How Rail Clips Are Made?
Dec 29, 2025
The rail elastic clip is used for fastening the rails and the tie plate on concrete sleeper. Using the material of forged spring steel, our rail clips are produced by hot forging process. GNEE RAIL can develop and produce various kinds of rail clips such as E-type(E1609, E1809, E1817, E2007, E2009, E2055, etc), SKL tension clips (SKL1, SKL3, SKL12, SKL14, SKL75, etc), PR series, Nabla clips, D type rail clip, Fast clip, gauge lock clip, Deenik clip as well as other standard and non-standard clips can be customized by drawings or samples.
| Series | Type | Hardness | Material | Fatigue life | Surface | Standard |
| E rail clip | E1,E2,E3 | 44-48HRC | 60Si2MnA: C:0.56-0.64,Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.60-2.00,Cr:≤0.35, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 60Si2CrA: C:0.56-0.64,Mn:0.40-0.70, Si:1.40-1.80,Cr:0.70-1.00 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 55Si2Mn: C:0.52-0.60,Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.50-2.00,Cr:≤0.35 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 38Si7:C:0.35-0.42,Mn:0.50-0.80, Si:1.50-1.80, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 |
For Dia.18 is 3 million cycles without breaking. For Dia.20 is 5 million cycles without breaking. |
plain (oiled), Oxide black, color painting or according to customer requirement. | DIN17221, BS970, GB/T1222 |
| E1609 | ||||||
| E1809 | ||||||
| E1817 | ||||||
| E2001 | ||||||
| E2006 | ||||||
| E2009 | ||||||
| E2055 | ||||||
| E2056 | ||||||
| Vossloh clip&Forged rail clip | SKL1 | 42-47HRC | ||||
| PR rail clip | PR309 | 44-48HRC | ||||
| PR401 | ||||||
| PR601 | ||||||
| PR85 | ||||||
| Customized production of rail clips are available according to your drawings or samples! | ||||||
How Rail Clips Are Made?
Based on the process production, elastic rail clip manufacture process can be summarized as eight links: raw material- shearing- heating- forming- hardening- tempering- inspection- packing.
1. Raw material
In general, elastic rail clip is made of spring steel bar. Spring steel refers to the steel specifically for manufacturing spring and elastic components due to the elasticity in the quenched and tempered state. Spring steel has excellent comprehensive performance like mechanical properties, performance by the bullet-proof, fatigue, hardenability, physical and chemical properties. The raw materials of elastic railroad clip mostly include 55 Si7, 60 Si7, 65 Si7, 55 Si Cr7, 60Si2MnA, 60Si2CrA, 55Si2Mn, and 38Si7 grade of spring steel.
| Material | 60Si2MnA | 60Si2CrA | 55Si2Mn | 38Si7 |
| Chemical composition(%) | C:0.56-0.64, Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.60-2.00, Cr:≤0.35, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.56-0.64, Mn:0.40-0.70, Si:1.40-1.80,Cr:0.70-1.00 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.52-0.60, Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.50-2.00,Cr:≤0.35 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.35-0.42, Mn:0.50-0.80, Si:1.50-1.80, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 |
2.Shearing
The processing method of elastic rail clip mainly adopts hot forging process. The raw material which is spring steel has to be sheared as per length required.
3. Heating
After shearing, spring steel should be heated to forging temperature (950-1000 degrees Celsius). One thing to notice about this link is that excessive heating should be avoided to check decarburization.
4. Forming
When the spring steel bar is heated to proper temperature, it will be transferred to power press for forging. Three sets of molds and fixtures are kept as drawings before hammering.
5. Hardening
The forged rail clips are passed through a quenching oil tank in a conveyor belt for a period of 12 minutes at a temperature of 70℃. The maximum time required for the rod to be removed from the heating furnace to be immersed in the quenching oil time (including forming) is 20 seconds. Cleaning quenching oil bath, and then, checking the Dimensional accuracy and quench hardness of rail clips.
6. Tempering
After quenching, the elastic rail clips are tempered at 400-500℃ for a period of 55-60 minutes, which can achieve appropriate toughness in the spring.
7. Inspection
Every rail clip is put through strict quality controls before delivery, such as fatigue test, hardness test and load test, etc. All inspections will go through according to requirements from different customers.
8. Packing
Surface treatment is a necessary link before packaging if customer has requirement. There is a range of surface treatments to meet the needs of varying applications, such as plain (oiled), Oxide black, color painting or other methods according to customer requirements. For package, a lot of packing methods are suitable for elastic rail clips, woven bags is one of the common packing method.
GNEE RAIL as the largest rail clip and clamp production base in China, which has been qualified to tender medium and large scaled railway projects. In addition, GNEE RAIL is approved elastic rail clip manufacturer by China's Railway Ministry and has been ISO9001-2008 certified. Our rail clip product is ideal for rail track assembly for advantages of easy fitment while track laying; economical maintenance; long durability and lifespan; fast replacement.
