Patent ID: 8905322

Claim:
A railway rail pad for use beneath a railway rail in a rail fastening assembly as cushioning and/or electrical insulation, wherein the pad has first and second major faces, wherein one or both faces comprise protrusions or depressions or mixtures thereof, the first face having a rail seat portion on which a foot of a railway rail sits when the pad is in use, and side members attached to and extending from the first face of the pad on two opposite sides of the rail seat portion, wherein the side members are arranged so as to be located on respective opposite sides of the railway rail when the pad is in use such that the rail seat portion of the pad lies between respective inwardly-facing wall faces of the side members; wherein, when the pad is not under load and is placed so as to rest on a surface with the first face of the pad uppermost and part of the surface lying beneath the rail seat portion of the pad, an inclination angle between the inwardly-facing wall faces of each side member and that part of the surface beneath the rail seat portion on which the pad is resting is greater than 90°; and wherein, when the pad is not under load, the first face is substantially convex only in a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rail when the pad is in use.