Turnouts - Heavy Haul

Capacity and economic considerations have driven the freight railroad industry to steadily escalate axle loading with 315,000 lb car weights now becoming the norm in North America.

Accommodating these loads over a range of extreme environmental and service conditions presents a formidable challenge.

Nortrak produces a wide range of turnouts tailor made to the North American heavy haul environment satisfying any geometric constraint, service requirement or technical specification. Nortrak prides itself on maintaining its position at the leading edge of technology.

Examples of innovations that we offer the heavy haul market include:

• “WBM^®” welded manganese mono-block frogs

Reduce life cycle costs by eliminating joints and leveraging the toughness and wear resistance of high-solidity explosive depth hardened manganese alloy steel.

• “WSM^®” welded spring manganese frogs

Provide the same maintenance and life cycle cost advantages as a “WBM^®” while improving ride quality by eliminating gaps in the non-diverging running surface. “WSM^®” frogs have proven especially well suited to freight routes that share corridor access with passenger operators.

• Moveable point frogs (“MPF”)

voestalpine Nortrak’s MPF incorporates asymmetrical wing rails and offers superior point stability. It has provided service lives up to 2,000 MGT in extensive use on the heaviest coal routes on the continent.

• Vanguard^® guard rails

Patented boltless design reduces maintenance and facilitates easy adjustment of flangeway width. Variable tie spacing is readily accommodated.

• HST^® hollow steel ties

Safely house switch and detector rodding in a robust, weld-free integrated support element. The HST^® facilitates mechanized tamping through the entire length of the turnout while providing superior gauge control. The net result is reduced maintenance and improved switch reliability (i.e. fewer service interruptions and trouble calls)

• Advanced geometry

Reduced entry angles and clothoidal geometry optimize the distribution of lateral forces through the turnout without increasing the lead length. The result is improved ride quality, safer performance and a dramatic reduction in requisite maintenance.

• KGO™ kinematic gauge optimization

Refined switch point and stock rail configuration both accommodates a more robust switch point and reduces the severity of wheel flange impingement.

• Blue rolls

Economical integrated switch roller system reduces requisite throw forces and improves switch reliability.

• Blue rodding

High strength composite “Blue” switch rods provide effective, maintenance free insulation.

Our U.S. based foundry and fabrication facilities uniquely position voestalpine Nortrak to supply “Buy America” compliant turnouts.

Most important, Nortrak stands behind its products. With “best-on-class” field and technical support, Nortrak truly is North America’s one stop shop for heavy haul trackwork.