TRACK TECHNOLOGY – IAF PREVIEW
The
flash-butt rail welding equipment mobility
The low defect rate, strength, and long wear life inherent in a flash-butt rail weld is of longtime proven value to railways across the globe, but efficient delivery of the machine to the weld location is the key to making flash-butt welds economical for all situations, says Robert V Norby, P.E. of Holland LP.
F
lash-butt rail welding has been utilised by major railways around the world since before 1950. It has long been acknowledged as the strongest and longest life method for joining rail.
Initially, electric flash-butt rail welding was applied to stationary welding plants that produced long welded rail sections from standard length rails. Because of its inherently low defect rate, strength and long wear life, flash-butt welding became the preferred method for manufacturing long rail sections. Over the years, rail manufacturers have been able to supply high quality rail in increasingly longer lengths. However, stationary rail plants with electric flash-butt welders continue to produce the long rail sections of 400 meters and greater length that are transported and installed in track.
Because of the high quality of the flash- butt welding method, its value for in-track applications was soon realised. Sometime in the 1960s, railways and railway equipment manufacturers began to apply the flash-butt welder and associated power unit to converted locomotives and track dedicated rail cars in order to continue to expand the use of flash- butt welding into more track applications. This expanded the use of flash-butt welding in new track construction and was the introduction of flash-butt welding into track repair and maintenance applications. However, due to the limited mobility of the track dedicated carriers, the installation of flash-butt welds for maintenance applications was limited to long track possessions.
In the 1970s, Holland LP, a USA company, introduced the first mobile flash-butt rail welding machine. The Holland MobileWelder was built on a truck chassis and was designed to travel on both roads and rail. This ten-wheeled rubber-tyred vehicle carried a separate set of steel railway wheels.
The original design was far from ideal in that the road/rail conversion process took one full day to convert from the road-to-rail mode of operation and then another day to convert back
192 | rail technology magazine Apr/May 13
to the road configuration. While this would certainly not fit today’s productivity demands, it did allow the MobileWelder to be driven via the highways between work sites and allowed operation in
both stationary and mobile applications with the same machine.
Over the years, since the introduction of the first MobileWelder, advances in power units, electronics, and control systems have allowed flash-butt welding plants to become lighter and more compact.
New hi-rail designs have allowed MobileWelders to convert from road to rail in just minutes and travel on track at elevated speeds. This has greatly reduced track possession time, which has allowed flash-butt welding to be utilised to an even greater degree for track maintenance.
As well, railways and railway contractors have created efficient work methods, advanced tools and highly trained crews to augment the flash-butt welding machine for specialised in-track applications; some of which are new track construction, bolted/thermite joint elimination, curve repair/rail replacement, steel gangs (long rail section replacement), turn-out installation, rail de-stressing and closure welding (welding under rail tension and the setting of stress free rail temperature).
But as railways across the world continue to expand both passenger and freight capacity, railways are faced with the need for even greater track utilisation and extended rail life, thus further reducing the available track possession time for track maintenance. This puts even greater demands on the railway and railway contractor to find ways to increase worker and equipment efficiency and reduce track possession time.
While the flash-butt weld is an important part of extending rail life, the effectiveness of the delivery of the machine to the weld location is a critical component in reducing the work window and track occupancy to meet the growth requirements of the railways.
That requires machines that are able to:
• Access track with small or no road crossings • Convert from road-to-rail and rail-to-road quickly
• Work from rough sidings alongside track • Perform work on adjacent tracks in extended reach applications
• Maintain stability in extended reach applications
• Work within clearance restrictions from overhead lines, third rail and adjacent track • Perform reliably, consistently and safely
The latest technology in road/rail flash-butt welding machines to address these requirements is the All-Terrain MobileWelder (ATMW). Mounted on an excavator base, the ATMW is designed to convert from road-to- rail quickly and gain track access from smaller crossings and level access locations, provide increased mobility on track, reach and work on adjacent tracks, work from alongside the track, and work within track/tunnel clearance envelopes.
The development of the ATMW was undertaken in cooperation with several railways and railway contractors in different countries.
Outfitted with today’s advanced welding machines, quality control software, diagnostic tools, hi-rail designs, stability controls and more, the ATMW has proven to be a successful piece of track maintenance equipment serving railways in the UK, Eurasia, Australia and the USA in applications ranging from heavy-haul to metros.
While the ATMW is the latest advancement in flash-butt welding mobility, advancement in the evolution of equipment mobility and the reduction of the overall work window must continue.
The railways demand for higher utilisation of existing track and extended track life must be met in order to support the worldwide growth of passenger and freight traffic.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
T: +1–708-672-2327 E:
rnorby@hollandco.com W:
www.hollandco.com
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