Exhibition preview
See the future of track technology in Münster
Billed as the world’s largest track technology event, this month’s IAF exhibition in Münster, Germany, will play host to more than 200 exhibitors from 21 countries. David Briginshaw gives a taste of what visitors can expect to see.
HE world’s leading track engineers and suppliers will gather in the delightful northern German town of Münster at the end of this month to attend the 26th IAF track exhibition organised by the Association of German Railway Engineers (VDEI). The three-day event is set to be even larger than the last IAF show in 2009 with 15,000m2 of space in three halls, 3000m2 of outdoor exhibition stands and over 3km of track devoted to the latest maintenance and renewal machines. Dr Peter Ramsauer,
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Germany’s federal transport minister, will be among the speakers at the opening ceremony on May 28 together with the chairman of the board of DB Networks, and VDEI president Prof Dr-Ing Frank Lademann.
One of the innovations at this year’s event is the IAF Job Market where exhibitors can post free-of-charge details of job vacancies either online or at a special stand in Hall 1. In return the IAF will be visited by groups of young railway engineers and students in the hope of meeting prospective employers or at least sparking an interest in a career in railway engineering. Many of the leading manufacturers of track maintenance and renewal machines are taking the opportunity to unveil new equipment in Münster, and Plasser & Theurer is no exception with several of its 16 heavy-duty machines being shown for the first time. These include two new continuous- action ballast cleaners: the URM 700 for use on turnouts
IRJ May 2013
Above: Plasser & Theurer’s URM 700 continuous-action ballast cleaning machine. Inset: close-up of excavating blade.
and the ZRM 350 for track. The first URM 700 was built last year for testing to ensure it would be ready in time for the exhibition. Plasser says it is the first machine able to carry out non-stop ballast cleaning under a switch as it is possible to infinitely adjust the excavation width. The ballast at the side of the track is dug out to enable a blade to be inserted under the switch to start the cleaning process. The switch is the most expensive part of the track, but because switches are highly
sensitive and have many small components vulnerable to damage, the ballast under the switch is rarely cleaned. Plasser says the URM 700 now makes it possible to clean the ballast both economically and with a short possession. The machine can also be used for cleaning shoulders and short sections of track.
The ZRM 350 is able to clean ballast either with the track in place or when the track or switch has been removed, by running on crawler tracks. It has an adjustable ballast chain
which can be extended up to 7m to enable the machine to clean the switch ballast easily. The ZRM 350 is designed to produce a much smoother ballast layer than the conventional method of digging the ballast out, which is slow and rather inaccurate. It is also possible to lay a geotextile during the cleaning process, and add a second layer of ballast or additional ballast as needed. Plasser & Theurer will also show two new tampers capable of continuous-action turnout maintenance. The Unimat 09-475/4S N-Dynamic combines for the first time all the functions needed to maintain turnouts comprising ballast placement, ploughing, tamping, profiling, stabilising and sweeping. The Unimat 09-4x4/4S is a continuous- action one-sleeper tamper with
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