scrap rails recycled

Millions of Tons of Railway Rails are Scrapped Every Year, Why Are the Rails not Recycled

According to the China Railway Statistics Bureau, the country needs to replace millions of tons of track every year, which puts a lot of pressure on the national Treasury, so many people will ask why the track is not recycled, but buried in the ground.

The difference between the rails

First of all, the rails are not simply made of iron, but an alloy composed of many materials with various characteristics.

It has various characteristics such as high strength and high hardness, and it has a layer of rust film on the surface of its high density, which can effectively protect the interior and not affect the use. There are also many types of rails. For example, there are many differences between high-speed rail rails and train rails.

Many people like to take the high-speed train, because it is very smooth and quiet when running, unlike the train which often fluctuates and affects the rest of passengers, the material of the high-speed rail and the train rail is not much different, the only difference is that they use different composition methods.

The excuse of the train track is very close, there will be an excuse ten meters, and there are a lot of rubble under the train track, we call this kind of ballast rail.

The gravel below resists the pressure of some trains on the rails, and plays an important role in protecting the rails, and the vibration of the gravel will be triggered when the train is running, which makes the train less bumpy, better running, and greatly reduces the occurrence of train derailment and other tragedies.

The composition method of high-speed rail tracks is completely different from that of train tracks. There is no gravel under the high-speed rail tracks, so why does it keep fast and stable?

There are no joints for the high-speed rail tracks, but thermal expansion and contraction must be taken into account when constructing them. During construction in hot weather such as summer, they are thermally expanding, and the rails stretch very long. We take advantage of this time to connect the rails one by one, so that the rails will not stretch any longer.

In winter, when the cold shrinks, it will keep the rails from deforming due to the tensile strength of the material itself. In this way, many interface factors on the rails can be resolved, and the high-speed rail can run more stably without large vibrations, making it more stable and safe.

However, China has very strict requirements on high-speed rail tracks. Once a certain section of rail is found to be worn out, the nearby staff will be notified immediately to remove it and replace it until it meets the standard.

Why not recycle the rails?

Many people will wonder why the rails are not rebuilt, which can save the country a lot of expenses. But the rails are not pure iron, and other minerals are hidden in them. This material is expensive to manufacture, the process is cumbersome, and there are few alternatives.

If we transports these abandoned rails back to the factory and restores them to their original state, it is actually not a simple matter. The cost of restoring the abandoned rails to their original state is much higher than rebuilding a new rail.

From the reasons of manpower and cost, we will not choose to let it be rebuilt. In the face of damaged rails, we will use special disassembly tools to remove them. Of course, these rails belong to the property of the state. Even if workers and enterprises remove them, they do not have the right to use them. They can only bury them on the spot stand up.

The future of railways

Some people have proposed to use stainless steel as the material of the rail, but this is obviously unrealistic, stainless steel patience is not enough, and then thermal expansion and contraction when prone to damage, and faced with daily and night exposure and rain, stainless steel damage is more and more easy to damage.

From the production, laying, use, to disposal and recycling of rail tracks, the whole process is like a huge circulatory system, which requires the close cooperation of all links to ensure the normal operation of the railway system.

This system not only involves many technical fields such as railway engineering, material science, and mechanical engineering, but also involves many social issues such as environmental protection, energy, and economy. Therefore, its impact on the entire society is very far-reaching.