Railway Sleepers Manufacturing Industry. Precast RCC Sleeper Production for Railway Track. Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) Sleepers
PSC sleeper refers to steel reinforced concrete sleeper, commonly used on railway tracks. Besides Indian Railways, power plants, refineries and cement plants also use sleepers for their rail tracks. Concrete sleeper have several advantages over wooden sleepers as it does not rot like timber sleepers and its weight adds stability to the tracks, particularly with changes in temperature. It can also withstand fire hazards and has longer life than wooden sleepers.
Concrete sleepers are generally made from cast concrete slabs reinforced internally by steel wire. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers can also boast a generally superior load capacity and a smoother ride as a result of their greater weight and vertical / lateral stability.
Pre-stressed concrete sleepers can also boast a generally superior load capacity and a smoother ride as a result of their greater weight and vertical / lateral stability. For the most modern high-speed lines, concrete (or composite plastic) becomes a necessity to bear higher speeds.
At present India has the second largest railway network in Asia and the fourth largest in the world after the USA (2, 27,736 km), Russia (2, 22,293 km), and China (87,157 km).
Indian Railway provides the most important mode of public transport in India. This is the most commonly used and cost effective long distance transport system of the country.
The railway network is also ideal for long-distance travel and movement of bulk commodities, apart from being an energy efficient and economic mode of conveyance and transport.
The Government of India has focused on investing on railway infrastructure by making investor-friendly policies. It has moved quickly to enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in railways to improve infrastructure for freight and high-speed trains. At present, several domestic and foreign companies are also looking to invest in Indian rail projects.
Today, Indian Railways manages the fourth-largest rail network in the world, with tracks spanning more than 120,000km of the country. It has played a vital role in the economic, industrial and social development of the country. The network runs multi-gauge operations extending over 63,273 route kilometres.
Indian Railways’ revenues increased at a CAGR of 9.66 per cent during FY07-FY18 to US$ 27.71 billion in FY18. Earnings from the passenger business grew at a CAGR of 9.90 per cent during FY07-FY18 to reach US$ 7.55 billion in 2017-18P. Freight revenue rose at a CAGR of 9.83 per cent during FY07-FY18 to reach US$ 18.16 billion in 2017-18.
The structure and the design for concrete sleepers had been constantly undergoing changes in conjunction with the R&D of Indian Railways to suit the changing requirements, environment or otherwise.
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.
