Manufacturing of Pre-tensioned Railway Sleepers

The following photos show the sequence of manufacturing of pre-tensioned railway sleepers (Courtesy: The Concrete Products and Construction Company, COPCO, Chennai). The steel strands are stretched in a stress bench that can be moved on rollers. The stress bench can hold four moulds in a line.

The anchoring device holds the strands at one end of the stress bench. In the other end, two hydraulic jacks push a plate where the strands are anchored.

The movement of the rams of the jacks and the oil pressure are monitored by a scale and gauges, respectively. Note that after the extension of the rams, the gap between the end plate and the adjacent mould has increased. This shows the stretching of the strands.

Meanwhile the coarse and fine aggregates are batched, mixed with cement, water and additives in a concrete mixer. The stress bench is moved beneath the concrete mixer. The concrete is poured through a hopper and the moulds are vibrated.

After the finishing of the surface, the stress bench is placed in a steam curing chamber for a few hours till the concrete attains a minimum strength. The stress bench is taken out from the chamber and the strands are cut. The sleepers are removed from the moulds and stacked for curing in water. After the complete curing, the sleepers are ready for dispatching.

Travelling pre-tensioning stress bench

Anchoring of strands

Stretching of strands

Stretching of strands

Material storage

Batching of materials

Pouring of concrete

Concrete after vibration of mould

Steam curing chamber

Cutting of strands

Demoulding of sleeper

Stacking of sleeper

Water curing

Storage and dispatching of sleepers

Manufacturing of pre-tensioned railway sleepers

About The Author

Civil Engineer

Hello, My self Neelmani, A Civil Engineer. Presently I am working with Indian Railway. An Affiliate Member of ASCE “American Society of Civil Engineers”. B.Tech in Civil Engineering from MIT Muzaffarpur and Diploma in Railway from IPWE as well as Civil Engineering from Govt. Polytechnic Muzaffarpur.

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