Eastern Railroad Discussion > Price difference between 115lb, 132lb, 136lb and 141lb Rail

What is the per foot or per mile price difference between the common rail sizes of 115lb, 132lb, 136lb and 141lb used by most railroads today? What criteria is used when selecting which rail size to use?

Almost 40 years ago, when I was in a management position for a subsidiary of Inland Steel, I found that steel is sold by the pound, or ton. We ordered coils of steel from Inland by the pound. Knowing that it was about X pounds per linear foot of 1/8" thick and 42" wide galvanized steel, we'd order Y tons knowing we'd get at least 1000 feet of usable coiled steel, and usually more. Inland always produced coils about 100 pounds more than ordered as the first (outermost) layer of steel was usually rusted over and/or the first few feet were damaged. We never knew exactly how many feet of 10' long gutter 'blanks' we'd get out of coil of steel, but we knew it would never be less than <whatever> per coil. It played havoc with inventory as the computer would 'expect' to get X number of blanks and we'd often get maybe 10 more blanks out of a roll.

Based on my experience, I would guess, or take a wild shot and say that rail is priced by the pound as well. Additionally, the amount of various alloys in the steel would also affect cost. So would the 'profile' of the rail...wider head, taller head, wider web, whatever. I'm sure there's a significant quantity discount when NS, for example, orders 100 miles or so of rail vs what some shortline pays for 5 miles of rail.

Sold by the ton.
136 lb is the standard.

Posted from iPhone

My line needs some that enormous 160lb or whatever stuff that Pennsylvania Railroad used to use!

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
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> My line needs some that enormous 160lb or whatever
> stuff that Pennsylvania Railroad used to use!
The PRR used 152PS rail and 155PS rail which were the pounds per yard, and they were 8" high rail. You could see the difference in checking the joint bar flange on top of bar, which was almost flush on 152 and very prominent on the 155PS rail. Newton Falls Branch near the old ore pits at Newton Fall, NY had received miles of this in relay off the corridor and is still there. This is the largest rail every made excluding some rail with flange shield for street trackage.

If steel is $650 per metric ton, that equates to about $1040 per lb covering two rails for a mile. For example a mile of track with 115 lb rail would cost $1040 x 115 or $119,600. 136 lb would be an additional 21 x 1040 or $21,840 more then 115 lb.

No one has answered the original poster's question yet.

Posted from iPhone

Alexmarissa Wrote:
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> No one has answered the original poster's question
> yet.
>
> Posted from iPhone

I'd say most of it was answered by PowellWye - concerning cost.

An educated guess would assume the heavier the rail, the stronger the rail. Stronger rail would support more car weight and speed. Possibly heavier volume also.

Baltimore

Than he for the work-thru, Powell Wye.

On that hypothetical, two rail mile, what range do you estimate for ties, ballast, and labor?

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Than he for the work-thru, Powell Wye.
>
> On that hypothetical, two rail mile, what range do
> you estimate for ties, ballast, and labor?
>
> Posted from Android


Close to a million dollars.

Posted from iPhone

Right, new CWR Wood tie Track with 6" of ballast and 12" shoulders on a prepared subgrade I would say will be around $150.00 per Track Foot. Price will fluctuate if you want 115#RE or larger 132#RE or 136#RE Rail. If you have to deliver 80' rails and weld them up in the field, the price goes up. If you can take a welded rail train and start with 800' to 1,600' strings, you do realize some economies of scale.

TG

There is no advantage to using heavier than 115 lb rail in yards, on branch lines, sidings, transit systems or short lines. It's not the size of the rail but tie and subgrade condition that really matters. 85% of our traffic is 286,000 (loaded car weight on four axles) still running on four miles of the original EssPee 75 lb rail but we've spent a lot of money on ties and surfacing until we can change out the rest of the rail.

Out of necessity a lot of money is currently being spent on bridge work.

Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad

rantoul Wrote:
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> Depends on application. Example. Class 1 main
> line curve, new rail. Class 1 industrial lead or
> spur, relay rail, material removed from the main
> line curve project. Used relay rail cost less
> than new material thus is material of choice for
> most non-Class 1 rail projects.

Any of these rail sections, with proper tie and substructure support, is adequate for modern 286K cars. Many public sector funded projects specify a min. 115RE section, so a lot of this rail goes to such projects, whether freight or passenger. The Class Is typically buy the heavier sections for their mainline track. They have greater strength and can tolerate somewhat more wear. Yards, sidings, etc. could be laid with new 115# rail, but more typically I see relay of the heavier rail sections used in these applications. Where specs. permit, relay is often used on grant funded work. Market conditions can result in used 132# rail being cheaper than new 115# rail.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/18 11:13 by doc1057.

Good info, thank you.