Similar International Standards
AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 4, Part 2American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA), USA
HighCurrent
Track Bolts and Nuts
Specifies materials, dimensions, and testing for carbon steel track bolts and nuts.
UIC 864-2 OInternational Union of Railways (UIC), International
HighCurrent
Technical specification for the supply of fish-bolts and nuts
Directly addresses technical requirements for fish-bolts and nuts used in rail joints.
AS 1085.4-2012Standards Australia, Australia
HighCurrent
Railway track material, Part 4: Fishbolts and nuts
Focuses on the requirements for fishbolts and nuts for joining rails with fishplates.
EN 13481-1:2012European Committee for Standardization (CEN), Europe
MediumCurrent
Railway applications — Track — Performance requirements for fastening systems — Part 1: Fastenings for ballasted track
Covers the entire fastening system's performance, not just the prescriptive design of bolts.
Key Differences
≠IS 2073:1978 is a prescriptive standard defining specific material grades (e.g., Class 4.6, 5.6) and dimensions, whereas modern standards like the EN 13481 series are performance-based, focusing on the overall system's capabilities like clamping force, fatigue life, and electrical resistance.
≠The specified material grades in IS 2073 have lower mechanical properties (e.g., Class 5.6 tensile strength ~500 MPa) compared to the higher strength grades (e.g., Class 8.8 or 10.9, >800 MPa) commonly required by UIC and EN standards for high-speed or heavy-haul lines.
≠Modern international standards (e.g., AREMA, UIC) have much more stringent and specific requirements for corrosion protection, explicitly calling for coatings like hot-dip galvanizing to specific standards (e.g., ISO 10684), whereas IS 2073 is vague, stating only 'a suitable protective coating'.
≠IS 2073 primarily uses metric threads based on IS 4218 (ISO), while North American standards like AREMA specify imperial threads (Unified Inch Screw Threads per ANSI B1.1).
Key Similarities
≈All standards cover the basic function of bolts and nuts for securing railway track components, particularly joining rails at fishplated joints.
≈They all provide standardized dimensional tables for bolt length, diameter, and head/nut geometry to ensure interchangeability within their respective systems.
≈All standards mandate fundamental mechanical property tests, including tensile strength, proof load, and hardness, to ensure the fasteners can withstand service loads.
≈The general forms of bolts, such as oval neck fish bolts designed to prevent rotation during tightening, are conceptually similar across IS 2073 and its international counterparts.