Concrete Sleepers

Patil Group is the country's largest supplier of concrete suppliers to the Indian Railways. The company manufactures these pre-stressed concrete (PSC) sleepers across its 12 Plants including two new automatic production plants across the country with a total installed capacity of 4.85 million sleepers per annum.

The design for concrete sleepers had been constantly undergoing change in conjunction with the R&D of Indian Railways to suit the changing requirements. With the adoption of M60 grade cement, the life of these sleepers increased. With the base width increased, the ballast pressure came down by 10% leading to proportionate savings on ballast and maintenance costs.

Indian Railways has plans to go for higher axle loads in coming years and the new design for concrete sleepers will suit future requirements of the railways. The company also envisages the use of special strand wire with higher UTS by which the overall weight of steel per sleepers will be brought down by 25%.

The company has manufacturing plants located at Anara, Bhubaneshwar (Kaipadar Road), Bilaspur (Kargi Road), Madurai (Tirumangalam), Tumkur, Udwada and Wadiyaram while the new automated plants are coming up at Badi Khatu and Bhurwal. The company is also the country's first ISO certified concrete manufacturing plant.

The sleepers manufactured by the company are suitable for the following:

1. Normal Broad Gauge: This sleeper has a trapezoidal cross section having a width of 154 mm at the top and 250 mm at the bottom and a height of 210 mm at rail seat.
2. Points & Crossing: These specialized sleepers are used to hold switches, CMS crossings and lead rails for main line and turnouts. High speed trains can run on these PSC layouts with utmost safety.
3. Guard Rail: These are used at the approaches to girder bridges to prevent a derailed train from capsizing.
4. Switch Expansion Joints: These are PSC sleepers for switch expansion joints (with 120 mm maximum gap) for long welded rails for 52 kg & 60 kg rails using corresponding chairs.
5. Check Rail on Curves: Check rails are absolutely essential to offer an inner side for sharper curves, which are more than 50 to prevent derailment.
6. Level Crossings: This is formed at various points where a road crosses a railway track at the same level and sleepers used here are made with 60 kg UIC or 52 kg check rail.
7. Dual Gauge: The unique pre-stressed concrete dual gauge sleepers have been designed to cater to handle meter and broad gauge trains so that both trains can run on the same track. All the sleepers are manufactured under stress bench system with very strict quality control measures.