POLAND: Vossloh has inaugurated an ‘ultra-modern and largely automated’ facility at Nowe Skalmierzyce for the production of Engineered Polymer Sleepers.
The plant will initially manufacture around 100 000 composite sleepers per year, including turnout bearers and special products for use on bridges. It will have the ability to adapt products quickly to specific customer requirements.
The EPS are made from secondary raw materials using green electricity, and are intended to be fully recyclable at the end of their 50-year service life.
Vossloh explained that the composite sleepers were the result of more than 10 years of development, which aimed to combine the positive properties of concrete, wood and polymer sleepers to offer high weather resistance, low thermal expansion, high track stability and a stable track gauge.
‘Both the EPS product itself and the ultra-modern production facility are masterpieces by the engineers involved’, commented Chairman of the Executive Board Oliver Schuster on June 18.
‘We are creating a sustainable and durable alternative to wooden sleepers, which are no longer allowed to be used in more and more countries around the world due to their impregnation with chemicals that are harmful to the environment and health.’
