This European Standard deals with mechanical rail joints for flat bottom rails 46 kg/ m and over. The scope of this standard is: to
establish requirements for insulated and non-insulated rail joints, for stressed rail (continuous welded rail, CWR) and unstressed rail (jointed track); to define mechanical and electrical requirements for type approval and for acceptance of insulated rail joints which are manufactured in a factory (prefab construction) as well as assembled onsite (site construction). This standard specifies the minimum requirements. Special applications as for instance tram systems may require different demands in certain paragraphs and should be agreed between customer and supplier. The scope also excludes expansion joints (it is covered in EN 13232-8), and special joints in switch constructions.