For a railway operator, availability of the network is priority number one. It is for this same reason that routinely planned maintenance is of utmost importance for the ÖBB, the Austrian national railway company. At the end of last year, we joined forces with voestalpine Weichenwerk Wörth GmbH (WWG) to repair Austrian insulated rail joints for the ÖBB.
40 insulated rail joints have to be renewed in the Austrian rail network, because they are essential for a safe railroad traffic. Insulated rail joint forms part of the train detection system and is used to divide the track into sections to detect the position of the train.
Until now, the old insulated rail joints were replaced immediately in case of malfunction or damage. These operations were often accompanied by an unfortunately long suspension of operation. We believe it could be done better.
"The ÖBB asked us to research a more efficient solution. We found it in the know-how of our sister company Railpro," says Helmut Kopetsch, Head of Service Voestalpine WWG.
Sister company WWG specializes in logistics and maintenance services for turnouts. For the maintenance of ÖBB’s insulated rail joints, they currently use the in-house knowledge of their own Metal Engineering Division, from our own organization. Our repair system for insulated rail joints, constitutes a new method which saves a significant amount of time. Instead of replacing the complete joint including the rails, the desired separation effect is restored by injecting a self-hardening water-repellent filler into the joint- called Glued Rail Joints Repair. Whereas in the past, train service had to be interrupted for several hours, this new operation can be carried out in a maximum of 20 minutes.
"We are pleased that we are able to help our sister company WWG with our expertise to expand its range of services. The cooperation itself constitutes a growth beyond our own national market," says Dominique Martens, export manager voestalpine Railpro.
The cooperation between the two voestalpine companies offers new perspectives for the future. That is something voestalpine is proud of.
