This year’s event held in Berlin’s exhibition centre has overrun all previous editions and has established new standards in railway industry product firsts. 121 products, 30 more than in 2008, were displayed on the railway lines of Berlin Messe complex. At the trade fair, visitors and people interested in the field could see the 52 world premieres of innovative vehicles presented during the 3 days of exhibition, as well as the 6 European premieres and 14 debuts of the German rail industry. The European railway businessmen have been able to take a closer look at the North American market, present at the fair with a significant increase in the number of exhibitors. The fair has also managed to attract more and more interest from companies in Asia. Innovative products include Siemens’ diesel Vectron locomotive and INSPIRO metro platform, Bombardier’s very high-speed unit ZEFIRO and Alstom’s SPEEDELIA unit.
The revelation of this year’s edition of the trade fair was the launch of the diesel Vectron locomotive, the new interoperable locomotive platform of the German manufacturer. Siemens chose the exhibition in Berlin to launch the entire family of locomotives belonging to this class in the honour of founder Werner von Siemens who proved the efficiency of rail electric traction in Berlin, as well, in 1879. The Vectron platform is designed for interoperable transport at speeds of 160-200 km/h. The innovation of the diesel class is the new 400kW R48 engine delivered by MTU which is more eco-friendly than previous generations. The diesel class features many of the mechanical, electric and electronic equipments of the electric locomotives.
Vossloh has also completed its diesel locomotive class with two new vehicles: G12 and DE18, which joined the G6 shunting locomotive launched at InnoTrans 2008. The innovation consists in the modularity of the two locomotives and in the double transmission which permits the operation of either the hydraulic variant or the electric one. Other innovations include the Vossloh Bypass Control system which permits the locomotive to leave the place of an eventual accident on its own resources, thus eliminating haulage. At the same time, consumption has been reduced from 12% to 15%. Another innovation is the replacement of the start-up engine with a generator or the optional installation of a proximity warning alert similar to that used in automotive transport.
Revolutionary ramps for disabled people
Other innovations presented at InnoTrans include the highly compact CENTAFLEX-T coupling from the German supplier CENTA which reduces weight and spring elements by optimising geometry and requires lower installation and maintenance costs than traditional couplings; single-phase transmissions for ZF-HS high-speed trains from the German company ZF Friedrichshafen, capable to ensure efficiency at speeds of 380km/h and which prepare the industry for the generation of transmissions dedicated to twice higher speeds; axial Power Fans from EBM-Papst which reduce the noise resulted from the air blown and have a 20% higher efficiency; the RC25-NET silent bogies from Eisenbahn Laufwerke Halle (ELH) or the Y27-LPG bogies from TransTec Vetschau (TTV), with an extremely modular construction which use compact disc brakes, the UIC-FOCX Mobile communication solution from Funkwerk, the first railway communication terminal which incorporates a LED instead on an LCD display, the higher protection of IP 65 transmission capable to work in any environment; the BMIV inscriptors from the German supplier Baumer, which store the information on several channels, capable to resist in extreme conditions including in case of strong radiation and record the vibration level and the misfires of the propulsion system; the Gel 2510 odometer from Lenord Bauer & Co which monitors the rolling stock and wheel mileage counter; the revolutionary ramps for embarking disabled people from MediVent, which permit swinging part of the vehicle, thus eliminating the presence of onboard staff, the multifunctional track maintenance system Eiffage Rail P100, an evolution of the P95 concept from Matissa Materiel Industriel, designed for very high-speed infrastructure systems (of up to 500 km/h) and which permits line maintenance without excavating the ballast, an operation that requires an excavator, so the new machine takes over this task; and many others.
by Alin Lupulescu
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