What is spike in railway?

What is spike in railway?

In railway engineering, a spike is a type of rail fastener used to fix the rail to the sleeper (tie), mainly in timber sleeper track systems and some light rail or industrial tracks. The spike is driven through the rail base or baseplate holes into the sleeper, providing holding force that keeps the rail in the correct position under vertical loads, lateral forces, and vibration from passing trains.

The primary function of a railway spike is to maintain gauge and rail alignment by resisting rail movement in both longitudinal and transverse directions. While modern high-speed and heavy-haul lines mostly use elastic fastening systems with rail clips, spikes are still widely used in mining railways, light railways, temporary tracks, and crane tracks with wooden sleepers, where installation simplicity and cost efficiency are important.

Types of Rail Spike

There are several common types of railway spikes, including dog spikes, screw spikes (coach screw spikes), square head spikes, and special-shaped industrial spikes, each designed for different rail sections and sleeper structures. Compared with elastic clips, spikes provide a rigid fixation, but they offer less vibration damping and usually require rail pads or baseplates to protect the sleeper and rail foot.

Dog Spike

A dog spike (or cut track spike) is a large, steel, heavy-duty nail with a, hooked, pointed head used to fasten railway tracks to wooden sleepers. Common in North America, they feature a 16mm square shank and secure the rail and tie plate, often measuring 5/8" x 6" or 9/16" x 5-1/2".

Screw Spike

Screw spikes (or rail screws) are heavy-duty threaded fasteners, typically 150-240mm long, designed to secure rail baseplates to wooden or concrete sleepers, offering superior clamping force compared to dog spikes. Introduced around 1860, they provide greater pull-out resistance (up to twice that of conventional spikes) and are essential for maintaining gauge on high-speed or heavy-haul tracks.

Key Features and Types

• Design: Feature a threaded shank, with either a square or hexagon head, and are sometimes used with plastic dowels for increased stability in concrete sleepers.

• Types: Common varieties include SS series sleeper screws (e.g., SS25, SS35), square-head, hexagon, and double-head spikes.

• Materials & Surface: Usually made from high-strength steel (e.g., 45#, 55Q, Q235), treated with zinc, or left as plain, blasted, or oiled to prevent corrosion.

Rail spike, one of the products of GNEE RAIL , is used to connect the steel rail with rail sleeper or bind the rail plate and rail sleeper together.As a professional rail fasteners supplier,GNEE RAIL offers different kinds of railway fasteners to meet client's requirements, such as Elastic Rail Clip and Clamp, Plastic Dowel, High Tensile Track Bolt with Nut, Rail Base(Tie) Plate, Rail Fish Plate, Railway Shoulder(Insert), Fish Bolt, Railroad Rubber and EVA Pad, etc. Samples and drawings provided by customer, we will manufacture qualified products accordingly.

Click here to obtain the detailed product catalog of GNEE RAIL.