Finishing Mill

Roller Straightening of Grooved Rails

In 1999, the finishing mill of voestalpine Schienen GmbH was redesigned to achieve more efficient internal logistics resulting in shorter delivery times.

The center for non-destructive testing is located after the roller straightener. Each rail undergoes several non-destructive testing procedures that comply with the strict demands of the European rail standards.

Afterwards the rails are placed on two parallel saw-cutting and drilling lines, where they are cut to length and, if required, drilled. Behind the sawing line, the rails are placed on inspection tables where they are visually inspected and deburred. The primary dimensions of the sections are gauged, as are the rail ends. Two gag presses made by Bracker are available to straighten the rail ends, if required, which are equipped with contactless measuring devices. This extensive testing assures that only rails are delivered that meet specifications.

In 1994, a stockyard for ultra-long rails ranging in length from 60 to 120 m was established to warehouse and appropriately handle ultra-long rails . The unique feature of this stockyard is the fully automated, computer controlled stocking and loading of the rails by way of a special crane assembly constructed solely for this purpose. Even though the capacity is 6,000 metric tons or 1,440 individual rails, a second long rail stockyard was constructed in September 2001. This enables us to fulfill the increased demand of our customers for short-term delivery of long rails just-in-time to construction sites.