CHINA: Hong Kong’s MTR Corp has awarded Robel Bahnbaumaschinen a contract to supply a ROMIS mobile maintenance train to increase worker safety and optimise the use of limited track possessions on the Tuen Ma and East Rail lines.
It comprises two units. The work unit has an open floor providing workers with direct access to the track in a fully protected environment. The sidewalls can be moved out to expand the working area, and there is instant lighting of the work site and power for tools.
The other unit is an integrated stores vehicle for transporting staff, materials and plant. Both wagons are linked by an internal crane.
The vehicles are designed to be hauled from the depot to the worksite by a locomotive, and once on site the train has its own generator for low speed movements which can be controlled from an operating panel within the work unit.
ROMIS was first approved by Austrian Federal Railways in 2003, and has since been deployed by infrastructure managers in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, Sweden and Japan.
