AWS D15.2 (RAILROAD RAIL WELDING)

AWS D15.2’s implementation into ProWrite allows users the ability to enter, store, and access their Recommended Practices for the Welding of Rails and Related Rail Components for Use by Rail Vehicles documents as well as their welders from within ProWrite Welding Software.

AWS D15.2 is the Recommended Practices for the Welding of Rails and Related Rail Components for Use by Rail Vehicles developed by The American Welding Society for construction of these components.

This document recommends standards for joining, repair, maintenance, inspection of rail welds, and related rail components. For the purposes of this document, rails include railroad rails, crane rails, guard rails, electrical contact rails, girder rails, and retarder rails. Classification of rails is based on the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) specifications governing the manufacture of rails. 

Related rail components include rail crossings and turnouts which further include switch points, stock rails, switch point guards, spacer blocks, connecting rods, switch rods, plates, frogs, and frog components. 

The use of track components reconditioned by welding is a decision of the rail owner outside the scope of this document. This document does not include road bed maintenance except where it affects the expected life of the repair. 

Welding processes addressed in this document include shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), flux cored arc welding (FCAW), flash welding (FW), and thermite welding (TW). See Annex A and the Welding Handbook, Volumes 2 and 3, Ninth Edition for details on these processes.