An improved rail anchoring spike that includes a conical swell adapted to engage with a hole in a metal tie plate during fastening of the metal tie plate to a tie. The conical swell has a smaller diameter toward a pointed end of the spike and a larger diameter toward a head of the spike. The smaller diameter is slightly larger than a diameter of a body of the spike. An angle formed by the conical swell relative to a center line passing through a center of the body of the spike matches an angle of the hole in the metal tie plate relative to a center of the hole.