Similarities and differences between Chinese rail standard outline dimensions and European standards

Through continuous optimization and independent research and development, China's rail has been able to meet the requirements of China's railway operation, and has formed a set of rail standards. According to the European standard, some indicators have been in the lead, and some requirements are different from those of the European standard. Today, this paper compares the 60N rail with the largest production volume in China and the European standard 60E2 rail with similar section to discuss the differences in the overall dimensions of the European and European standards.

What are the overall dimensions
The overall dimensions referred to in this paper mainly include the straightness, twist and section type dimensions of the rail, among which the type dimensions refer to the rail type dimensions, such as rail height, rail head width, rail crown fullness, rail bottom width, section asymmetry, etc

Straightness
The Chinese standard differentiates the straightness grade according to the rail running speed ≥ 200km/h and ＜ 200km/h, while the European standard divides the straightness of the rail into two grades: A and B.
Table 1 shows the determination requirements for the measurement results. In addition to canceling the straightness requirements within 2m, the rest of the Chinese standard ≥ 200km/h grade steel rails are basically consistent with the European standard Class A straightness requirements, while the European standard Class B straightness requirements are slightly stricter than the Chinese standard ＜ 200km/h straightness requirements.

Twist
Both the Chinese standard and the European standard require that the total length distortion shall not exceed 2.5mm, but the requirements for end distortion are different. The European standard requires that the end distortion shall not exceed 0.0035 × C (c is the distance between contacts), see Table 2, and see Table 3 for the end twist requirements of the Chinese standard. From the results, the requirements of the 60E2 rail in the European standard on the end twist are basically the same as the requirements of the 60N rail with the speed ≥ 200km/h in the Chinese standard on the twist, which is stricter than the requirements of the rail with the speed<200km/h in the Chinese standard on the twist.

Type size
The full section profile of 60N rail in the Chinese standard is similar to that of 60E2 rail in the European standard, but there are obvious differences in rail height, rail head surface profile and other aspects. The height of 60N rail is 176mm, and the walking surface surface is composed of four arcs R200, R60, R16 and R8, while the height of 60E2 rail is 172mm, and the walking surface surface is composed of four arcs R200, R70, R16 and R8, In addition, there are also some differences in the radius of the rail waist arc and the thickness of the rail bottom edge, as shown in Figure 1.

By comparing the overall dimensions of 60N rail and 60E2 rail, we can find that there are some differences between the Chinese standard and the European standard in the requirements of rail overall dimensions:
(1) In terms of straightness, the straightness requirements of the Chinese standard speed class ≥ 200km/h are basically the same as the levelness requirements of the European standard, except that the straightness requirements within the range of 2m are canceled, while the requirements of the Chinese standard<200km/h straightness are slightly lower than the levelness requirements of the European standard B;
(2) In terms of distortion, the distortion requirements of the rail ≥ 200km/h in the Chinese standard are basically consistent with those of the European standard, while the distortion requirements of the rail<200km/h in the Chinese standard are lower than those of the European standard;
(3) In terms of type and size, from the perspective of the full section profile, there are differences between the Chinese standard and the European standard mainly in the rail height, rail head surface profile and other indicators, while from the perspective of the limit deviation of type and size, the requirements for the limit deviation of type and size of the Chinese standard ≥ 200km/h grade rail are generally stricter than those of the European standard.

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