PJ Messtechnik GmbH and voestalpine Track Solutions Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of voestalpine Railway Systems, the global leader for railway infrastructure system solutions, are pooling their respective core competencies in rail maintenance of urban transport systems under a new service for customers.
This new holistic approach makes possible for the first time the “smart” digital measurement of rails and track on entire subways and light rail systems within a very short time, followed by processing using high-performance milling technology.
By combining the respective core competencies of the two companies, a unique holistic service offering will be created, leading to a sustainable increase in track availability and reduction in overall life cycle costs. Within a very short time, it will be possible to record, digitize and visualize the rail condition of entire track systems very efficiently. The results obtained may be used for targeted deployment planning of voestalpine Track Solutions’ mobile high-performance milling technology, but can also be used as a general network condition report. To verify the improvement of condition or repair of damage, the “all-round carefree package” is rounded off by a further measurement campaign after the rail maintenance has taken place.
In the future, recurring or continuous analyses will be an essential aid in the transformation from reactive to proactive maintenance strategies. Here, too, the two cooperation partners support their customers.
The digitization and miniaturization of the measurement technology now allows the superstructure to be measured with commercially available industrial sensors, which may be temporarily installed on maintenance or production vehicles. The use of special measuring vehicles is therefore no longer required. This approach enables network operators to record the condition of the superstructure easily and with reasonable effort, and avoids problems such as when superstructure measuring vehicles are not available due to special clearance profiles. Knowledge of the condition of the superstructure is the foundation of efficient maintenance.
Jochen Holzfeind, Chief Technical Officer, voestalpine Railway Systems:
“We are convinced that this cooperation will lead to a sustainable increase in track availability for our customers while reducing overall lifecycle costs. We have already demonstrated this in our initial joint project. ”
Martin Joch, Managing Director of PJ Messtechnik:
“The benefits for transportation companies of objective data are manifold, such as significantly better planning and forecasting of maintenance work.”
Martin Joch (CEO / PJM), Johannes Neuhold (Solution Consulting / voestalpine Railway Systems GmbH), Johannes Wundersamer (Vice President Sales / voestalpine Track Solutions Germany GmbH) and Jochen Holzfeind (CTO / voestalpine Railway Systems GmbH).
PJM is an internationally renowned system specialist for rail transportation. PJ Messtechnik GmbH, as an accredited testing centre, conducts worldwide registration tests for rail vehicles and technical inspections of rails and track systems. PJ Monitoring GmbH is a technology leader in the digitization of rail freight transportation.
voestalpine Track Solutions Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of voestalpine Railway Systems, is a Europe-wide service provider in the field of mechanical rail processing and rail welding technology. Mobile rail milling technology for subways and light railways is already providing a very effective service as part of various maintenance strategies.