A rail pad is inserted in between the rail and baseplate or sleeper. Rail pad is introduced to the railway fastening system because of its resilience or viscoelasticity which can be implemented in the intervention of fatigue cracking of sleepers. The dynamic stress from the wheel or rail impact from both regular and irregular movements is attenuated.
How is the vibration damping performance of rail pads?
Rail pads offer excellent vibration damping by using materials like rubber and polyurethane to absorb vibrational energy, converting it to heat, reducing wear, improving comfort, and lowering noise, with performance optimized by specific stiffness/damping characteristics and influenced by temperature, making softer pads often better for ground-borne vibration but requiring careful tuning for overall track dynamics.
Key performance factors
- Stiffness & Damping: Performance relies on stiffness (shear modulus) and damping (loss factor), both varying with temperature, load, and frequency.
- Softer Pads: Generally reduce ground-borne vibrations (up to 10dB in some ranges) and rail corrugation but can cause excessive settlement if too soft.
| 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. |
- Stiffer Pads: More effective at reducing rail dynamics in certain frequency ranges but transmit more impact.
- Temperature: Affects both stiffness and damping; materials like cork-rubber composites perform differently than pure rubber.
How railway pad work?
- Energy Absorption: Materials convert kinetic energy (vibrations) into heat, dissipating it.
- Elasticity: Provide essential elasticity, allowing for moderate deformation under load, which reduces impact.
- Load Distribution: Improve load transfer and distribution across the sleeper, protecting the foundation.
As a professional rail fastener manufacturer, GNEE RAIL can produce various types of rubber rail pads with different materials, such as natural rubber, EVA, HDPE and so on. In railway fastening system, rubber rail pads are often installed between the rail tracks and the concrete railway sleepers.