InnoTrans means innovations…
Screws that monitor themselves
Rather than external force and torque measurement, how about ‘smart screws’ that do all that themselves - allowing continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance plans to be developed?
Under the system developed by Bornemann Gewindetechnik, sensors integrated into the threaded spindle’s core measure tension, pressure, torsion, revolutions per minute, position, vibrations, and temperature. Data can then be transmitted wirelessly.
Better ballast - through recycled tyres Ballast. It’s ubiquitous - and, you might think, low-tech. However, COMSA and MAPEI have developed a version that’s claimed to bring a 20% reduction in lifecycle cost.
By being coated with a binder as well as powder from end-of-life tyres, the otherwise conventional aggregate’s performance is improved, allowing the ballast layer to be shallower than otherwise.
Advantages of the coated ballast are said to include longer life, better insulation of noise and vibration, better load distribution/energy dissipation, and reduced maintenance.
Toilets with less waste Rotherham-based GBR-Rail showed off its Cleartrak toilet system that it says cuts waste and can pay for itself in under three years.
The same size as a conventional Controlled Emissions Toilet tank, the equipment can be retrofitted to vehicles and either positioned internally or underslung.
The system recycles liquid waste for re-use and converts solid waste into an inert biochar, reducing resource consumption and Co2e emissions.
Perhaps most impressively from the point of view of operators, it can be emptied without specialist infrastructure, every six weeks. That means keeping waste out of the sewage network - and cutting toilet maintenance from depot schedules.
Access to experts - instantly, from anywhere
Becoming an instant expert. It’s the dream of many of us - and if it could be achieved, it would be a boon for operators seeking access to expertise or wrestling with the demands of training programmes.
Headapp reckons it has an answer with Eye4Task - augmented reality smart glasses that allow “field operators, anywhere in the world, to perform complex tasks, led by remote experts”.
Video calls through the glasses allow on-site operatives and remote experts to communicate live - as well as undertake actions such as activating checklists, taking geo-referenced pictures, and sending annotations in augmented reality.
Trees on the line?
Knowing where trees have fallen onto tracks or overhead lines after storms is key for operators.
Satellite analytics company LiveEO premiered its ‘Near-Real-Time’ damage detection system, which combines algorithms and satellite imagery to automatically detect objects on the line.
The use of Synthetic Aperture Radar means high-quality data can be obtained even in poor weather. The result is a system that “allows operators to quickly react to natural disasters and restore service sooner than ever before”.
Brake test
Controlled by smart browser, the brake testing unit BPG Gz 3 / Pz 3 from IndustriePartner substitutes for a locomotive in testing train brakes. Just 100mm deep, the unit can be fitted onto a signal foundation or similar. Developed to the guidelines set by Germany’s DB Netz, it gained its licence during 2021.
Touch-free buttons…
The problems of harmful substances on surfaces came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the enhanced cleaning of trains - particularly components such as handrails or door buttons.
M-U-T’s solution to the latter is different… a range of ‘buttons’ that you don’t need to touch at all. Instead, a ‘waving’ movement up to 15cm (6in) in front of the ‘button’ can be used to activate toilet flushes, doors, and the like.
… and a robot cleaner
It’s autonomous and uses steam rather than chemicals to do its job - a robot to clean train interiors.
Powered by a combination of batteries and a cable, the cleaner sucks up dirt and dissolves pathogens. There is a camera for object recognition, allowing the robot to navigate itself within vehicles. The system has been developed by the Fraunhofer-Institute.
Closing the gap
“Mind the gap.” The space between platform and train has been part of railway life forever, causing headaches with gauging for rolling stock engineers and safety experts alike - and (of course) passengers.
Mounted on the edges of platforms, ‘GAP-Fillers’ from Danish company Willbrandt have flexible slats that can be put under load for when a train is being entered/ exited, but “bend to the side in the event of contact with the train”.
The width and length of the fillers can be individually adjusted, and the company says they make an ideal solution for curved platforms.
Longest wagon
Czech group Walbo Wagons brought along its Sggns 80’ which, it claimed, is the longest four-axle intermodal wagon.
Enjoying its premiere at InnoTrans, the vehicle is 25.94 metres (just over 85ft) in length over the buffers, and incorporates 20ft, 30ft and 40ft intermodal loading units. Weighing 21.5 tonnes tare (90t maximum weight), the wagon can run on tracks with a minimum curve radius of 90 metres.
Bye-bye buffers?
InnoTrans offered an opportunity for various manufacturers to show their couplings developed as part of the European Digital Automatic Couplings (DAC) programme. Those on show included versions from Wabtec, Dellner and Voith.
It’s intended that DACs, which obviate the use of buffers, will in future become standard.