Recent content by Daniel Pyke

DLR got so bad in the early days they changed the rail profile to try and help calm it down.

It is essentially a continuation of current supply. So good news and commitment to use some UK sourced rail, but the volumes look low.

Not really no. We monitor train speeds as part of our infrastructure monitoring stuff, but it isn't used for surveillance purposes and not currently used in the UK.

The spacing between sleepers is a combination of factors, but axle load and rail height (profile) are the two primary factors. Axle loads in the UK rarely exceed 25t, (unless you work where I do!). Axle loads elsewhere in the world are higher (30t+). In order for the rails not to fatigue (and...

Yes sort of. HP335 and MHH are British Steel products. MHT is an "old" British Steel product from quite a while ago. There are other hard rails out there, 400HT for example but harder does not always mean more wear resistant at high hardness levels. I think the jury is still out on exactly why...

Not a lot these days if I'm honest, NR have used it so it is out there in track but I can't recall seeing a lot come out way in recent years. NR use HP for anything that needs premium rail currently.

British Steel produce 95lb bullhead reasonably regularly. Sadly NR sources their bullhead from abroad not the UK currently.

No no no no no! HP335 is a specific grade with its own welding and performance parameters MHH375 is another one MHT is an old grade again with different weld parameters They are all very different rails.

This advice was to prevent someone changing grades midway around a curve or putting a 260 grade plug rail into the middle of a HP335 curve. It does have some unintended consequences if you take the advice to the extreme. As I understand it exceptions are allowed if gone through the correct channels.

Yes specific approved welding processes for HP335 / HPrail need to be used. They are detailed on the approval cert for it. If you need a copy mail rail@britishsteel.co.uk and I'll send one over.

British Steel rails are currently branded BS SC - British Steel Scunthorpe (UK) or BS HY - British Steel Hayange (France). They aren't branded MSM any more as its name changed from MSM (Medium Section Mill) to SRSM (Scunthorpe Rail and Section Mill) many years ago.

No problem at all with this - have sent you an e-mail directly.

Still plenty enough to fry you though.

Yeah that makes sense as there tends to be much more alloy content in wheel steels. Aferpi is the new name for Lucchini long products I think. It'll be interesting to see how they fair implementing EAF.

Exactly right on the metallurgy stuff. High residuals are bad for many properties and so limited in the European rail specification. Lucchini used BOS steel making until very recently (last year or so - at least for their rails). They have declared they are building EAF (Electric Arc...