FEATURE RAIL INDUSTRY FOCUS


Cable protection for longest and deepest railway tunnel


reliable power supply. Extremely high demands are placed on the 50Hz power supply system. Exceptional climatic conditions prevail in such long, deep tunnels. Air temperatures can exceed 40°C while the regular wash-down procedures for cleaning the tunnel contribute to the 70 per cent humidity.


ABB’S SOLUTIONS MAKE THE GRADE The high-grade, specially formulated polyamide plastic used by ABB in the PMA cable protection system, offers good impact strength and has outstanding fire safety characteristics. It also offers ingress protection against water and dust, which are especially important factors in this tunnel project. PMA products were tested extensively


F


rom the historic Gotthard rail network, to today’s Gotthard Base


Tunnel, opened on June 1, 2016, ABB is inextricably linked to the history of Swiss rail traffic. The Gotthard Base Tunnel consists of two 57km long single-track tubes. These are connected every 325m by cross passages, providing emergency evacuation and maintenance access. The total length of the tunnel system is over 152km including all cross-passages, access tunnels and shafts. It joins the northern cantons of Switzerland with the southern ones, passing under the Swiss Alps. The 57km in length makes it the world’s longest tunnel. Rock ascends 2,300 meters above the tunnel, making it


the world’s deepest railway tunnel constructed to date. This project of the century embodies entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and quality. ABB’s expertise and understanding of the customer’s needs has enabled it to provide this outstanding project, and its complex technical requirements, with the specialist cable protection solutions needed to meet the highest quality and safety standards.


A HIGHLY DEMANDING PROJECT From control and monitoring systems to lighting and ventilation, building service facilities and water drainage, everything in this project is dependent upon a


ABB branded Allegra Train for Rhätische Bahn RhB, heading from Landquart to Davos and Filisur


before they were chosen to protect the 10,000 emergency guidance lights and 450 emergency exit light systems in the tunnel. One of the project managers at Alpiq, a lead contractor on the tunnel project, stated: “We have been looking for a flexible, easy-to-install, end-to- end cable protection solution that offers comprehensive protection for our electrical installations in these very demanding conditions. PMA delivered a system that meets all of the demanding requirements specified for this project.” For more details on the ABB LV rail offering please visit the website below.


ABB PMA T: 0333 999 9900 www.abb.com/railway


Multiple layer technology for cable protection corrugated conduits W


hat do you imagine when you think of a corrugated conduit? The corrugated conduits traditionally used in industrial cable protection are mostly black, sometimes gray, leading so


far to a rather sad existence. PMA, which has been an ABB subsidiary since 2012 and has been producing cable protection solutions for over 40 years, has made a change to inside of its corrugated conduit, offering multiple-layer corrugated conduits with new colours (green, orange, blue and yellow) in the inner layers. The new corrugated conduit types comprise of ‘function layers’ which can be made out of the


most distinctive materials. For the railroad industry, this offers far more than simply selecting the colour scheme, opening up new possibilities to develop corrugated conduits for special uses. Whether it is for car transitions, outdoor uses, roof installation or electrical couplings, the


multiple-layer corrugated conduits protect the most important areas of rail vehicles, preventing failures in the most important electrical devices. Apart from making it possible to distinguish things easily in the installation, the differing inner


colours have another advantage: When using yellow, for example, spots appearing on a black corrugated conduit means that there is wear. Under certain circumstances, this can lead to a failure in the electrical equipment. Owing to this colour indicator, proper measures can be taken in time to stop such wear until next maintenance.


28 NOVEMBER 2016 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 


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