Railway Castings

What are Railway Castings?

Railway castings are metal casting components used in railroad infrastructure and railway wagons. These parts are critical for ensuring the safe and reliable operation of railway systems, supporting essential infrastructure from track components and switches to wheelsets and other rolling stock and their associated accessories. The railway industry demands castings that can withstand extreme stress, wear, and environmental conditions. Taiyuan Simis Investment Casting Co., Ltd is a professional investment casting manufacturer in China, specializes in providing custom railway casting solutions, partnering with clients to develop and manufacture high-quality cast parts that meet the stringent safety and performance standards of the railway industry.

Processes for Railway Castings

At Simis, we understand the demanding heavy-duty and safety-critical requirements of the railway industry. We offer a selection of casting processes specifically suited for producing robust and reliable railway components, including investment casting, sand casting, die casting, and shell mold casting. These processes allow us to meet the high performance and durability needs of railway and train applications.

We primarily use investment casting for complex railroad parts, and with our improved investment casting process, we can efficiently manage castings up to 50kg with excellent quality, including switch locking mechanisms, engine components, and couplings. Our sand casting is employed for large railway components such as housings, axle boxes, and bolsters. Shell mold casting is typically used for medium-sized iron parts in our workshop, while our die casting is used for aluminum components like reservoir tanks, which can weigh over 25kg.

Materials for Railway Castings

The railway industry requires materials that can endure harsh conditions. We provide casting expertise using materials selected for their resistance to stress, wear, and environmental factors. Our material capabilities include steels: carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, manganese steel; cast irons: gray cast iron, ductile iron; and non-ferrous metals: aluminum, zinc, copper, brass. We fulfill clients’ precise material requirements, and providing guidance on material selection, making sure all railway castings we cast meet rigorous standards.

Our Railway Casting Expertise & Advantages

We provide one-stop railway casting solutions tailored to the demanding requirements of the railway sector. Our in-house capabilities, including tooling, casting, various heat treatments, surface treatments and testing and inspection, offer significant benefits for our railway clients.

We offer all kinds of custom railway castings, for both large and small quantities. We supply parts for all types of railway wagons, including locomotives, passenger railcars, and freight wagons. Our range includes structural and heavy-duty components such as bolsters, structural supports, base plates, center plates, axle boxes, drive slides, yokes, couplings, engine components, and transmission components.

We also provide mechanical and operational components like levers, locking arms, switch components, clamp locks, brake parts, and rail anchors. Our offerings extend to housings and enclosures, including housings, axle box covers and adapters, bearing housings, reservoir tanks, and junction boxes. Additionally, we manufacture fittings and small parts, such as brackets and various fittings and bushings. We also offer many more custom railway castings beyond this list.

Rigorous Quality Control

We integrate quality into every stage of railway casting production, adhering to ISO 9001 standards and client specifications. Our strict quality control includes rigorous incoming material inspection, in-process monitoring, precise dimensional verification via CMMs, and non-destructive testing (radiographic, ultrasonic, magnetic particle, liquid penetrant) to detect internal flaws. We also perform material tests (tensile, hardness, chemical, microstructure) to ensure performance standards are met. A final inspection precedes shipment, guaranteeing the integrity, reliability, and safety of our railway castings.

Competitive Pricing

Cost is a major factor when ordering railway components, and we deliver competitive pricing without sacrificing quality. Our in-house capabilities, optimized production, strategic material sourcing, high-volume capacity, and lean manufacturing principles collectively reduce costs and minimize lead times. By streamlining processes and eliminating external vendors, we achieve economies of scale and pass the savings on to our clients, delivering high-quality railway parts at exceptional value.