Replacing Welded Rail in Clinton, CT

A couple of months ago Amtrak replaced the welded rail through Princeton Junction, NJ on both of the inside tracks without replacing the ties.

as long as the rail thats installed has same footprint as old rail, there would be no need to replace ties or hardware.

There are plastic pieces in there, I think. I have noticed that thew newer tie clips are different than the ones used with the older concrete ties.

When Amtrak first put concrete ties on the NEC in the 1970s, they used the Pandrol "E" clip, which looks kind of like a 3-D pretzel. Now they're using a newly-designed "Fastclip" that looks like a "W". Both function the same way, with a "toe" of the clip resting on the base of the rail and in tension so there is a "toe load" of about 3,000 PSI.

Concrete ties are surprisingly good conductors of electricity, so to prevent signal circuits from shunting in wet weather, a fiberglass or plastic insulator is placed between the toe of the clip and the base of the rail. The clip itself is, of course, steel.

All the "jewelry" (clips, plate, fastening system, insulators) runs to about $25 per tie, versus a few cents for a pair of cut spikes for a wood tie and maybe $5 for the double-shoulder plate.

NellieBly wrote:When Amtrak first put concrete ties on the NEC in the 1970s, they used the Pandrol "E" clip, which looks kind of like a 3-D pretzel. Now they're using a newly-designed "Fastclip" that looks like a "W".

Exactly! Of course, when Amtrak replaced the rails on the stretch through Princeton Junction recently, they used the older type of Pandrol clips, since they didn't replace the ties.

Off topic but I did notice that the Clinton station's high level platform is almost complete.

Amtrak is NOT going to stop at Clinton.

All "stations" along the Shore Line East service between New Haven and Saybrook are being upgraded with high level platforms. Find out more at www.shorelineeast.com. Saybrook was already upgraded and obviously the two NHV stations are already high level. I believe Branford, Guilford, and Clinton are now under construction. Work has yet to start on Madison, and at Westbrook - no permanent station location has been established.

-Jay Hogan

Old Saybrook & New London were upgraded because of the Acela has no traps. The Acela's have yet to stop at OS. The length of the platforms is absurd they are only 3 cars. CDOT has no vision when it comes to rail service. If the Q-Bridge is going to be the nightmare we all expect it to be the Shore-Line trains will be packed in a couple of years.

DO NOT expect the Acela to stop at Old Saybrook. That station gets pretty good service by the Regionals.

I would not expect them to stop at OS, they can barely keep their schedule when skipping NHV.