When it comes to the railway industry, rail cars for freight transits as well as the carriages for passengers all have control and safety technologies, rail infrastructure, and safety and quality requirements. Things that are paramount in the rail business.

Therefore, before any steel components are fitted, whether it’s produced for the train or the track, the highest of surface protection standards need to be met.

There are many metal coatings used in the railway industry for many different reasons. For low-friction, corrosion resistance, and especially protection against the elements. That’s why we’ve compiled plenty of different categories of metal coatings used for the railway industry in this Alphatek blog.

Metal Coatings for the Infrastructure

There’s roughly 1.17 million kilometres of railway networks spread across the globe. And at least the vast majority of them will need to be maintained in order to be efficient for long-term usage.

Damage can immediately lead to the closure of parts of the railways which ends up causing costly interruptions to both passenger and freight car transits.

That’s why any components used to hold rail sections securely must be equally equipped with protection that is long-lasting against many things. Things such as corrosion, friction, general wear, and weather relating issues.

The protection also usually corresponds with the environment they’re in. Such as using a strongly efficient anti- rusting or corrosion coatings for components that are in salty air due to the coast. They could go through chemical stress what with their exposure to weather, plus mechanical stress.

Securing the rails together on the tracks is done by using rail clamps. This part of the mechanism would need a coating of one the highest corrosion protections as well as high resistance. Not only is it exposed but it will be subjected to debris impacts as such from stones.

Another exemplary component is the sleeper screw. Not only does their coating need to be co-efficient and enabling but it also needs to prevent against alkaline and acidic cleaning agents.

Zinc is one of the highly-recommend coating materials for high-performance protection for the rail-securing parts.

Metal Coatings for the Rail Vehicles

Naturally, rail carriages have an insane plethora of parts – fasteners, retaining rings, etc. Any surface coating that is essential to preserve against corrosion over time must be effective. The whole purpose of an effective coating is to prevent optical limitations caused by red rust.

Furthermore, the external surfaces in particular will necessitate the employment of a coating system. One that can provide protections against alkaline or acid cleaning chemicals. These are the types of chemicals that are commonly used in the removal of graffiti from a surface.

One example rail vehicle part is the fastening element. The fastening components used must be both corrosion resistant and chemical resistant such as the acidic and alkaline chemicals found in cleaning solutions. These components must also meet practical requirements, too, such as having good fastening capabilities.

Another piece of rail vehicles are the wedge lock washers. The safety washers that are used for passenger carriages and freight trains come in varieties of shapes and sizes. They help to prevent screwed connections from separating.

Therefore, it is absolutely critical that they have an insane corrosion prevention performance. Because once corrosion sets in, the substrate begins to break down massively and eventually, whole infrastructures can collapse.

In order to counteract any possibility of corrosion processes, all components in both internal and external parts of rail cars are coated for prevention.

Our Solutions

Alphatek has some proven Rail Coatings which can offer amazing benefits to your rail components. These are just few examples of the advantages out coatings can bring:

  • Protection against galvanic corrosion.
  • They are electrically conductive.
  • Standard handling techniques when installing rails is possibly due to the high durability provided.
  • Withstanding high temperatures helps to minimise any potential heat damage from welding operations.
  • Though the coatings are thick, this does not affect the fitting of fastenings or insulators.

Rail coatings are one of the best protection methods for railways and rail vehicles against external elements that can impact internal functioning. Not only do these coatings reduce the lifetime cost by limiting the amount of necessary maintenance but they also increase rail life altogether.

Alphatek supplied coated rails in Doncaster at the crossing in Ings Road. They were installed in the December of 2003 and checked a year and a half later in May 2005. This inspection came up with no evidence of rail corrosion, proving how effective our coatings were.

Though these rails were later removed (as well as lines at East Coast Main Line) between 2010- and -11, it was not due to corrosion.

Get in Touch

When damage can be avoided, industries should be taking active steps to keep their infrastructures secure and safe. Especially in the rai industry – one of the major methods of public transportation not just in our own country but across the globe.

That’s why the team here at Alphatek has created services and solutions in order to continually give the best value in coating solutions for anti-corrosion. Not to mention that we really aim to provide a stress-free service for everybody.

Come to us for your Thermal Spray Coatings and Metal Spraying solutions. We provide bespoke solutions for multiple industry sectors, including the Railway Industry. Contact us by phone or email: call 01706 821 021 or postbox@alphatek.co.uk.

However, we’re just 20 miles north of Manchester so if you would prefer an in-person visit, feel free to do so. Just remember to jot down our opening times.