voestalpine VAE APCAROM Group presented at the Railway PRO Technology and Services Forum, organized by Club Feroviar and Railway PRO, with the support of the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) in Arad, on 5-6 April, a series of innovative solutions developed by the company for building state-of-the-art railway infrastructure systems with reference mainly to turnouts.
voestalpine VAE APCAROM elaborated a series of special turnouts, as well as measures to improve their initial quality. The track quality is improved by using a special material called Head Special Hardened Rail, aimed to boost the hardness of the track which can be up to 120m long.
“This material is specially conceived for track profiles used to manufacture point rails. The material is used for turnouts to reduce wear in case of heavy axle loads”, explained Sergiu Rădulescu, Research & Design Manager – voestalpine VAE APCAROM.
The interior elastic fastening of iFAST stock rails, as well as the lubrication-free slide insert to eliminate the lubrication of skids in the turnout area are among the solutions developed by VAE APCAROM.
The continuous development of voestalpine VAE APCAROM products and processes relies on the company’s international know-how network. The group includes 28 companies with 38 productions units in 19 countries all over the world.
The group develops one of the best products for turnout frogs which benefit from the hardness of the rolling surface through the 320-350 HB explosion, a procedure used in Romania since 2015. voestalpine VAE APCAROM applies this procedure to the Centro Mn13-type cast frogs, made of manganese steel. Also, the group develops crossings with movable parts, with slides to eliminate the lubrication of the movable nose.
Voestalpine VAE APCAROM produces a series of actuation systems for turnouts such as:
SPHEROLOCK – locking system, HYDROLINK – hydraulic system that transmits the actuation force, as well as HYDROSTAR Combi – integrated system including a hydraulic driving unit and locking and control units (it also includes control devices for the final position of point rails – IE2010).
The features of the driving systems for turnouts include mechanised tampering, easy installation and adjustment, low maintenance effort – long intervals, of 6 months, between inspections and repairs, as well as the installation of sealed components. voestalpine VAE APCAROM systems are compatible with a wide range of interlocking systems and provide the possibility of installation between rails and the elimination of the asymmetrical off-track loading. The functionality of components is not influenced by the longitudinal moves of the tracks caused by temperature changes and, last but not least, the company provides reduced lifecycle costs for its turnouts.
The group also develops a series of solutions aimed to improve track performance. ROADMASTER is one of the customized diagnosis solutions for monitoring turnouts. It is available in the ROADMASTER PRO, Advanced and Light variants, ensures the timely identification of the potentially faulty turnout elements and optimises the verification and maintenance of turnouts. ATLAS FO is one of the group’s systems for track monitoring. It provides the diagnosis of wheel faults with information about the weight of vehicles.
The costs of the entire lifecycle of turnouts is another field of activity the company takes into account when designing and building innovative solutions.
“To that end, we elaborate a cost analysis that uses a detailed level of cost evaluation down to the level of individual activities. Moreover, it provides a good visibility on the costs of a product throughout its entire lifecycle, instead of just initial costs”, said Claudiu Stoilescu, Marketing Specialist – voestalpine VAE APCAROM.
The analysis represents the foundation of decision-making offering options for the best combination between performance and costs.
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