Defective rail clips!

A news report about the abnormal damage to many railway track clips on the Bangabandhu Bridge was shocking! The railway authorities know only of the ones that had broken off. They, however, do not know about those that could be internally damaged. The damaged clips could lead to serious accidents in future, more so if the trains are at high speed or heavily loaded.
The strength of the clips depends on the type of steel used and the heat treatment. If it is high- carbon steel, then the heat treatment is critical; while in alloy steel, the chemical composition of the steel and the impurities present in both the high carbon and alloy steel could be the real culprits. Railway could ask the Buet mechanical department to test the clips and identify the reasons for their failure. If the clips were imported from India or China, the quality and heat treatment of the steel could be questionable.
Railways must make batch-wise detailed, chemical composition, physical and finished sample tests of the steel from which the clips were made. Was the steel inspected by reputable inspection authorities like Lloyds or SGS?
It needs to be repeated that the matter is potentially dangerous as defective clips under repeated load cycles, as the trains pass over these, can ultimately fail because of small and invisible defects. For ensuring safety, all the batches of rail clips should be replaced by more reliable clips imported from other countries besides India or China, and be certified by Lloyds or SGS prior to shipment. This is needed in the overall interest of passenger safety.

The writer is a retired engineer.