Why Plastics and Composites for the Rail Industry?
Railcars are a vital transportation method for many industries transporting bulk materials, livestock, automobiles, chemicals and many other products. The railroad system, which incorporates metal rails and various types of ties, forms a vast network that connects states and countries. Railcars and the railroad system are exposed to wide operating temperatures from subzero to over 120 F and higher, corrosive chemicals, high voltage, repeated impact and vibration, high wear, and other constant challenges that cause unwanted downtime and lost productivity.
Plastics and composites are often used to replace metal, aluminum and bronze to extend wear life of bearing and wear components and reduce weight with structural components. Some common applications include weight reduction applications for enhanced fuel savings with plastics and composites being used to replace metal and aluminum in structural applications of railcars. Plastics and composites are used to replace bronze and metals in metal on metal applications as a bearing material, often greatly extending wear life and eliminating maintenance with their self-lubricating properties. Composites are now being used as railroad ties to replace wood and other materials for extended life in service. These are just a few applications that are common in the railcar and railroad industry.
Why Boedeker Plastics, Inc. for the Rail Industry?
Since 1984, we have worked closely with R&D, Engineering, Maintenance & Supply Chain personnel at Railcar and Rail System OEMs and with railcar and yard owners to reduce operating costs and downtime with our materials, parts & services. As new technologies are developed with railcars we work closely with R&D to help select materials that help eliminate weight, reduce wear and extend service life between repair and contribute to more efficient railcars.
Over the years, we have built a multimillion dollar inventory of high performance plastic and composite sheet, rod and tube. All inventoried items are are available with cut to size and same day shipping service to reduce cost and eliminate long lead times.
We also have an ISO certified precision machine shop to support our clients with the most challenging requirements. In addition, we offer injection molding for higher part volume requirements.
For clients that have ongoing part requirements we offer just-in-time (JIT) delivery with our customer inventory services.
We also specialize in technical services that include materials selection by application, improved part design assistance, onsite consultation and more. We stand ready to put our 500 years of combined experience and services to work for you.
As an alternative to onsite consultation we offer our TelePlastics™ remote support service. This is a safe and secure remote solution, for the diagnosis and recommendation of plastic solutions, by our experienced Technical Service staff, utilizing the latest in telecommunication technology.
Click here to view all RAIL INDUSTRY PLASTICS
![]()
