What is the difference between railway and rail?
Rail refers to the individual steel bars forming the track, while railway (or railroad) is the entire system-tracks, trains, organization, and land-though the terms are often used interchangeably for the whole transport mode. Think of it as: Rails are components (the metal strips), a track is two rails + sleepers/ties, and a railway is the whole network and company.
Rail (the component)
- Definition: A single metal bar that trains roll on.
- Usage: "The steel rails are bolted to the ties."
Railway (the system/concept)
- Definition: The entire infrastructure (tracks, signals, stations) and the organization that runs trains, or the mode of transport itself.
- Usage: "The British railway system." or "Travel by rail is efficient."
- Regional Note: More common in British English (BrE), while "railroad" (AmE) is often used in the US for the same thing.
Types of rail track
- Chinese standard
1.Crane rail: QU120,QU100,QU80,QU70. They are most consist of manganese steel.
| Classification | Height(mm) | Head (mm) | Bottom (mm) | Thick(mm) | Weight (kg/m) | |
| Crance Rail | QU 70 | 120 | 70 | 120 | 28 | 52.8 |
| QU 80 | 130 | 80 | 130 | 32 | 63.69 | |
| QU 100 | 150 | 100 | 150 | 38 | 88.96 | |
| QU 120 | 170 | 120 | 170 | 44 | 118.1 | |
2.Heavy rail: the 38kg,43kg,50kg standard are widely used. Besides, as to some lines with high speed and vast capacity, they all use the 60kg rail tracks.
| Classification | Height(mm) | Head (mm) | Bottom (mm) | Thick(mm) | Weight (kg/m) | |
| Heavy Rail | 38 KG/M | 134 | 68 | 114 | 13 | 38.733 |
| 43 KG/M | 140 | 70 | 114 | 14.5 | 44.653 | |
| 45 KG/M | 145 | 67 | 126 | 14.5 | 45.546 | |
| 50 KG/M | 152 | 70 | 132 | 15.5 | 51.514 | |
| 60 KG/M | 176 | 73 | 150 | 16.5 | 60.64 | |
3.Light rail: light rail can also classified into two types, GB (China national standards) of 9kg,12kg,15kg,22kg,30kg/m and YB (Metallurgy Department Standard) of 8,18,24kg/m and so on.
| Classification | Height(mm) | Head (mm) | Bottom (mm) | Thick(mm) | Weight (kg/m) | |
| Light Rail | 8 KG/M | 65 | 25 | 54 | 7 | 8.42 |
| 9 KG/M | 63.5 | 32.1 | 63.5 | 5.9 | 8.94 | |
| 12 KG/M | 69.85 | 38.1 | 69.85 | 7.54 | 12.2 | |
| 15 KG/M | 79.37 | 42.86 | 79.37 | 8.33 | 15.2 | |
| 18 KG/M | 80 | 40 | 80 | 10 | 18.06 | |
| 22 KG/M | 93.66 | 50.8 | 93.66 | 10.72 | 22.3 | |
| 24 KG/M | 107 | 51 | 90 | 10.9 | 24.46 | |
| 30 KG/M | 107.95 | 60.33 | 107.95 | 12.3 | 30.1 | |
- Abroad
Among the rail track market in the world, there are many typical types. For example, the BS series (such as 90A, 80A, 75A, 75R, 60A and so on) of British, the DIN series of Germany, the ASCE series of America(such as 115RE, 136RE), the JIS series of Japan and the UIC series of International Union of Railways(such as UIC54, UIC60).
| Crane Rail Type | Standard | Size | Material | Standard Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Series | German DIN536 |
A45, A55, A65, A75, A100, A120, A150 |
50Mn,U71Mn | 10/12/15m |
| ASCE Series | American ASTM, AREMA |
ASCE25, ASCE40, ASCE60, ASCE75, ASCE85, ASCE90, ASCE115, ASCE136 |
700/900A/1100 | 6-12m, 12-25m |
| UIC Series | International Union of Railways UIC860-0, EN-13674-1 |
UIC50, UIC54, UIC60 | 900A/1100 | 12-25m |
| BS Series | British BS11-1985 |
BS50'O',BS60A,BS60R, BS75A,BS75R,BS80A, BS100A,BS113A |
700/900A | 8-25m |
| JIS Series | Japanese JIS E1103/1101 |
15kg, 22kg, 30A, 37A, 50N, CR73, CR100 |
According to JIS | 9-10m |
| AS Series | Australian AS 1085 |
31kg, 41kg, 47kg, 50kg, 53kg, 60kg, 66kg, 68kg, 73kg, 86kg, 89kg |
900A/1100 | 8-25m |
| ISCOR Series | South African ISCOR |
15kg, 22kg, 30kg, 40kg, 48kg, 57kg |
700/900A | 9-25m |
GNEE RAIL can supply railroad tracks of BS, UIC, AREMA, JIS and other international standards. Based on rich experience and strong technology support, our products has been exported to many countries and regions, Learn our projects here. Our rail tracks has advantages as following:
Customization service as you need.
European Standards and CE Marking
Five years warrenty.
At GNEE RAIL, we specialize in providing a full range of rail components, including heavy rail,light rail, crane rail and rail fastening, as well as matching high-performance rail clips and fastening solutions. Backed by strict quality control and industry certifications, our products are engineered to meet international standards and diverse project demands.
