Types of Rail Joints | Railway Fish Plates Standards

As a professional rail joints manufacturer, we supply many types of rail joints (also called rail joint bars or railway fish plates). You can certainly find what you are looking for here. Below is the summary of some popular international types of rail joints that we manufacture and supply.

AREMA Standard Rail Joints

Types	Material	Holes	Diameter of holes / length	Standard
115RE rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.1875” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
132RE rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.3125” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
136RE rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.3125” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
1041b.CR rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.0625” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
1051b.CR rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.3125” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
1351b.CR rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.1875” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
1711b.CR rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.1875” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007
1751b.CR rail joint	Steel 55#	4 or 6	1.1875” / 914.4 mm	ASCE 2007

UIC Standard Rail Joints

Types	Used for Rail	Material	Holes	Standard
U79 railway fish plate	UIC54 Rail	European Grade 700	4 or 6	UIC 864
U85 railway fish plate	UIC60 Rail	European Grade 700	4 or 6	UIC 864

BS Standard Rail Joints

Types	Material	Holes	Weight	Standard
BS75R railway fish plate	European Grade 700	4	6.56 kg/pcs	BS 47-1
BS60A railway fish plate	European Grade 700	4	5.61 kg/pcs	BS 47-1
BS80A railway fish plate	European Grade 700	4	6.5 kg/pcs	BS 47-1
BS90A railway fish plate	European Grade 700	4	13.23 kg/pcs 15.34 kg/pcs	BS 47-1
BS100A railway fish plate	European Grade 700	4	19.96 kg/pcs	BS 47-1

GB Standard Rail Joints

Types	Material	Holes	Standard
43kg, 50kg, 60kg, 75kg Railway fish plates	B7	4 or 6	TB / T 2345-2008

ASCE Standard Rail Joints

Types	Material	Holes	Weight	Standard
41kg and 47kg railway fishplate	AS 1442 or AS 1448	4 or 6	22.2 kg/m	AS 1085.2-2002
50kg railway fishplate	AS 1442 or AS 1448	6	20.7 kg/m	AS 1085.2-2002
53kg railway fishplate	AS 1442 or AS 1448	4 or 6	23.3 kg/m	AS 1085.2-2002
60kg railway fishplate	AS 1442 or AS 1448	6	23.9 kg/m	AS 1085.2-2002

JISE Standard Rail Joints

Types	Material	Holes	Standard
37A, 50N, CR73, CR100, BS113A rail fish plate	SS490 or S20C	4 or 6	JIS E 1102-2001

DIN Standard Rail Joints

Types	Used for Rail	Material	Weight	Standard
FI30 rail joint bar	S30 Rail	Grade 700	9.6 kg/m	DIN 5902-1995
FI33 rail joint bar	S33 Rail	Grade 700	12.7 kg/m	DIN 5902-1995
FI41 rail joint bar	S41 Rail	Grade 700	15.7 kg/m	DIN 5902-1995
FI49 rail joint bar	S49 Rail	Grade 700	15.7 kg/m	DIN 5902-1995

Rail joints types essentially include bolted rail joints, compromise rail joints and insulated rail joints.

As a professional manufacturer of rail joint bars, we supply almost all the international standards of railway fish plates. Bolted rail joints are used to join two rails in jointed rail territory. In the continuous welded rail (CWR) territory, bolted joints are used to temporarily join rails before they are welded. Compromise rail joint bars are used to join two rails with different sections together. Insulated rail joints are further categorized as bonded or non-bonded rail joints. Bonded insulated rail joints are glued. Non-bonded insulated rail joints are basically bolted joints having some type of electrical insulating properties.

Although the bolted rail joint, compromise rail joint and insulated rail joint perform differently with different operational objectives, they share many similar design features. For example, they all use track bolts and rail joint bars and they all create a discontinuity in the running surface of the rail.

Why Rail Joints Matter? Rail Joints Function

As we all know, rail track bolts gradually fail due to yielding, and rail joint bars usually fail due to fatigue. The discontinuity in the running surface of steel rail creates conditions that can accelerate track degradation around the rail joint. At a minimum, the gap at the rail ends within the rail joint is a source of impact loading from passing wheels. Left unchecked, these impact loads increase rail end batter, thereby deteriorating the foundations, which further increase the impact forces generated by passing wheels.

Rail Joints Maintenance mainly includes 3 types: Surfacing due to ballast degradation; Grinding due to metal flow at the rail ends; Replacement of broken rail track bolts or rail joint bars.