A railway rail fastening assembly, for suspending a railway rail (100) at discrete locations along its length above a rail foundation, comprises a pair of elastic members (5) for supporting the head of the rail (100), a pair of brackets (6) for applying a lateral clamping force to the respective elastic members (5), a base plate (1) having first and second shoulders (3, 4), and a pair of wedge members (7), each wedge member (7) being inserted between an associated one of the shoulders (3, 4) and an adjacent bracket (6) thereby to maintain the said lateral clamping force, wherein at least one (4) of the said first and second shoulders (3, 4) is removable from the said base plate (1) and is held in position on the base plate (1) by the said lateral clamping force. The base plate (1) comprises a plate having a shoulder (3) fixed on one side of a central area (13) of the plate and an aperture (14) formed in the plate on the other side of the central area (13) of the plate, the aperture (14) extending substantially away from the said central area (13) of the plate, wherein the said aperture (14) is shaped so as to provide, at an end thereof furthest from said central area (13), locating means (15) for locating a removable shoulder (4) on the said plate. Or, if the two shoulders are all removable, an aperture is formed on each side of the central area of the plate. A portion of the or each removable shoulder (4) which extends above the base plate (1) has an upright bearing face (43) against which a lateral force bears, when the shoulder (4) is in use, so as to hold the shoulder (4) in a desired operative position. |