Compressible sealing element and use thereof for filling the gap between a stock rail and a switch rail in a railway switch

A compressible sealing element (1) for filling a gap (11) between a stock rail (13) and a switch rail (12) in a railway switch, which sealing element (1) comprises at least one piece which is made of a resilient foam (17) and which has a top surface (2), two opposite lateral surfaces (3, 4) and a bottom surface (5), a rectangular cuboid (7) circumscribing the sealing element (1) and having a top face (8) tangent to said top surface (2), two lateral faces (9) tangent to said two lateral surfaces (3, 4) and a bottom face (10) tangent to said bottom surface (5) having, in the uncompressed state of the sealing element (1), a predetermined total volume,

• characterised in that
• said foam (17), which is preferably a polyurethane foam, has an open-cell content of at least 50% and such a hardness that it requires a force of less than 2000 N to compress the sealing element (1) per meter length thereof in a direction perpendicular to the lateral faces (9) of said rectangular cuboid (7) until the total volume of the rectangular cuboid circumscribing the compressed sealing element is reduced to 60% of said predetermined total volume, in that
• the sealing element (1) comprises a water-impermeable cover layer (18) which extends at least over said top surface (2) and preferably at least partially over said lateral surfaces (3, 4), and in that
• said top surface (2) has two upwardly projecting ridges (6) extending respectively along one of the two opposite lateral surfaces (3, 4) of the sealing element (1).