Types of Crane Rail Specifications

The rails used for cranes are divided into three types: heavy rails, light rails and crane specialized rails. The following will introduce the specifications, models and materials of those rails.

(1) Heavy rails are the rails with a nominal weight greater than 30kg per meter. Both train rails and crane specialized rails are heavy rails. Train rails are used for laying railways, to withstand the pressure, impact load and friction during train running, and it is requiring sufficient strength, certain toughness and strict quality requirements. In addition to guaranteeing its chemical composition, the inspection of mechanical properties, drop weight test and acid leaching low magnification structure are also required. While the height of crane specialized rails is low, the head width and waist thickness are large, only the chemical composition and tensile strength are required to be tested. For laying crane and trolley tracks. Material of heavy rails are 45Mn and U71Mn. Heavy rail specifications are 50kg/m (P50), 43kg/m (P43) and 38kg/m (P38). While the crane specialized rail specifications are QU70, QU80, QU100 and QU120. The number after “QU” indicate the width of the rail.

(2) Light rails are the rails with a nominal weight of less than or equal to 30kg per meter. The quality requirements of light rail are lower than that of heavy rail, and only its chemical composition, tensile strength, hardness and drop weight test are required to be tested. The main use of the light rails are for laying temporary transportation lines and light locomotive lines in forest areas, mining areas, factories and construction sites. They are also often used for crane running tracks with small tonnage single-girder cranes. Material of light rails are Q235, 55Q. Light rail specifications are 30kg/m (P30), 24kg/m (P24), 22kg/m (P22), 18kg/m (P18), 15kg/m (P15), 12kg/m (P12) and 8kg/m (P8).

（3） Dimensions of the rails used for cranes, please see below drawing and chart:

The above rail models are commonly used for cranes. If you are not clear about what kind of rail should be fit for your crane, you could contact one of our Kinocranes sales representatives. We’ll help to pick up the right rail model for your crane.