Poland’s rail infrastructure manager PKP PLK granted Alstom the homologation for the use of the ELS-96 wheel detector system on main railway routes across the country. The certification procedure lasted over two years and required a specific process involving 9-month long field tests. The system is compliant with the technical specifications for interoperability (TSI), which means that it is compliant with EU standards and fully compatible with the rolling stock and rail types used in Poland.
ELS-96 is intended for detecting rail vehicle wheel passage on tracks and it is the main part of the axle counter system for train detection. It transmits information about the number of wheels that have passed over the area where the wheel detector head is installed. Based on that, the interfaced systems are able to determine whether track sections are occupied, thereby enabling identification of where a train is located on the railway infrastructure.
An integrated wheel detector, ELS-96 communicates with other systems via a safe data transmission interface. It is compliant with all the environmental requirements applicable to this type of system.
The ELS-96 wheel detector system is mounted directly on the rail and can be used in any environmental conditions as it can withstand high and low temperatures, humidity and vibrations. It works fully under water. The fully automatic adjustment process as well as remote diagnostics and software upgrade capability facilitate maintenance work. The integrated design of the system ensures much higher electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), thereby increasing the safety and availability of the entire system.
“Thanks to the use of this state-of-the-art solution, the volume of equipment that needs to be installed on the tracks reduces significantly. The weight and power consumption of the system is lower compared to the former version and it contributes to reduced deployment, operation and maintenance costs involved,” Adam Juretko, Vice-President Alstom Poland said.
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