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The power of progress
Calvin Lamb, head of engineering & assurance for Progress Rail Services UK Ltd., provides an overview of the UK products it will be showcasing at InnoTrans 2014.
P
rogress Rail Services UK Ltd is looking forward to the world’s largest rail industry
event taking place in Berlin this September. Having joined forces with Progress Rail teams from Italy, Germany and the USA, this year’s stand is a great example of the ‘Power of Progress’.
Progress Rail Services Corporation (Progress Rail), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc, is a leading supplier of locomotive and railcar products and services to the railway industry, operating one of the most extensive rail service and supply networks in North America. More than 8,000 employees serve customers in a network of more than 165 locations across the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Germany and the UK. Progress Rail is headquartered in Albertville, Alabama.
At our stand, the 17m panel on display will showcase a number of specialist systems. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the UK products, starting with the buff er stop.
The sliding friction buff er stop attaches to the track rails via a number of friction shoes and dissipates the kinetic energy of the vehicle as heat and sound. Calculations derive the number of friction elements required to halt vehicles with a known speed and mass and the resulting stopping distance.
In addition to sliding friction buff er stops, Progress Rail in the UK can also supply fi xed
buff er stops that are bolted to the rail track and do not move; they can be fi tted with hydraulic damper units if required. Each buff er stop can be powder coated or galvanised to the customer’s request and performance specifi cations. Progress Rail’s engineers review customer requirements on a case by case basis and off er suitable product confi gurations that meet the required performance characteristics.
The company’s hollow steel ties or bearers are compatible with customers’ desired switch operating and detection devices. They remove switch rodding from ballast beds, reducing the risk of damage and improving switch tamping and maintenance operations. These are in use in the UK, Brazil and Australia.
The version on display at InnoTrans is a hollow steel tie system with torsion drive. The hollow ties provide secure mounting for the points motor and house all of the drive, lock and detection connections to the rails. The torsion drive is also mounted on the hollow ties and delivers drive thrust to the rear of the switch as an alternative to using multiple point motors. The torsion drive is designed to have a smaller footprint and be more straightforward to adjust and maintain than conventional mechanical drive linkages. It is impervious to temperature fl uctuations, meaning thermal expansion of the tube does not aff ect the drive stroke.
The next system found on the panel supplied from the UK is the tubular stretcher bar.
This product is at the forefront of railway technology. Simpler to install and easier to maintain than previous stretcher bars, it helps improve the safety on track. Progress Rail Services UK is one of the few suppliers selected to manufacture this product for Network Rail over the next three years.
Other products found on the panel include a cast manganese lift frog, which provides an unbroken wheel support path for the mainline route, minimising impact loads and wear; iDED, which is an in-sleeper device designed to detect dragging equipment hanging from the rolling stock; and FUES system, an in-sleeper device to detect hot axles and bearings.
Progress Rail Services UK Ltd is the UK’s largest manufacturer of permanent way infrastructure, specialising in the design and manufacture of permanent way switches and crossings and engineered products for mainline, freight, industrial and light rail customers in the UK and globally.
Progress Rail will be exhibiting at stand 205, located in Exhibit Hall 22b.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
T: +44 (0)1159 218218 E:
prsuk.sales@
progressrail.com W:
www.progressrail.com/locations/unitedkingdom
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14 | 107
Calvin Lamb
visit us
HALL 22 Stand 205
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