AWS D15.2/D15.2MThis document recommends standards for joining, repair, maintenance, inspection of rail welds, and related rail components. For the purposes of this document, rails include railroad rails, crane rails, guard rails, electrical contact rails, girder rails, and retarder rails. Classification of rails is based on the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) specifications governing the manufacture of rails. 
Related rail components include rail crossings and turnouts which further include switch points, stock rails, switch point guards, spacer blocks, connecting rods, switch rods, plates, frogs, and frog components. 
The use of track components reconditioned by welding is a decision of the rail owner outside the scope of this document. This document does not include road bed maintenance except where it affects the expected life of the repair. 
Welding processes addressed in this document include shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), flux cored arc welding (FCAW), flash welding (FW), and thermite welding (TW). See Annex A and the Welding Handbook, Volumes 2 and 3, Ninth Edition for details on these processes.