Innovation based on interaction between machine owner and manufacturer
Summary
There are only a few industries where developments have been as rapid as in the production of machines and technologies for the maintenance and repair of the railway track. Many innovations helped to optimise the wheel/rail system and thus to increase efficiency – as indicated by the motto of this year's convention.
This presentation will focus on the importance of communication between the user and the manufacturer of machines. Machine users include the infrastructure managers themselves as well as the contractors working with these machines for railway organisations. They have a great deal of experience and draw our attention to problems to be resolved by new developments.
In the beginning – in 1953 – there was Mr. Plasser, a track maintenance contractor, who wanted to make the tough manual work easier for his employees and increase the output of track tamping. And there was Mr. Theurer who supplied the brilliant idea for the first hydraulic tamping machines. In hindsight this is symptomatic of how many pioneering developments were and are based on an exchange between those who use the machines and those who make them. A few examples:
Track renewal: in 1967 German Railways (DB) were faced with the challenge of switching from S49 to UIC60 rails and concrete sleepers throughout their main line network over the next ten years. In 1969 the first high-speed track relaying train was on track – a ground-breaking development for track renewal technologies. Track renewal involves ballast cleaning as well. The first machine with two screens and an excavation chain of adjustable width was designed in 1988 at the suggestion of Hubert, the German contracting firm. Its output could keep up with that of high-speed track relaying trains. The next major step followed in 2005 when ballast cleaning and track relaying operations were combined in one single machine at the request of Swietelsky, the Austrian contracting firm.
Catenary renewal: in 1990 Banverket, the Swedish rail administration, was looking for a catenary renewal system that would work just as continuously as the track relaying machines. The response to this request was the FUZ catenary renewal train, which installs contact wires and messenger cables with the final mechanical tension. The importance of this approach in terms of avoiding ripple and extending the service life of catenary systems will be explained in the presentations during this convention.
The core product of track maintenance – the track tamping machine – is available in varying performance categories. No matter which category, the final result will always be top quality. This great variety shows that the manufacturer responds to user requirements with the aim of achieving the best economic result. In the course of this on-going dialogue, a wide range of machinery has been developed: three and four sleeper tamping machines, multi-purpose and universal machines as well as special machines for tamping switches and crossings (three-rail lifting and four-rail tamping).
Other examples: ballast cleaning machines for switches and isolated spots, sound-insulated machines as well as electronic control systems featuring remote diagnostic functions.