Fish plate joints have been a part of the railway since it was first built by the great Victorian engineers.

They allow the railway to expand and contract due to changes in temperature and they provide the familiar noise of the railway as the rail wheels go over the joints with a clunk, clunk sound

For nearly 200 years, fish plate joints have been separated and lubricated with black grease to allow the fishing surfaces to move freely. This is a time consuming, messy and expensive task undertaken by track maintenance engineers around the world. But with the appliance of scientific and engineering best practice, the world of fishplate management is about to change with 3 companies joining forces to bring together 3 product approved solutions into a single service offering.

Advances in lubrication technology mean that a dry fish plate lubricant can now be applied by one person in 30 seconds compared to 4 people for 20 minutes to apply traditional black grease. The cost of the product is roughly the same however the cost of labour saving is massive. The Network Rail approved dry lubricant is provided by Interflon and is 20 times more effective than black grease in terms of friction reduction.

The railway has a sad history of nuts and bolts coming apart over time. When upgrading fish plate joints, it is important to install fastenings which are designed never to come undone under traffic. After the tragic events at Potters Bar and Lambrigg, where derailments occurred as a result of loose fastenings, Network Rail approved the use of the 2 part Hardlock nut and bolt system provided by Staytite.

Once a fish plate joint has been upgraded, it is important to put a marker plate on the sleeper next to the joint so that future maintenance teams know that it is a dry lubricated joint. Selectequip are approved by Network Rail to provide marker plates.

The Fish Plate Joint Alliance is chaired by Steve Featherstone. Steve has worked with Interflon, Staytite and Selectequip as part of his supply chain for many years and saw the opportunity to integrate their products into a single solution to upgrade fish plate joints from traditional black grease lubricant to modern dry lubricant.

The Fish Plate Joint Alliance provides everything required to upgrade one joint in a box so that track maintenance teams have everything in one place when they go to do their work.