NEW ZEALAND: KiwiRail has awarded MerMec a contract to supply a replacement track evaluation car.
MerMec said the vehicle would provide ‘exhaustive’ real-time track analysis using 12 inspection and measurement systems including lasers, cameras and others sensors.
MerMec CEO Luca Necchi Ghiri said the contract announced in December expands the supplier’s international presence, building on the supply of four diagnostic vehicles to Australia, and is ‘further evidence of the high standards achieved by MerMec’s Italian technology’.
A failure of KiwiRail’s EM80 Track Evaluation Car last year meant it was unable to complete planned assessments, and speed restrictions had to be put in place which resulted in several days of disruption.
‘The current Track Evaluation Car is 41 years old, and the new one will require less maintenance, have less downtime and will therefore achieve higher productivity rates’, said KiwiRail’s Chief Planning & Asset Development Officer David Gordon.
