Looking for some advice on rail saws

Hello,

I work for the railways in new zealand

and we're having some pretty regular issues with fires caused by rail cutting.

Our hi rail trucks are already equipped with water tanks so we can pre-dampen the surrounding area prior to cutting, this is in addition to extinguishers.

I'm wanting to see what railway networks in the UK and elsewhere use to combat rail side fires from related activities.

I'm thinking along the lines of an engineered spark deflector that attaches to the of the rear saw guard, possibly made of chainmail or fire retardant material. kevlar?

Thus deflecting the sparks towards the immediate area, causing minimal bounce.

any ideas?

Thanks

We have...rain.

I'm not a railway professional (unless being a computer programmer for BR twenty-lots years ago counts) but my understanding is that the main solution in the UK involves clearing woodland on both sides of the track so there's nothing to burn.

A reciprocating saw would not produce sparks but would, of course, be slower.

With a disc cutter, I would simply place a sheet of non combustible material in the way of the sparks, ensuring they remained within the track/ballast area..

furnessvale said:

A reciprocating saw would not produce sparks but would, of course, be slower.

With a disc cutter, I would simply place a sheet of non combustible material in the way of the sparks, ensuring they remained within the track/ballast area..

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Reciprocating saws are used IIRC on the underground network due to the risk of sparks in dusty environments. They are a fair bit slower than using a grinding disc though you can always feed water though the blade guard as you would when cutting stone to reduce dust. We are taking minutes difference though, not 10s of minutes.

Depending on the power source for the reciprocating saw (petrol engine or 110v) may reduce the noise and allow workers to work without hearing protection thus hearing instructions. It's a more pleasant job for those around as well

Note that for a clean cut the grinder is usually "clamped" to the rail as well but needs to be held and cuts made at optimum angles (front of head, back of head, centre of head, web etc. etc. whereas a saw just er, saws until it is through!

The Robokatta Automatic Rail Saw (see link on Torrent's website http://www.torrenttrackside.co.uk/product/robokatta-automatic-rail-disc-saw/) claims to be zero sparks but not sure how accurate this is having never used one.

BigB said:

...

The Robokatta Automatic Rail Saw (see link on Torrent's website http://www.torrenttrackside.co.uk/product/robokatta-automatic-rail-disc-saw/) claims to be zero sparks but not sure how accurate this is having never used one.

Click to expand...

or https://www.fcsrail.com/en/rail-way-equipment/rail-band-saw-srl-35-e

There was a zero spark model that used to be available.

Taken a number of years ago.