Rail Products and Equipment

Rail products and equipment includes parts, machinery, tools, instruments, and systems used by the rail industry. This product area includes railroad engines (locomotives) and railcars, as well as track maintenance equipment. Rail parts include bearings, friction wedges, air brakes, and hydraulic stabilizers. Railroad machinery includes plate pickers, tie pluggers, personnel carriers, and bulk-material loaders. Railroad tools, instruments, and systems may include insulated track tools, powered equipment, movement systems, consumables, lighting, and repair and test equipment. Railroad signage, crossing gates, bars, warning lights, and alarms are also types of rail products and equipment.

Selecting rail products and equipment requires an analysis of locomotive types and railroad car types. A locomotive or engine is a powered vehicle used to haul a series of non-powered rail cars. Diesel locomotives, diesel-electric locomotives, and electric trains are commonly available. Specifications for diesel locomotives include horsepower, length over coupler pulling faces, distance between bolster centers, truck-rigid wheel base, width over grab irons, height above rails, wheel diameter, and fuel capacity. Many diesel engines are equipped with dynamic braking. Rail car types include passenger cars, boxcars, coal cars, flatcars, intermodal cars, tankers, gondolas, and hoppers. Other types of rail products and equipment are also available.

Rail tracks are rail products and equipment that guide trains without the need for steering. Rail tracks consist of two parallel steel rails that are laid upon cross ties or sleepers. Rails are fastened to ties with rail spikes, lag screws, bolts, or clips. Typically, railroad spikes are used with wooden railroad ties. Bolts are used with steel sleepers, and clips are used with concrete sleepers. With wooden railroad ties, a base plate or tie plate is often used to distribute the load over a larger area. Normally, railroad tracks are laid atop ballast, a bed of crushed stone that provides resilience and drainage. With bridges, tracks are laid on either longitudinal timbers called way beams or atop steel girders. Rail products and equipment include bullhead rail, grooved rail, flat-bottomed rail, flanged T rail, bridge rail, and Barlow rail.

In terms of applications, rail products and equipment are used with many different types of passenger trains and freight trains. There are two basic types of passenger trains: long-distance and short-distance. Long-distance trains include high-speed trains (high-speed rail), maglev trains, inter-city trains, and regional rail systems. Short-distance trains are often classified as commuter trains (commuter rail) and rapid transit systems; trams, trolleys, light rail, or monorail systems; and airport trains. Typically, freight trains are used for transporting good, materials, and cargo over long distances. On some railroad lines, rail products and equipment are used to piggyback loads.

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