Economic benefits from regular turnout maintenance with Flexis

Since April of 2013, the infrastructure operator bayernhafen has been commissioning Vossloh to carry out mill scale removal and maintenance grinding on the turnouts at its Nuremberg location. Thanks to regular machining, there has been a significant reduction in the number of turnouts requiring replacement.

The frogs and common crossings of railway turnouts are among the infrastructural components that are under the most strain. The continuous operational availability of turnouts also plays a vital role due to their potential to affect the availability of the entire network.

For this reason, the infrastructure operator bayernhafen in Nuremberg has been entrusting Vossloh with the care and maintenance of its turnouts for a good five years now. The economic advantages quickly became obvious. Ralf Kirsch, in charge of railway infrastructure maintenance at Hafen Nürnberg-Roth GmbH, the site's operator, is pleased: "Since we've been working with Vossloh, we have been able to radically reduce wear and the replacement of major switch components."

A first test right at the beginning
The collaboration began with a real challenge. The frog on the K1 crossing had been scheduled for replacement in 2014 due to severe wear. "It was our intention from the beginning" says Frank Kleinert, Flexis Area Manager, "to do the machining so that the entire turnout could remain in place, and we succeeded." The crossing component was systematically restored and reprofiled using Flexis, and thanks to subsequent machining monitoring it is still in operation today.

Keeping a constant eye on wear and tear
In order to maintain the turnouts at a consistently high standard of quality and prevent head checks from forming, the Vossloh service team conducts full measurements several times a year and removes any defects they find. The operator has specified a minimum material removal of 0.3 mm and preservation of the E2 profile in accordance with DB Guideline 824. The machining work undergoes quality assurance and is fully and electronically documented. The RM 1200 digital corrugation analyzer is used to determine the longitudinal profile, and the rail's cross-sectional profile is measured precisely and recorded using a digital cross profile analyzer. Vossloh also uses its internally developed RHM (Rail Height Measurement) system to measure the amount of material removed.

Further information on the Flexis switch machining system is available here or on YouTube .