• Login to Railpage
  • Information
    • Lineside Locations
    • Liveries
    • Locomotives
    • Organisations
    • Railcams
    • Sightings
  • Correspondence
    • Forums
    • News Index
    • News Archive
    • Polls
  • Content
    • Photos
    • Photo competitions
    • Old gallery
    • Jobs
    • Downloads
    • Timetables
    • Links
    • Events Calendar
    • Rail Passes
    • Railpage Websites
  • Website
    • Ideas
    • Advanced Search
    • Statistics
    • Forums Statistics
    • Bookmarklets
    • Feedback
    • Copyright
    • Membership List
    • Platform Status
    • Donate
    • Twitter
  • Help
    • Glossary
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Statement
    • Rules for Posting
    • Website Help & FAQ

Railpage

 

 
  • Home
  • Forums
  • Signalling and Infrastructure
  • Full Steam Ahead For Recycled Plastic Railway Sleepers
    • About Railpage
    • Railpage Australia™
    • Help For Beginners
    • Locations
    • News
    • Australian Railway News
    • New South Wales
    • Sydney Suburban
    • Victoria
    • Melbourne suburban
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Western Australia
    • NT
    • ACT
    • Operators
    • Locomotives and Rolling Stock
    • Signalling and Infrastructure
    • Sightings
    • General
    • Australian Rail Employment
    • Trams and Light Rail
    • Simulator Forums
    • MSTS General Discussions
    • MSTS Routes
    • MSTS 3D
    • Trainz General Discussions
    • MetroMSTS Projects
    • MS Train Simulator X
    • Open Rails
    • BVE Trainsim
    • Train Simulator
    • Model Railways
    • Model Railways - General Discussions
    • Special Interest Groups
    • Australian Miniature Railways
    • Gheringhap Loop
    • Railway Archaeology
    • Railway Photography
    • Radio and Scanning Discussions
    • RTSA
    • Other Transport
    • The Bogies
    • Railway Preservation and Tourism
    • Preservation and Tourist Railways
    • International Railway News
    • International Discussion
    • General Forums
    • The Lounge
    • Test Forum
    • Armchair Operators
    • Archived Threads
    LancedDendrite posted 26 Jun 2019 22:04
    Posted in Signalling and Infrastructure » Full Steam Ahead For Recycled Plastic Railway Sleepers

    In interpreting the info in the link provided by Alphatron, it seems that they go about 30 to the tonne (no mention of section or length), compared to hardwood (std gauge) of about 12/tonne, steel 20/tonne and concrete 4/tonne. It seems a lot of their field testing has been in QLD, maybe that 30/tonne is for 1067 gauge sleepers.
    Lockspike
    The Duratrack/Integrated Recycling website states that 1 tonne of recycled plastic feedstock makes 30 sleepers. That doesn't include the binders, fillers and other additives that are required to make the sleepers meet their rigidity, density and UV stabilisation specifications, so they will be heavier than 30/tonne. My understanding is that they have a comparable weight to redgum & grey box timber sleepers and the costs are on par with concrete sleepers - but more expensive than new A grade river redgum sleepers, even considering the difficulties in obtaining good redgum these days. This is the reason why their marketing is exclusively about comparing them to timber sleepers (not concrete) and explicitly does not mention sleeper-for-sleeper costs and instead promotes their superior lifespan.

    There are competing plastic/composite sleepers on the market that are made overseas and built for heavier duty applications and are thus supposedly equivalent to concrete. It remains to be seen whether their trials will receive the fanfare that Integrated Recycling's product has gotten so far.

    Edit history

    Edited 26 Jun 2019 22:05, 2 years ago, edited by LancedDendrite

    In interpreting the info in the link provided by Alphatron, it seems that they go about 30 to the tonne (no mention of section or length), compared to hardwood (std gauge) of about 12/tonne, steel 20/tonne and concrete 4/tonne. It seems a lot of their field testing has been in QLD, maybe that 30/tonne is for 1067 gauge sleepers.
    Lockspike
    The Duratrack/Integrated Recycling website states that 1 tonne of recycled plastic feedstock makes 30 sleepers. That doesn't include the binders, fillers and other additives that are required to make the sleepers meet their rigidity, density and UV stabilisation specifications, so they will be . My understanding is that they have a comparable weight to redgum & grey box timber sleepers and the costs are on par with concrete sleepers - but more expensive than new A grade river redgum sleepers, even considering the difficulties in obtaining good redgum these days. This is the reason why their marketing is exclusively about comparing them to timber sleepers (not concrete) and explicitly does not mention sleeper-for-sleeper costs and instead promotes their superior lifespan.

    There are competing plastic/composite sleepers on the market that are made overseas and built for heavier duty applications and are thus supposedly equivalent to concrete. It remains to be seen whether their trials will receive the fanfare that Integrated Recycling's product has gotten so far.

    About this website

    Railpage version 3.10.0.0037

    All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is © 2003-2021 Interactive Omnimedia Pty Ltd.

    You can syndicate our news using one of the RSS feeds.

    View mobile site

    Stats for nerds

    Gen time: 0.3906s | RAM: 5.7kb