URM 700-2: Ballast cleaning without removing the turnout
A unique machine for special work
The URM 700-2 universal ballast cleaning machine is our all-rounder for ballast bed cleaning – it is unique on the world market. The machine offers innovative technology in a niche segment, which we provide as a complete service for turnouts.
This track-bound turnout-cleaning system is one example of a series of special work and services most conventional contracting companies do not offer. We have taken full turnout service to a new level, and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) already use this technology.
New offer for ballast cleaning in turnouts
Turnouts place particular demands on maintenance. Due to their key function in the track system, they are considered essential infrastructure components. Turnout installations on modern high-capacity lines consist of concrete sleepers, sensitive drive and control systems, and heavy rail profiles. When maintaining turnouts, these costly components must be handled with utmost precision.
Cost-efficiency is the goal when handling both turnouts and sections of plain-line track. Strictly speaking, this even more so when maintaining turnouts, as it often affects two tracks at the same time. The duration of track possessions is a key factor, particularly for main lines.
The URM 700-2 offers decisive advantages when managing tight schedules for turnout maintenance. There is no need to remove and reinstall the turnout. Both ballast cleaning and tamping in turnouts can be completed during one single shift. As soon as the work has been completed, the track section can be reopened for traffic.
For this reason, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) have opted for our system on their priority routes. During maintenance, the adjacent track remains open for traffic, which reduces track possessions to a minimum. This is impossible when employing conventional methods involving excavators and cranes.
Continuous-action turnout cleaning
Our URM 700-2 ballast cleaning machine is the core technology for turnout maintenance. This machine makes it possible to clean the ballast bed without removing the turnout. Moreover, it allows for continuous working progress. In addition, it cleans the ballast shoulders. The machine is also suited for maintaining large high-speed turnouts with a movable-point frog. Another advantage is that sections of track at connecting tracks and between turnouts can be cleaned in one pass.
Thanks to the fast and independent installation and removal of the excavating unit, the URM 700-2 works cost-efficiently on short sections of track.
- Short set-up times
- No need to cut the track, neither at the start nor at the end of work.
- No full track closures, the time window required is reduced significantly.
This is exactly what railway administrations require: fast, safe, and high-quality ballast cleaning in turnouts without long track possessions.
Optimal results for many trains to come
After the URM 700-2 has completed its work, our all-rounder for track maintenance comes in to ensure optimal geometrical quality of the turnout position. The Unimat 09-475/4S N-Dynamic turnout and track maintenance machine combines the functions of three machines into one machine: 3-rail lifting and 4-rail tamping, profiling, levelling, stabilizing, and post-measuring. But what makes the Unimat 09-475/4S N-Dynamic stand out is that it can also place ballast in the tamping zones.
Full turnout service including the ballasting step can be performed within a single track possession. Traffic on the adjacent track continues without interruption which minimizes operational disruptions.
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