Products for the railway industry

Our globally positioned production facilities supply turnout systems for a wide variety of applications: for 

• trams and subways;
• mixed and heavy-haul transport;
• high-speed lines.

Regardless of the turnout type, we offer extremely wear-resistant components made of Bainite 1400 Plus, a steel microstructure with excellent hardness and toughness, for the highly stressed turnout frogs. Our Bainite frogs double the service life of this key turnout component at the same load.

Thanks to this innovation, our turnouts, including their special drives and lockings, can withstand the toughest operating conditions. Consequently, they play a vital role in upholding the system and ensuring route availability. 

Our turnouts are equipped with an optional diagnostic system to ensure they function reliably. End position detectors confirm the correct position of the switch point. Up to 20 parameters are used to check the functional reliability of the turnout. The system is supplemented with interfaces adapted to universal controls. 

We offer pre-assembly at the local production or logistics site, ensuring fast and reliable turnout installation. Tilt wagons are used for just-in-time transport of assembly-ready turnout components to the installation site.

On site, our turnouts demonstrate their operational reliability. Any malfunctions would cause serious disruptions to rail traffic, making the reliable monitoring of turnout functions a prerequisite for scheduled rail operations. 

Our “onboard ECG” is a suite of helpful diagnostic tools. Permanent evaluation of their collected data allows maintenance intervals to be extended, ensuring continuous line availability. Where there are early signs of an impending malfunction, precise monitoring ensures timely warning and a chance to avoid disruptive delays without the need for unforeseen line closures. 

Critical parameters are used to monitor the correct condition of the turnouts, allowing particularly efficient, predictive maintenance. If, for example, additional work is needed to adjust a turnout, the maintenance team can be informed immediately, while the turnout can still be moved. Analysis modules include:

• an intelligent switch machine that checks the level of the hydraulic oil and the necessary changeover force, for example, thus making downtimes predictable;
• monitoring of moving track parts, e.g., the tongue rail, for correct position and possible deformations;
• monitoring the frog, to predict wear and tear of this central turnout component; and 
• monitoring temperature, to support overall system diagnostics.

We use our own zentrak brand software solutions to apply the data gathered by the analysis modules. Our vision is that every turnout that leaves the plant from 2025 onwards will be a smart turnout. 

A range of application factors determine the necessary rail resistance. These include driving speeds and axle loads, as well as curves, gradients, and climate conditions. Therefore we offer rail steels optimally tailored to each and every requirement.

340 Dobain HSH, a steel designed for rails, has been developed to counteract rail surface deformation and thus premature wear. The 340 in this designation indicates the hardness of the rail. The higher the number, the more resistant the rails. We manufacture high-performance steel grades tailored to customer requirements and use in a wide range of applications, including 400 UHC® HSH® premium rail grades.

Using HSH (Head Special Hardened) heat treatment on our rail steels allows us to optimize cross-sections, ensuring maximum wear resistance on the rolling contact surface, and maximum elasticity and ductility on the rail foot to prevent fractures.

Whether vignole, grooved, heavy-haul, or high-speed rails, all rail types in our portfolio meet the highest quality standards, because mixed, heavy-haul and high-speed traffic each have different demands. The greatest difference is between vignole and grooved rails: while vignole rails have the “normal” rail profile, the grooved rail has the eponymous groove in the head to accommodate the tram wheel flange. This is because stringent demands are made of tram tracks which are laid in urban areas in alignment with road surface levels, also in terms of their maintenance. Construction work in urban transport networks is particularly challenging for transport planners, which is why we produce rails in so-called “put-in-and-forget” grades.

Track systems must be able to cope with daily challenges such as tensions in the track due to temperature-related length changes. For this purpose, we supply highly specialized components such as rail expansion joints. The are designed to allow for longitudinal movement in the rails, ensuring that the connection between the railway line and the bridge tracks can be driven over safely at higher speeds, even at higher temperatures. 

A railway track is only as reliable as its superstructure. We supply prestressed concrete sleepers to support tracks and turnouts in this system of ballast, rails, and sleepers. Railway operators have been successively replacing traditional wooden sleepers with concrete versions for many years now. We supply the special prestressed steel wire used to manufacture modern prestressed concrete sleepers. We also produce these sleepers at three of our own locations.

When it comes to safety every detail counts, which is why we provide precisely coordinated fastening systems such as SB to securely fix the rails onto the sleepers or ballastless track systems. They are complemented by vibration damping components, which protect the superstructure from premature fatigue—and local residents from undue noise.

While the complex monitoring offered by our zentrak diagnostic platform is not always needed everywhere, efficient rail transport would not be possible without the many special monitoring units such as axle counters operating along railway lines around the world. Their sensors count the number of axles which pass by, and compare this number with those entering and exiting a section of track. Where this number is the same, a signal is triggered indicating this section of track is clear. We supply these electronic components for all areas of application.

Our sensors provide network controllers with a precise overview of the traffic situation: Unilight series signaling systems from voestalpine Railway Systems allow smart direction of rail traffic, an indispensable function in view of the high rail traffic density on the route networks. 

We provide customers wishing specific signs and symbols to be displayed on their signals with versions equipped with an LED matrix. The variety of switching and display options makes them suitable in all application situations, for urban rail transport including trams, metros, and subways. 

UNILOCK FSA, the signaling control system for trams, controls the drive commands for the individual trams. It assigns routes, helping to avoid collisions or dangerous driving situations. Coordinating modules such as the UNILOCK LC can block traffic routes for all vehicles at crossings for the duration of a train’s passage, or warn visually and/or acoustically of approaching trains. 

Our digital solutions support railway operators in managing route components and traffic flow. Our software solutions facilitate the intelligent management of installations and equipment over their entire life cycle. From planning, construction, and operation, to final dismantling, the zentrak Asset & Maintenance Management software optimizes the maintenance of rails, turnouts, tunnels, bridges, signaling systems, etc. As well as current traffic and route situations, our zentrak solutions can look ahead and predict potential future problems with infrastructure or rolling stock.

We provide the solutions needed for thorough asset inspection, because operating for thousands of kilometers leaves its mark on rolling stock. Our sensors and test equipment examine the availability and safety of wheels, axles, and other components directly in use on the track.

For example, our checkpoints provide information on the condition of the trains and their wagons on the rail networks using a host of highly specialized sensors and detectors. Depending on their location and assigned task, they compile a comprehensive set of data about the condition of the train. In addition to impact detectors for detecting hanging parts, temperature sensors for hot boxes, and weighing sensors, they include up to 24 detectors to test the outer boundary of the wagons. Checkpoints based on our zentrak Rolling Stock Monitoring diagnostic platform, together with other voestalpine Railway Systems sensors and their digital infrastructure, help to optimize route availability.

Travel speeds are not a problem for our measuring systems. Even at high speeds, the sensors monitor:

• temperatures using non-contact measurement to detect overheating on bearings and fixed brakes;
• wheel forces for detecting unevenly distributed loads;
• wheel set derailments;
• wheel bearings to detect damage acoustically at an early stage;
• signs of wear and tear on wheels; and
• alert in the event of protruding cargo or wagon parts.

Recording and analyzing this data in real time allows situations that could endanger rail traffic to be immediately remedied. voestalpine Railway Systems provides the necessary technical solutions and expertise to achieve this with its modular zentrak system.

Our zentrak Infrastructure Monitoring System provides comprehensive checks of railway networks, including everything from the correct position of the rails in the track bed to the functionality of turnouts. For example, if switch condition monitoring systems report a drop in performance in the switch hydraulics, they issue a warning to enable prompt maintenance before a failure occurs. This shortens response times and ensures optimal system availability.

Signaling power monitoring or power monitoring allows railway operators to identify power supply problems and take corrective action before performance is affected. One especially safety-relevant feature is the real-time monitoring of rail crossings: At railway barriers, our systems check the barrier boom lights and barrier angle, the road lights, and the times for lowering or raising the barrier. 

If sleepers shift position at the points, for example, as a result of the vibrations during crossings, there is a risk of gradual track deterioration. Our zentrak monitoring devices also diagnose this process and report predictions of critical conditions. This information is sent to a central server, which issues the operator with a maintenance message.

Our voestalpine Railway Systems LCC tool is helpful for planning infrastructure measures. All the experience gained from customer-controlled test installations of track sections has been incorporated into this application. Even prior to purchasing components, railway managers can use it to check their plans based on the costs over the entire period of use—the life cycle costs. Customers can choose selected parameters such as operating mode, arc radius, or load, to provide valuable input for key economic decision-making criteria.