Pandrol’s Fastclip FC-16 fastening system was chosen, to be used on over one million sleeper sets. The rail clips will be manufactured at Pandrol’s new factory in Wuhan, China, with the insulators and rail pads for the fastening system also locally produced.
The Pandrol Fastclip FC-16 fastening is designed for use on ballasted track and is engineered to allow for easy maintenance. With Pandrol Fastclip, all components are delivered to site pre-assembled on the sleeper. This provides huge labour savings, as well as reduced distribution and handling costs during track laying, stressing and rail changing.
The project has involved training and technical support from the Pandrol team in the UK and China. Pandrol’s product support team provided training exercises to the track building contractors – familiarising them with hand tools, machinery and other ancillary equipment which complements the Fastclip FC system. The team also worked closely with the sleeper manufacturers to provide technical details on the manufacture of the sleeper and on correct production of the relevant tooling. Technical product support is also being provided on this project.