Adjustment of Creep

Adjustment of Creep

When creep is in excess of 150 mm resulting in maintenance problems, the same should be adjusted by pulling the rails back. This work is carried out after the required engineering signals have been put up and the necessary caution orders given. The various steps involved in the adjustment of creep are follows.

1.  A careful survey of the expansion gaps and of the present position of rail joints is carried out.

2.  The total creep that has been proposed to be adjusted and the correct expansion gap that is to be kept are decided in advance.

3.  The fish plates at one end are loosened and those at the other end are removed. Sleeper fittings, i.e., spikes or keys, are also loosened or removed.

4.  The rails are then pulled back one by one with the help of a rope attached to a hook. The pulling back should be regulated in such a way that the rail joints remain central and suspended on the joint sleepers.

5.  The pulling back of rails is a slow process since only one rail is dealt with at a time and can be done only for short isolated lengths of a track. Normally, about 40-50 men are required per kilometre for adjusting creep.

6.  When creep is required to be adjusted for longer lengths, five rail lengths are tackled at a time. The procedure is almost the same as the preceding steps except that instead of pulling the rails with a rope, a blow is given to them using a cut rail piece of a length of about 5 m.