This Standard specifies requirements for the qualification of welds in steel rail manufactured in accordance with AS 1085.1 or rails that are shown to be metallurgically compatible for use in railway track. The following welding processes are covered:
(a) Joining of rails by flash butt welding or aluminothermic fusion welding.
(b) Repair of the railhead by arc welding or aluminothermic fusion welding.
The Standard does not provide strength properties of welds for use in design, apply to the aluminothermic or flash butt welding of tri-metal steel assemblies, or cover the welding of austenitic manganese steels.
The objective of this Standard is to provide owners and maintainers of railway track with specifications for and means of qualification of welding procedures for use with rail steel in railway track.
This Standard does not address the conditions under which the procedures that are described are to be used.