To help prepare for the opportunities of the larger European market, Czech company Vagonka has re-structured the company to expand its production of passenger rail vehicles and has moved into modernised work shops in Ostrava. It has been in rail vehicle production since its formation in 1900, although early output was freight cars, but it has gone through many changes since.

It has just demonstrated its latest electric double-deck multiple unit class 471 to Polish Railways with demonstration days in Katovice, Krakow, Warsaw and Lodz. It has also recently supplied its first DM12 rail car for Finnish Railways and this is currently being tested. It should enter full operation in February 2005. Delivery of the next 15 cars will commence in mid-2005.
Canadian company Bombardier has just delivered its first multisystem locomotive for Switzerland. This is the 34000th locomotive to be built in Kassel since 1848. A total of 18 Bombardier TRAXXMS electric freight locomotives were ordered in May 2003 by Swiss Federal Railways. The locomotives are scheduled for delivery from October 2004 to March 2005. Designed both for ac and dc systems, they are to be used for freight services between Switzerland and Italy.
The modular design of the TRAXXMS locomotive enables it to be equipped with the very latest in high-performance electronic systems both for Switzerland's 15kVac network and Italy's 3kVdc system. This includes the Mitrac lightweight propulsion system which is very compact and is setting standards in the economic consumption of energy. It enables cross-border freight services without any problem.
The 298TRAXX locomotives currently in service in Germany and Switzerland now have a proven track record of well over 54million kilometres. They guarantee exceptionally high availability levels and low costs for operation and maintenance.
The development of the 15kVac locomotives, which have a top speed of 140km/h and an output of 5.6MW, has been carried out largely at Bombardier's facilities in Oerlikon and Turgi in Switzerland.
Bombardier's MitracTC1000 traction converters for metros, regional, commuter and intercity trains are based on a versatile, compact and lightweight modular concept targeted at lowest operator life cycle costs. They use insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) technology and can be mounted underfloor, on the roof or in the machinery room. The low number of components and the modular nature of the converter make it highly reliable and relatively maintenance-free.
The product family operates from 750Vdc to 3000Vdc, and can be used for all ac and dc line voltages, both with new trains and with retrofit projects. It is readily adaptable to many kinds of operating environments, from the tropics to the arctic, and from short-distance intensive use with metro applications through to regional and intercity services.
It can be integrated with The Bombardier Mitrac Energy Saver which stores energy during braking, when the driving motor becomes a generator and feeds power back into the electricity system. This offers up to30 per cent energy savings; up to 50percent reduction in peak power required from the network; up to 50percent reduction in voltage drop via the contact wire; and can run on unpowered sections.

Anniversary

The longevity of these two railway companies is matched by component manufacturer Brecknell Willis, which is 150 years old this year. The company specialises in railway electrification and offers complete systems linking lineside substations through to the trainborne collector via overhead and third rail systems. Its technology is state-of-the-art and it has just developed side-running shoegear for the German Transrapid magnetic levitation train.
Normally, the power for auxiliaries on a maglev train is collected from the track coils by induction, but, if the vehicle spends time at a station or is brought to rest in an emergency, an extra power source is needed. This is the purpose of the conductor rail system which is provided at stations and emergency stop points. Each vehicle is supplied with shoegear to make contact with the rails. The is normally retracted for high-speed running, but at speeds below 100km/hr the shoes may be extended and make contact with the rails.

Magnetic levitation vehicles are lifted and propelled along by the force generated between a passive copper or aluminium bar and an active series of coils under computer control which generate a rotating magnetic field to induce traction.
For a railway with a small number of trains it is cheaper to have a simple track and place the complication of the coils onto the moving vehicle. But this presents the challenge of supplying a relatively high electrical current to the trains for powering the magnets. The Vancouver Skytrain, for example, requires a 4000A supply.
For speeds over 200km/hr it is preferable to mount the coils on the track. The only current then needed on the vehicle is merely for magnetic reaction and auxiliaries. This is the system used on the Transrapid maglev train now serving Shanghai airport.
There are three rails in practice, with separate shoegear for each. One rail is positive, one negative, energised at 400Vdc, and the third is an earth rail to ensure that the vehicle is at earth potential, particularly in station areas where a vehicle with a floating static charge could otherwise cause serious risk of electrical discharge to passengers.
The shoegear is designed to work up to speeds of 100km/hr. It must be retractable into a very small space under he fairing of the vehicle, but also follow the movements at speed between the vehicle and the guideway.
Contact shoes are of cast iron and supported in an insulated carrier which forms the main backplate. Contact force is by tension springs brought into play by an air cylinder operated by pressure from within the vehicle. The main mechanism is an aluminium linkage with mechanical interlocks so that the earth shoe is always deployed before the power shoes. One side is positive, and the other negative and earth.
However hi-tech the locomotive, there is always the problem of grip between rail and driving wheel both in slippery weather conditions and for braking from high speed. Sand is still the best answer although handling is often seen as a forgotten chore. But Clyde Materials Handling has addressed this need and developed automated sand filling systems for both light rail trains and mainline locomotives. This saves operators carrying sand, usually in buckets from storage points, and manually loading into sand boxes.
Clyde's system allows sand to be delivered direct to bulk storage points and to multiple sanding points using pneumatic conveying or a mobile vehicle.