Cost-efficiency: comparing various methods of work

The URM 700-2 makes ballast bed cleaning and ballast exchange in turnouts even more efficient. The machine's main advantage is that it reduces construction time considerably, making it particularly interesting for infrastructure operators. The URM produces consistently high work quality and reduces the costs of turnout maintenance. Shorter construction times increase the network availability, which translates into fewer delays. Ultimately, this gives rise to greater acceptance for the railway system.

In a practical experiment, we compared the cost-efficiency of various work processes:

  • Ballast exchange using an excavator and removing the turnout
  • Ballast bed cleaning with the URM 700-2

The construction site used in the experiment consisted of four turnouts with concrete sleepers. The radius of the adjacent track was 1200 m, including the closure panels and the small areas around connecting track that serve as transitions to plain line tracks.

This comparison does not take into account additional reductions in traffic hindrance costs and construction-site safety costs as a result of shorter construction times.