JD Rail Solutions Pty Ltd

Why you should not use Asphalt Crossing's

This Crossing was in for less than 5 years and this is the damage that occurred! Luckily on this occasion the train was moving slow and the driver only heard a thud, and the Train and Carriages some how managed not to derail.

Could you imagine what would have happened if the Train was moving at high speeds?

Most likely fatalities and the cost would have been in the Millions of dollars. The question is how many asphalt Crossing are being put in place of Concrete Panels because the railway companies save a few dollars. What price do you put on somebody's life?

This previous asphalt Crossing now has a JD Rail Concrete Crossing

Why you should not use Rubber Crossing's

On the 12th of September 2006 a passenger train was derailed from the Track after colliding with a Rubber Panel that had lifted out of place, from the Croxton Rubber Level Crossing. In this case it was lucky the train derailed to the medium between the Tracks, without causing injury to passengers. If the train had derailed to the opposite side the track the rain would have most likely rolled down the embankment causing injury or death.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch released its report after nearly a 2 year investigation, click on the below link to read the report.

http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources/080513_R112008_Croxton.pdf

Introducing the JD Rail Solutions Advan-Bridge Modular Fast Fit Road / Rail Crossing

2 men + 2 tonne Crane + 13 minutes

Equals

3 Linear metre Crossing Installed

More InfoJD Rail Machines Rail / Road Crossing is designed by experienced Rail Track Men to be the most effective for quick initial installation and easy removal and installation for maintenance.
To date the most common remark we are getting from the track men installing our crossing is "I can't believe how simple this Crossing is to fit in comparism to other types we have fitted."

Unique Lock Down System

The JD Rail Solutions Lock Down System was designed to ensure all panels would stay securely in place when vehicles passed over. To show that the Lock down system was as effective as designed, we at JD Rail Machines fitted our Crossing to 6 x 400kg Sleepers and 68kg Rail and lifted our Crossing on it's normal lift points with a crane. Our Lock down system worked so effective, that it lift the rail and sleepers without letting go. When lifted the total weight measured was 7.5 tonne.

7 Crossing Products

Pedestrain ---- 500 Tonne Mining

JD Rail Solutions supplies 7 Road/Rail Crossing products, these are Pedestrian, Provisional, Agricultural, Shire, Highway, 250 Tonne Mining and 500 Tonne Mining.

We succeeded to design and manufacture the world’s heaviest crossing which is operational in Western Australia’s Pilbara Region on the Heaviest Haul Rail Network in the world in extremely harsh weather conditions.

All of JD Rail Solutions rated capacity Rail/Road Crossing use the same successful design concept to maximise equal distribution of road traffic to rail formation.

Click here for further information on Product Versions

Unique Design 

Heavy Duty Steel Saddles More Info . Our Heavy Duty Saddles use upto 16mm plate steel welded to International Standards

Interlocking to itself—not to the rail More Info .. In the design of the JD Rail Crossing, one of major concerns was not to have any fixtures to physically touch the rail for securing panels. The concept of no contact was to prevent any additional stress to the rail from imposing loads of both the Crossing itself and the gross weight of the vehicles. These additional forces could lead to premature failure of the rail, hence increasing the possiblity of a Train derailment.

No interference to the original Rail Structure More Info .. The JD Rail Crossing does not intefere with any rail component
No drilling into sleepers
No attaching to rail fixtures
No Bolts or Clamps onto the rail

Custom fit to curved radius track More Info ..Our Engineers can calculate the JD Rail Crossing to custom fit
any radius curve

Crossing moves with track geometry More Info.. One of the common observations we made at Jd Rail was that most Crossings out on the market use Foundation Blocks to support the outer Field Side Panels, even though this is effective when the track geometry is set correct at the intial installation. This is because as direct load forces imposed to panels are distributed evenly on flat surfaces, though overtime it is likely the Track Geometry will drop. When this occurs the original forces are now not evenly distributed onto flat surfaces, but onto the edges of the Sleeper, Foundation Block and Field Side Panel. Due to this shift of the load forces the likelyhood of one the components failing is high, and in turn has now increased the risk of an accident either from Rail or Road Traffic from Crossing failure.

The JD Crossing panels do not act in this manner, if the track geometry drops, all the panels shift with it. If the track geometry is raised the panels shift up with it. This always allows the downward forces to distribute evenly and safely. To further improve this concept JD Rail Machines designed a Road Support Block that provides a barrier between the Crossing and lead in and lead out road access. The Road Support Block is unique as moulds into the existing crossing, though does not interfere with Crossing in anyway, which allows our Crossing free float and still remove the field panels easily without disturbing any Road Surfaces.

Quick removal/install of panels for track maintenance More Info.. With most types of Crossings it takes some time to initially install them with all the fixtures that require drilling, screwing, bolting ect. Not only is it hard enough at the initial installation it's worse when you have remove for maintenance, now when all the initial fixtures have corroded and will no come loose. Not allow this issue, but some Crossing types if you want to look under the a panel that is in the centre of the Crossing you hve to remove all panels next to it, in order to remove the one panel. This process is very daunting, so maintenace in these key areas is left, and over time increases the chances of accident occuring at that location from either Road or Rail traffic. The JD Rail Crossing does not have this problem at all, to remove any panel in any location all you have to do is lift it out. In a matter of minutes the Crossing is removed and the maintenace can be carried out and then refit the panels just as easy. You do not even have to worry where the panel was removed as all panels are interchangeable and can be rotated around and still fit back into place.

Smooth transition for road vehicles More Info.. The JD Rail Solutions Crossing is designed to follow the contour of sleepers, this concept allows an even distrubution of weight and as since we use a custom cushioning rubber vehicles can go form a smooth road surface to a smooth Rail Crossing to a smooth Road.

No interruption to normal train scheduling More Info.. As the JD Rail Crossing panels can be installed so rapidly, installation can be carried out between train passing the installation point. Further not to interrupting the train scheduling, road traffic is minimally held up, as one lane at time can be closed when installing which can be reoped within the hour. Even when normal track maintenance requires to be carried out the panels can be lifted out in a matter of minutes, and refitted again in a matter of miutes.

No Interference to Trains

Looking at the picture to the right you can see a Heavy Haul Train passing over a 12m JD Rail Solutions Crossing. Even with the significant weight and vibration of the train the Crossing firmly stays located. Vibrations are kept to a minimum as there is no concrete to concrete contact, concrete to steel contact or steel to steel. All are separated by custom manufactured insulating rubbers.

HaulPaks using the JD Rail Crossing

Examining the picture to the right you can see a CAT  785C Haul Pak passing over a 250 Tonne Crossing, which in view looks rather small.  The picture inside the picture shows the 18 metre Crossing on the day it was first installed.  This picture demonstrates when you scale the Haul Pak against the people, the load forces that are imposed to the JD Crossing and no damage has occurred to the Rail or Sleepers, and no significant movement has occurred to the Track Geometry.  This leaving the Crossing location to stay at maximum working speed, keeping Rail Traffic to it’d designated Timetable.  

Solid Steel Frames filled with Concrete

Strong Designed Concrete Re-enforcement Mesh

40 MPA Concrete (The same as Sleeper ratings)

Steel Borders More Info .. All of JD Rail Solutions concrete panels are manufactured well above the given Australian Standards. As the solid re-inforcement mesh (max - 12mm) is welded to a solid 50mm x 50mm x 6mm Angle Iron, giving much strength to the steel frame alone. With the solid frame finished with manufacturing a minimum of 60 MPA concrete is moulded together to make the total package of a panel that will last many years in service.

3 metre panels More Info .. The JD Rail Solutions panels are manufactured in 3 metre sections with 600mmm spacing. This design is based on distributing the weight forces over 6 sleepers, with the 1st and 6th sleeper are only covered by half to allow for overlap from one panel to another.

Custom moulds to fit any sleeper shape or type More Info .. The JD Rail Solutions Concrete Crossing is effective in it's design because of ability to mould to the sleepers, this is achieved as our Engineers design each crossing from the sleeper type engineering drawings and sample sleepers. This allows to design a crossing with correct tolerances to suit any sleeper type.

More Information

60 Reasons why you should think about fitting JD Rail "Fast Fit Rail / Road Crossing"