What is the average life span of a railroad rail?

Question

What is the average life span of a railroad rail?

Answer 1

Interesting question, but like most questions, there is no simple answer.

On straight track a rail will still be usable when it is taken out.

Either because the requirements of the RR is for heavier guage rail or the line is closed down.

The year of manufacturer is cast on the web of rail, and I have seen rails in use that were built in the late 1800's.

On heavy curves, there are places where a rail is worn too much to be servicible in a few years, then they can do a "hi/lo" transfer exchanging the outside rail on a curve with the inside doubling the rail life.

It is the inside edge of the top part or "ball" of the rail that wears, from the friction of the wheel flanges on the inner wear surface.

A hi lo transfer puts the worn edge of the rail away from the wheel flanges and creates a new wear surface.

Answer 2

someone mentioned "older rails, surviving from the very1st trains,which is bull.. steel rail processes has changed, early american railroads had major failure issues... due to softness, bending and flexability..of steel .

  with todays technology ,  Steel in the actual rails , as well as  Concrete ties and hold down devices which have replaced  spikes and tie plates , rails  are subject to stresses of heat and cold But  potentially will last with regular inspection 30-40 years , But factors include Usage and weight of usage... Passenger and commuter lines when compared with  stricktly Freightlines and then discuss Combination lines like for instance the"Northeast corridor" DC to NYC to Boston which serves as Both Commuter , Amtrak as well as Freight , obviously aline with 8 trains a day, will takeless  of a beating then a line that has  40 Commuter  trains,  6 -12 Amtak passenger trains, and  4or five "heavy" freights that  vary from 30 to 80 cars as well as specialized  freights, we recently had a 60 car ore Train that was powered by 8  diesel electric  engines which uses less fuel I would suppose (working at 50% rather then 4 engines working at 100%)  lower RPM  = less fuel ) ... Not to mention the rails of say the trans siberian RR or  alaska RR Canadian rr's that deal with extreme weakness due to exteme cold, water ice, orrail lines in parts of Africa, Indi, Australia  thatareeffected by theother side of the coin with extreme  heat  steel expand and contract, become brittle witrh extremes...

Answer 3

Im going to guess 25 years?

Answer 4

There is a branch called "Shelocta" that still has rail dated 1898.

It is located between Punsxytawney and Shelocta, PA.

The date on a rail and the date it was applied to the ties could be a world of difference.

The rat

Answer 5

Some still in use were laid before the Civil War.  They are made of high grade steel and don't wear down easily.  They are rated to last about 150 years.

Answer 6

Depends on rail quality, how well it's cared for, curvature, grade, axle loading and tonnage over the line (MGT, million gross tons).

A mainline curve might get new rail every 2 years.  The Nevada Northern still has original 1880 rail, and they were running ore trains over it in the 1980s.  

Huge research goes into this.  The AAR has a test track in pueblo Colorado where they test rail.   Out of this research they've learned to increase rail life by 3-5 times.

For instance they figured out to change rail metallurgy (bianitic rail steels, and rails from Japan are proving to be quite good).  

They also discovered the value of rail grinding.  Paradoxically, as rail wears, they grind even more material off... so the rail top is restored to original shape, and meets the wheel correctly.  This makes the rail wear less.

It also matters whether it's welded. On jointed rail the ends get battered and joint areas crack, sometimes forcing early replacement.

Answer 7

Dude.........is this the best question you can think of?

How about a kazillian years?

Answer 8

the rails have a different life spans .. the rails on curves have shorter life spans and the rails at stations have short ones too.