ESTONIA: Infrastructure contractor Leonhard Weiss has awarded Pandrol a contract to supply more than 430 000 Fastclip FE rail fastenings for the 65 km line between Tapa and Narva.
This follows a previous contract covering the 57 km Tapa – Tartu route. As part of the project, the contractor acquired a Pandrol CD400 Clip Driver, which clips and unclips the fastenings and provides hydraulic power to raise sleepers.
Leonhard Weiss estimated that using Fastclip FE in combination with the CD400 Clip Driver reduced installation time by 30% compared to working with older technology, with 900 m of track unclipped and clipped for a rail change within a 2 h possession.
It also reduced the amount of labour required trackside and lowered the safety risks, as the sleepers arrived on site fully pre-assembled with all components in place. Once the sleepers had been installed and the rail threaded, the clips could be pushed from the parked to the installed position.
‘Increasingly contractors are selecting “ride on” installation equipment for fastenings, such as the CD400 Clip Driver‘, said Martin Dootsan, Export Market Manager at Pandrol. ‘This is consistent with the move towards reduced manual handling when installing rail fastenings, for health and safety reasons.’
