First-class quality for your tracks
Today, elevated tracks often supplement old working pits when existing railway works are modernised. They are standard in new construction projects. Work under the trains and at the side of the bogies is made much easier thanks to better accessibility. The working conditions for employees are more ergonomic and improved.
Inspections in the bogie area play a vital role and are an essential part of every workshop visit. By using elevated tracks, inspections can be carried out more efficiently, quickly and ergonomically.
We supply track bridges with special locking devices for wheelset and bogie countersinks as well as wheelset and bogie changes.
A new challenge is the production or upgrading of measuring tracks, where track sections of up to 200 metres in length have to be aligned with accuracies in the tenths of a millimetre range.
Blumenbecker is also excellently positioned in this segment.
Our customers benefit from our expertise and experience in the field of elevated measuring tracks and measuring tracks that run at ground level.
Reference: In-house development for measuring section New measuring track for ICE workshops in München
Since November 2018, the ICE plant in München has had a new 200-metre-long measuring track in which special track supports, developed in-house by Blumenbecker Technik GmbH, are used. These are special supports that enable the tracks to be calibrated to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre and at the same time ventilate the working pit.
Five journeys from Munich via Berlin to Hamburg and back again. Then it's off for an inspection. An ICE is due for a pit stop every 8,000 kilometres. In addition, there are further regular inspections. The aim of the close-meshed inspections is to ensure the absolute safety of rail passengers over the train's entire mileage of one million kilometres. There are eight depots in Germany to keep the 230 or so Deutsche Bahn ICE trains running at all times. The ICE plant in Munich is one of them. Behind the imposing glass front, work goes on around the clock, seven days a week, to get the trains back on the rails quickly.
200 metre long measuring track for ICEs
During the inspection, the ICEs enter the 450-metre-long hall as a whole and are then serviced simultaneously on three levels: underneath the train, at boarding height and in the roof area. Since November 2018, there has been a new 200-metre-long measuring track for the adjustment work on the ICE carriage bodies, which is also suitable for the new ICE4. The old measuring track had to be rebuilt for this. The aim was to create a level track section with height tolerances of less than 0.5 millimetres. ‘The precise adjustment work between the carriage body and bogie can only be carried out on such a level track section,’ explains Andreas Sander, project manager at DB Fernverkehr AG. The company commissioned Blumenbecker Technik GmbH with the task.
Specialised solution was required
The measurement of the existing tracks revealed that twice as many supports were required as before in order to reduce the deflection of the tracks to the minimum required for measuring tracks in accordance with DIN 27202-10. However, the resulting smaller distance between supports clashed with the existing ventilation technology for the 200 metre long working pit underneath the track section. ‘A special solution was needed here,’ explains Hendrik Henicke, project manager at Blumenbecker Technik GmbH, ‘and we had just developed one for another Deutsche Bahn project: supports that absorb the resonance of the trains as well as possible and at the same time channel the exhaust air out of the working pit.
Conversion and calibration in just four weeks
In October, things got down to business on site in Munich: 102 new supports, 71 of which were jumping jacks, were installed and the old tracks were reinstalled and set up. ‘It was back-breaking work, during which we loosened 7,500 M24x120 bolts and tightened them to 1,000 Nm,’ recalls Henicke. But the effort was worth it. The project was completed without any rework. Calibration was carried out in collaboration with the Deutsche Bahn calibration centre. And then, after just four weeks of conversion work, the first ICE could already be serviced on the new measuring track. "We are very happy about the quick and smooth upgrade of the measuring track, because every unused track costs us a lot of money. Together with Mr Henicke, we were even able to put the measuring track into operation a day earlier than planned."
