Business profile
De-stress with Vortok E
veryone at Vortok has a genuine passion for railway improvement. That means finding ways to
dramatically increase client productivity and cost effectiveness, creating solutions that are safer for workers and passengers, and bringing greater quality and efficiency to railway operations and processes.
MultiSensor is a new addition to
Vortok’s portfolio of products to enable efficient rail stress management, joining VERSE and the award winning Stressing Roller (VSR).
Stress management is an often- overlooked area where careful monitoring and control is required to avoid the dual problems of rail buckling and breakage at extremes of temperature. When laid, continuously welded rail is tensioned to give a ‘stress-free’ temperature (SFT) between the two critical values where rail buckling (typically in summer) and breakage (winter) occur.
Rather than accepting that a problem is inevitable or that a process is set in stone, Vortok designers apply innovative thinking to the management of rail stressing. As a result it has developed a number of internationally acclaimed products.
Over time, the SFT can change. Maintenance, traction and braking forces, gradients and routine maintenance can all contribute to a lowering of SFT. Unfortunately it is difficult to determine the tension of the track in situ to arrive at a current SFT.
VERSE
VERSE is the only internationally accredited and accurate method of measuring stress free temperatures, allowing operators to get an accurate measurement of SFT without cutting the rail, in around 20-30 minutes. The VERSE method costs around only five per cent of the traditional cut-measure - re-weld process.
Vortok Stressing Roller Traditionally, in a stressing operation, one operator uses a jack to lift the unclipped rail from the sleeper. Another operator inserts the under-roller and the jack is released to drop the rail on the roller. This
Page 90 March 2013
operation is fraught with problems such as the rail pad adhering to the underside of the rail; the second operator’s hand not being clear before the rail drops; roller damage; the rail resting on the insulator and so on. The Vortok Stressing Roller can be
installed and lifted by one operator in 10-15 seconds, it combines a lift function with a very low friction rolling contact bearing under the head of the rail which also acts as the side-roller. The smooth lift and drop action eliminates insulator and pad damage with no risk to the operator’s
Stress management is an often-overlooked area where careful monitoring and control is required to avoid the dual problems of rail buckling and breakage at extremes of temperature
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