Direct Fixation Fasterners

STANDARD DIRECT FIXATION FASTENERS

Designed, developed, laboratory proven and field validated, these track fastener systems offer unique advantages to trackwork engineers and maintenance personnel. The fastener designs are economical, easy to install and maintain, corrosion resistant, and quiet under load. They have an inherent design flexibility to meet a wide range of performance specifications. For example:

• High or low longitudinal restraint to accommodate various system requirements
• High or low lateral and vertical spring rate characteristics to meet noise/vibration requirements for either heavy or light vehicle systems
• Rigid, resilient or captive spring clip design to attach the rail to the fastener body
• Direct installation capability to concrete slab, wood ties or steel ties
• Outstanding electrical isolation for protection of stray current flow
• Mitre rail expansion joint fasteners, designed to function with mitre rail joints for bridges and other special applications that require electrical signal or power isolation, corrosion resistance and vibration/noise attenuation

L.B. Foster Transit Products’ fastener systems are currently installed in the majority of the rail transit systems in North America, including Atlanta’s MARTA, Washington’s WMATA, San Francisco’s BART, Baltimore’s MTA, New York City Transit, Los Angeles’ MTA, Portland’s Tri-Met, the Niagara Frontier Transit in Buffalo, Edmonton LRT and Vancouver’s Canada Line.

Other installations include AMTRAK, Climax Molybdenum and U.S. Steel. Our approach is to adapt to meet your needs. Let us apply our 30 years of track fastening experience to help solve your rail fastening needs.

L.B. Foster Transit Products can provide fasteners not only for normal tangent and curved track installations, but also for special applications which include:

• Special trackwork fasteners, uniquely designed to provide the necessary high lateral restraint and ease of installation with a minimum number of fastener configurations
• Fasteners for railroad Sealey ore-car dumping, bridge deck and washer track, specially designed to meet unusual needs for corrosion resistance, electrical isolation and shock or vibration resistance or all of these properties at once

SPECIAL TRACKWORK DIRECT FIXATION FASTENERS

L.B. Foster Transit Products has been providing both bonded and non-bonded elastomer direct fixation fasteners for special trackwork applications since the mid-1970’s. These fasteners have been supplied to install special track products to either direct fixation surfaces or ties.

Our models have been designed to meet the requirements of our customers and incorporate features to provide:

• Ease of installation and maintenance
• Corrosion resistance
• Electrical stray current resistance
• Noise and vibration dampening
• Miter rail joints
• Expansion joints

Our bonded special trackwork system has adjustment features that significantly ease the installation process and save the installers significant time and money.

Domestic customers include AMTRAK, MARTA in Atlanta, Washington Metro in Washington, DC, Baltimore’s MTA, BART and MUNI in San Francisco, Los Angeles’ MTA. International customers include Tren Urbano in Puerto Rico, TRTC in Taiwan and Valencia in Venezuela.

If you have an unusual special track installation, we appreciate the opportunity to work with you.

Our various models provide a wide range of performance to meet the requirements such as the following:

• Various longitudinal rail restraints between a high of 4,000 to 5,000 pounds to a low of 0 pounds restraint
• Various vertical and lateral stiffness spring rates to meet light and heavy vehicle wheel load and noise/vibration requirements
• Rigid or resilient rail clips to attach the rail to the fastener body
• Direct installation capability to concrete surface, wood ties or steel structures using appropriate bolting systems

We have fasteners for virtually every special track application, including:

• Turnouts and crossings
• Restraining rail

HEAVY HAUL DIRECT FIXATION FASTENERS

Through years of experience and advances in technology, L.B. Foster Company is pleased to offer a heavy haul alternative to installing rail. L.B. Foster Transit Products has been providing elastomer direct fixation fastener for heavy and industrial applications since the early 1980’s. The additional trackload clearance demanded by traditional ballasted track construction can be virtually eliminated through the use of direct fixation rail fasteners. With an average height from rail seat to concrete deck of 1 1/2″ to 2″, direct fixation fasteners are an ideal alternative whenever height clearances are restricted.

By eliminating the need for sub-ballast, ballast and ties, our direct fixation fasteners dramatically reduce the track structure height. Also, the lighter system weight allows for more economically designed supporting structures. Less weight means less costs, a savings felt directly at the bottom line.

Accommodating today’s demands for double-stack cars presents many railroads with clearance challenges at existing structures. Retrofitting existing tunnels for additional clearance can be simplified and economized through the use of L.B. Foster Company direct fixation fasteners.

Please click here for a complete Transit Rail Products reference guide.