FOCUS ON WELDING
To make welding the 25-metre-long base frame easier , MATISA uses a positioning device , as shown here , when welding the truck of a transport wagon from five prefabricated boxes .
“ MATISA is EN 15085-certified and processes metal sheets and profiles from conventional construction steel ( S355 ), with thicknesses of between 10 and 200mm , to construct trucks , bogies and superstructures .”
KEEPING ON TRACK
Hundreds of metres of weld seam are hidden in a rail vehicle . Swiss track construction machine specialist , MATISA , relies on Fronius welding systems for this .
When rail tracks are upgraded ,
maintained or replaced , there should always be as little disruption as possible . This requires automated and reliable track-laying machines – such as those made by long-established Swiss company , MATISA . The company uses welding solutions from Fronius for its joining tasks . On 3 April 2007 , the French state rail company broke its own speed world record with a TGV : for the first time ever , a train , travelling on the Paris-Strasbourg line , reached the ultra-high speed of 574.8 kilometres per hour . To achieve this record run , the TGV needed to be specially tuned and the stretch of track remodelled . Work on the track included raising the level between the outerand inner-sides of the track on some bends to 13cm . At speeds of almost 160 metres per second , it is necessary to overcome high centrifugal forces and to safely avoid ballast pick-up on open sections of track .
Specialists therefore had to precisely measure the “ train highway ”, adjust the tracks to millimetre-precision , pack the ballast bed under the tracks and remove each protruding stone with the utmost care .
Every machine is ‘ unique ’
High speeds are not the only reason for the growing demand in railway track laying and maintenance machines . Ever-decreasing time frames for pending works mean that measurement , construction and maintenance machines have to manage a heavier workload with greater precision and maximum availability .
MATISA is a special purpose machine manufacturer producing bogies and most steel constructions for its railway track construction machines at its factory on the banks of Lake Geneva .
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