voestalpine Railway Systems Bulgaria has delivered the first three pre-assembled turnouts to the National Railway Infrastructure Company NRIC using tilting wagons.
They were sent from the plant directly to the construction site of the corridor project Sofia Central Station – Voluya.
A standard turnout cannot be transported preassembled on a flat wagon, because it is too large for the clearance gauge. The major advantage of a tilting wagon is that after it is loaded with turnout components, it can be maneuvered obliquely upwards in just one minute by means of a hydraulic system.
The loading floor is therefore positioned at an angle of approximately 60 degrees during transport. This allows turnouts or switch turnout components with a length of up to 24 metres and a width of up to 4.50 metres to be easily transported. With tilting wagons, it is also possible to transport turnouts with a width of up to 4.80 metres (1435 mm gauge). Despite this length and width, the machine and its load remain within the limits of the UIC G2 loading profile. On site, the tilting wagons are flattened and the fastening devices are released by our specially trained personnel so the turnout can be lifted into the track bed by car or rail crane. In the course of the delivery of the new turnout, the old turnout can be loaded on the tilting wagon in one working step. This saves a lot of time and the construction site is “tidied up” after use.
The modernisation of Sovia – Voluyak rail line is part of the development of Sofia Railway Junction on the Sofia – Kalotina railway line. the project has been approved for funding from CEF under an agreement signed in November 2015. EUR 104.2 million is the total value of the project, of which EUR 76 million is the European co-financing, EUR 13.3 million are covered from State budget, while EUR 14.84 million is provided by the own funds of NRIC.
The project includes the construction of a new third track between Voluyak station and Sofia Central Railway Station, as well the upgrading of the existing track development of the two stations. The construction of a new railway station Obelya that will provide connection with the underground, and the ERTMS deployment are also part of the project.
The project objectives are to increase the operational speed to 160 km/h for the passenger rail transport and to 120 km/h for the freight rail transport. It will also increase the interoperability of the proposed line and will improve the safety along the railway route by removing level crossings and intersections or replacing them by grade separate ones.
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