures stability, and protects the concrete/timber foundation from impact damage and fatigue cracking, acting as a crucial buffer in modern fastening systems.
As a professional rubber rail pad manufacturer GNEE RAIL can produce various standards of rubber rail pads and other rail fasteners. If you want to build a railway line, do not hesitate to contact us, we can supply all types of rubber rail pads with different materials. If necessary, we can make customized rubber rail pad production.