Steel and concrete sleepers represent a significant percentage of the total sleepers being used these days for track support. ‘Clipping up’ and ‘unclipping’ by manual methods is a labour-intensive operation that also carries potential safety and health risks. The HMA Materials Handling Clip Inserter is designed to apply and extract rail clips from both sides of the rail simultaneously with one operator.

The machine has two work heads, each of which contains two hydraulically-operated applicator arms. A hydraulically-operated scissor-type rail clamp ensures the machine remains fixed to the track during insertion and extraction. All functions are independently hydraulically controlled by the operator. Good visibility of the rail clips maximises the insertion rate.
Options that can be supplied by HMA Materials Handling include:

• Centre jack
• Rail clamps both sides
• Automatic control cycle
• Standard and narrow gauge options
• Gauge convertible options
• Choice of air-cooled diesel power plants
• Various clip styles, including e-xlip, fast clip