Abstract: A railway tie, and method for producing said railway tie, includes an outer shell having an inner surface defining a shell void in the outer shell. A void material fills the shell void. An insert is located in the shell void and spans from a first side of the outer shell to a second side of the outer shell and reinforces the outer shell against force applied to one or both of the first side and the second side. The insert may include an insert-shell component, and a conduit component located in the insert-shell component, the conduit component sized and shaped to receive a railway fastener.

Abstract: A splice comprising a hollow receptacle housing with a first connector end and a second connector end, where a first observation port is in the first end and a second observation port is in the second end. The splice covers the exposed sections of two cables and the device that electrically couples the cables together. The device is placed in the proper position by the user looking for the transition between a semi-conductive layer and an insulating layer of the cables though each observation port. When the appearance of the transition between the insulating layer and the semi-conductive layer in the first observation port mirror that in the second observation port, the splice is properly positioned.

Abstract: A splice comprising a hollow receptacle housing with a first connector end and a second connector end, where a first observation port is in the first end and a second observation port is in the second end. The splice covers the exposed sections of two cables and the device that electrically couples the cables together. The device is placed in the proper position by the user looking for the transition between a semi-conductive layer and an insulating layer of the cables though each observation port. When the appearance of the transition between the insulating layer and the semi-conductive layer in the first observation port mirror that in the second observation port, the splice is properly positioned.