Letter 26121

Failure of railway compartment springs 

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we manufacture helical springs and are used in the suspension system of railway compartments.recently ,we witness failure of springs (it breaks) at the top end during assembly.couldnt find a agreeable reason . any sugesstions plzz

bala k
engineer - chennai, tamil nadu, india

You have given no information about how the spring has failed, how it has been treated and what conditions it has been used in. There isn't even a picture of it! No-one will be able to answer this extremely important question because we don't know what is going on. I suggest you contact a reputable metallurgical consultancy and get professional advice based on examination of the real component. I would also do this before someone gets killed on your railways.

Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist - UK

springs are failing on indian railways because adequate clearance is not being maintained between the tip of the spring and the second coil.. also the rubber washers in use are of poor quality..problem can be reduced by use of hytrel washers.

Soumendranath C
- mumbai, india

Further I would like to add that Indian railways have now switched over to the use of hytrel washers under and above the springs and this has resulted in a reduction of cases of spring failures on line.

Soumendranath C
- Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

I am surprised the remarks posted by Soumendra C have not elicited any response so far. Perhaps he could elaborate a bit on this topic.

Vikas Sonak
- Meerssen, The Netherlands

Ed. note: We've declined to print a couple of followups where people asked to take the subject to private e-mail. This forum is for public discussions and it is slightly rude to the other readers to try to disenfranchise them from the discussion they are reading. Sorry, we don't print requests or offers towards taking the conversation private.

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