Sprinter corrects spot faults
Plasser & Theurer has developed the Unimat Sprinter tamper for the correction of spot faults, defects of around nine to 15 sleepers in length which typically occur at a rate of 20 per 100 km per year, according to the manufacturer. An on-board computer running Win-ALC Sprinter software measures the longitudinal level of each rail separately, calculating the corrections to be performed by the lifting and lining unit and the eight-tine tamping units.
Simple or double tamping can be undertaken with a conventional or high-pressure squeeze action. Optional extras include shoulder ploughs and a sweeper unit, and the Sprinter can move between worksites at speeds up to 100 km/h.
Plasser & Theurer, Austria
Reader Enquiry Number 137
Recycled noise barriers
ZETA Innovation has developed a trackside noise barrier consisting of concrete sections lined with cast rubber granulate, made from recycled vehicle tyres and fixed in place using a non-toxic environmentally-friendly binder. The rubber lining can be easily separated from the concrete to allow the barriers to be recycled.
In conjunction with the Royal Institute of Technology and Banverket, field trials were conducted last year with a barrier 90m in length which took 5h to assemble from sections 2m long, 0·7m high and 0·5m wide. Placed 1·5m from a track used by trains travelling at up to 200 km/h, the barrier was found to be as effective as a 3m high barrier located 5m from the track.
ZETA Innovation HB, Sweden
Reader Enquiry Number 138
Maintenance management by Steria
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has awarded a consortium of Steria and Keppel a contract worth FFr24m to supply a maintenance management system for the North East Line. The equipment is scheduled to enter service during the first quarter of 2002.
Managing the maintenance of rolling stock, station and lineside equipment, the system will be able to handle up to 1million assets using electronic document management. Barcode technology will help avoid errors in stock management, and the system will feature an ergonomic graphical user interface with on-line help facilities.
Steria, France
Reader Enquiry Number 139
CAPTION: A powered gauge-changing bogie developed by Krauss-Maffei for Patentes Talgo is to be tested on 1435 mm and 1668mm gauge routes in Spain, fitted to the Krauss-Maffei BT diesel-hydraulic power car delivered to Talgo last year (RG 7.99 p437). A second power car is currently undergoing final assembly, and gauge-changing technology for electric traction is under development. Krauss-Maffei AG, Germany. Reader Enquiry Number 140
CAPTION: British train operator Silverlink and Somers Railway Engineering have developed a unit for turning commutators without removing the traction motor from the vehicle. Trials are currently under way at Silverlink’s Bletchley depot.
Somers Railway Engineering Reader Enquiry Number 141
Products In Brief
Under a £2·5m programme due for completion by February 2001, SAN Electroheat is supplying constant wattage strips to replace cartridge and pad point heaters on Railtrack’s Southern Zone in Great Britain.
AMEC Rail has installed GRC C-1-7 cable troughing in glass-reinforced concrete from BCM Contracts between Ryde St Johns Road and Sandown on Britain’s Isle of Wight. Weighing 14 kg/m and incorporating access points every 500m, the troughing houses 48-core cable replacing buried cabling.
German wagon leasing and repair company On Rail is installing the ATIS telematics system from Krupp Timtec Telematik on 50 steel coil wagons for DB Cargo, which will allow the operator to determine the position of the vehicles and their loading status. An On Rail tank wagon has been equipped with a Krupp temperature monitoring system that transmits an alarm signal to a central control room if the temperature falls above or below pre-defined limits.
Dunlop Precision Rubber has supplied Pyroflex polymer seals for the closing edges of platform screen doors built by Westinghouse Brakes for the PUTRA automated light metro in Kuala Lumpur. Pyroflex can withstand temperatures up to 960í C, and has low emission levels for smoke and toxic gas.
SKF has developed a range of hybrid bearings for traction motor applications, featuring silicon nitride ceramic balls that have a mass 40% lower than steel and a modulus of elasticity 50% greater. Combining high hardness with low friction, the ceramic balls provide improved electrical insulation and require less lubrication.
Maintenance contractor GTRM has installed the first Arthur Flury AF neutral section in Britain at Crewe, consisting of two connected high-speed section insulators. GTRM hopes to use this technology in its contract to renew the overhead electrification of Railtrack’s West Coast Main Line, won in joint venture with Balfour Beatty.
Gilberts has been awarded a contract worth £500000 to supply air outlets for over 760 metro cars operated by Mass Transit Railway Corp of Hong Kong. The outlets and lighting diffusers will be incorporated in ceiling panels being supplied by Thorn Lighting (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Under contracts from Amey Rail and GTRM worth a total of £300000, AEA Technology Rail is to supply RideMon systems for two trains operated by First Great Western and two operated by Thames Trains. The accelerometer-based system uses GPS to determine the location of track causing poor ride quality, transmitting information by mobile phone to a control centre where track quality maps are produced on a PC.
Reader Enquiry Numbers:
BCM Contracts Ltd 142 Krupp Timtec Telematik GmbH 146 Dunlop Precision Rubber 143 SKF (UK) Ltd 147 Arthur Flury AG 144 Gilberts (Blackpool) Ltd 148 AEA Technology Rail 145 SAN Electroheat 149
