Vleka in tehnika (VIT) is strategically placed geographically at the intersection of Rail Freight Corridors 5, 6, 10 and 11 to enable easy access to our maintenance services for rail undertakings and fleet owners who require either light repairs en-route or a full-scale overhaul. With five large workshops and a few light maintenance depots, we can handle everything from heavy repairs to modifications and refurbishment of your vehicles.
by SŽ – VIT
Our services take into account the technology advancements surrounding rolling stock development. When it comes to electric traction, most of our work is done on locomotives built by Alstom and recently Siemens F4, U4 and Vectron. We are the go-to maintenance provider for the newest rolling stock of Slovene rail undertaking Slovenske železnice, but also have a growing number of locomotive owners from across Europe who seek our services.
Our experience, quick response, technical know-how, equipment and expertise allow us to handle a wide range of different locomotive manufacturers. Our team in Ljubljana delivers a variety of services, including:
• Preventive maintenance – inspections and overhauls,
• Corrective maintenance – inspections and repairs of defects and wreck damage,
• Reconditioning, conversion and upgrades,
• Refurbishment and retrofitting.
Inspections and repairs can also be delivered out-of-house on request.
Complete overhauls of EuroSprinter ES64U4
Slovenske železnice owns a total of 32 units of Class 541 locomotives, which are the first electric locomotives to have been procured by the company in more than 30 years, making their maintenance a challenge in its own right. Class 541 is overhauled periodically every eight years, or after reaching a mileage of one million kilometres. The first 20 units had their body overhauled at Ljubljana Centre workshop, while the bogie overhaul was done by a workshop abroad.
With 20 successful overhauls under their belt, the crew at Ljubljana Centre has enough experience to do a complete overhaul of the remaining units. For this purpose, a Schmitt floor-mounted bogie rotator was purchased at the end of 2015, which allows us to do both bogie and bodywork overhauls.
We deliver mid-life and large-scale overhauls of the U4. Large scale overhaul is a detailed inspection of locomotive components where each assembly is unmounted, with some repairs done in-house and others outsourced to our partners. It includes a repair of the pantograph control panel and blower fan, replacement the bogie rubber parts, impregnation of the auxiliary power unit, bogie overhaul, monobloc wheel replacement on powered wheelsets (as appropriate), brake shaft clutch and brake rigging renewal, and reconditioning of the wheel flange lubricators and sanding system on the bodywork.
In addition, after recognising the market potential for wheelset shrink-fitting – a thermal expansion technique typically used with newer types of locomotives and passenger trains – on the U4, we assigned dedicated crews of technicians, set up specialized facilities, and created a new technological procedure to shrink fit the wheelsets at our wheelset overhaul shop in Ptuj.
When doing complete maintenance of the EuroSprinter, and drive unit overhaul is an integral part of our work. While drive units were previously serviced by a subcontractor, we had the technical capability to perform it in-house, so we decided to look at the options to get the service up and going at our own shop. This manner of expanding the range of our services gives us new ways to improve your experience by cutting maintenance costs and minimizing downtimes while continuously improving our work and staying up to date with new technologies.
Wheelsets fitted to the EuroSprinter are more complex due to the gear unit and require post-overhaul testing of the drive unit on a test bench, which had been purchased recently along with other specialized tools specifically for this service. The training and upgrading the workshop will be continued until we are able to deliver overhauls of the ES64U4 drive as a complete unit with all components included, so that we are able to remedy any defects or worn parts which might come up during the testing.
After launching the service and completing monobloc replacements on locomotives of our Slovenian customer, this year marks the first time we reconditioning the gear unit, i.e. replaced the wheels for a customer from abroad.
F4 overhaul as a complete in-house service
Center Ljubljana has the facilities and the know-how to deliver large-scale overhauls of F4 locomotives, which are requested by locomotive owners from abroad. The crew in charge of electric locomotive maintenance first learned how to do bodywork and brakes overhaul, later adding in bogie overhauls, as well. With fit-for-purpose equipment operated by skilled technicians, we have achieved the objective set some years ago. Now we continue to build on the trust placed in our services and become an ever more attractive partner for rolling stock maintenance.
Equipped with a wheel mount press and a turntable, Center Ljubljana is the go-to shop for bogie overhauls. In each overhaul, the driving wheel units are rolled out and sent to a shop abroad for wheel replacement. The process is similar to overhauling the Taurus, with the difference that Center Ptuj does the wheel replacements in-house. Refurbishing the driving wheel units and replacing the wheels in-house is on our to-do list also for the F4.
I3 inspections of Vectron locomotives
Our team of maintenance technicians are certified to independently deliver inspections up to I3 on Siemens’ Vectron locomotives. After completing their training in Munich, our team obtained a certificate attesting that we are qualified to perform all levels of inspections on said locomotives. The next maintenance level on our to-do list is overhauls (called “revisions”).
Maintenance of Vectron locomotives is provided to various owners – from rail undertakings to locomotive leasing companies. We are also partnered with workshops which are primarily focused on the maintenance of Vectron locomotives.
Repairs of components
Next to preventive maintenance, we offer component repairs and spare part production including:
• Complete anti-corrosion coating of locomotive bodywork,
• Replacement of electric and air fittings,
• Reconditioning of drive wheels units and bogies,
• Reconditioning of gear wheels and gearboxes,
• Maintenance and renewal of wheelsets by replacing axles, monobloc wheels, tyres, bearings, gears and housings,
• Repair of AC and DC engines,
• Repair of pantographs, contactors, circuit breakers, start-up resistors and other electrification equipment,
• Fan balancing,
• Overhauls of brake and air equipment,
• AC renewal.
• Telecoms and safety equipment,
• Fire safety,
• Corrosion treatment of locomotive bodywork,
• Rail exterior refurbishment.
Refurbishment and modification work also includes producing the relevant documents.
Maintenance of electrical locomotives motivates us to keep growing and work together with our customers to find new solutions. Our goals for the future are to further expand our services and add new maintenance methods to cut both costs and vehicle downtime.
To find out more about our services, visit www.sz-vit.si, send a message to sales@sz-vit.si or call +386 51 639 221.
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