North American railways rely on reliable railway parts to transport people and goods around the continent. Understanding the lifecycle of railway parts and products helps with better planning and logistics.
The lifecycle of many rail parts is upwards of 40-60 years. This depends on the part, how often that section of the line is used, and the speed and weight of the cars. Usually, when a part is end-of-life, it can be repurposed or recycled, so waste is typically minimal.
Keep reading to learn more about the lifecycle of railway parts and products on North American railways.
Railway and track parts lifecycle
The typical lifecycle of railway and track parts is broken into five steps or stages:
Step 1: Gather waw materials
Rail parts begin as raw materials chosen for their reliability and strength. Poor-quality raw materials may not withstand the high demands of rail operations.
Rail product manufacturers use many raw materials for rail products, including:
- Steel (carbon steel, allow steel, and heat-treated steel)
- Carbon, Silicon, and Manganese (to add strength to parts)
- Iron
- Wood
- Stone
- Concrete
In some cases, composite materials made from fibreglass and plastic may be used for lightweight durability usecases.
Step 2: Manufacturing
Raw materials are manufactured into rail components like rails, ties, bolts, and other essential railway components. Parts are manufactured for stock or custom orders as requested.
Typical manufacturing and production of steel railway components include:
- Rolling and shaping: Raw steel is heated (to make it malleable), fed through rollers, and shaped into rail parts. Where needed, holes will be drilled, and rails will be bent to match the required curvature.
- Heat treatment: Shaped steel rails are heat treated to improve their resistance to expected wear and tear and extend their lifespan. They are heated and then cooled quickly in water before being tempered. The final step involves grinding and polishing and being stamped with identifiers.
- Quality Control (QC): Quality parts are always passed through a QC process and tested to ensure there are no manufacturing defects that could cause catastrophic consequences if installed. Rejected parts must be fixed and recertified or recycled.
Step 3: Transport
Manufactured parts are kept in stockyards until ordered by a customer. Rail manufacturers frequently keep a supply of stock parts in their stockyards, waiting for customers to order them. Custom orders and parts are made on demand and shipped to the customers’ worksite when requested(or manufactured in larger batches and stored for them until ordered).
Rail parts are usually shipped by rail to get closer to their final destination, then moved to trucks for the final leg of their journey.
Step 4: Installation, use, and repair
Before the parts arrive, the customer usually prepares the site, including grading the site and adding a layer of crushed stone or gravel. Ties or sleepers will be installed next, then connected with rails and fasteners.
Now, the customer is responsible for maintaining the tracks to ensure a safe, long life span. This typically includes regular rail inspections (by humans on foot or through drones and AI software).
Rails and rail parts will be used until these inspections have deemed a part unsuitable for its current use or it passes its expected life expectancy.
Step 5: Recommissioning and recycling
When the rails are no longer needed, they can be turned into relay rail (used rails reinstalled in other locations or for other uses). For example, high-speed rail can cause more wear and tear on railway parts, which may be deemed unsuitable for this use after a certain time. However, instead of melting the raw material down and recycling it now, it can be turned into relay rails and used for other rail purposes (such as lower-speed rail lines or supplementary lines that are infrequently used).
When metal parts are no longer suitable for any railway system use, they can be recycled by melting the raw material and reshaping it into new rail components (or metal parts for other industries).
Used wood ties can also be recycled when no longer suitable for railways. They can be used as landscaping timbers, on farms, or treated and used in reclaimed wood home decor items.
The cyclical nature of rail products and components
The railway industry is already regarded as a greener form of transportation than planes or trucks. It produces just 1% of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and can be 3-4x more fuel efficient than truck transport. In addition, the cyclical nature of railway supplies and how they can be recycled or reused throughout their lifecycle means that waste from rail parts is minimal due to the reallocation of raw materials.
When a rail part is end-of-life, in many cases, it can be used in a different rail application, melted down to create new parts, or treated and repurposed for home decor or building materials.
NARP is proud to play a role in this lifecycle by manufacturing stock and custom rail parts for everything from the ballast up, including rails, OTMs, turnouts, and switches. We use only quality or rigorously tested reconditioned or recycled materials to manufacture rail components. You can trust us to find the materials you need, when you need them.
Since 2010, we’ve been your trusted supplier and manufacturer of quality rail materials for rail projects throughout North America. We aim to be your go-to team for rail products.
Learn more about our products and contact us for a quote today.
