Technology and innovation

The railways as drivers of innovation

From railway construction to the system landscape. ÖBB-Infrastruktur provides the stimulus for research and development. We present some examples.

• Translation of video transcript for reading

  ÖBB Infrastructure - Research & Development
  Filming, music in the background, text inserts

  ÖBB INFRA
  We get the ball rolling
  Research & Development at ÖBB-Infrastruktur

  Different research projects of ÖBB-Infrastruktur are presented with short clips.

  Free-form surfaces
  Cost-effective and rapid erection of a concrete dome

  Laser scan
  Detailed measurement during operation

  InnoSens
  Cameras and sensors record the entire railway infrastructure

  Pantoinspect
  Pantograph monitoring to protect infrastructure and vehicles

  Safe onLINE
  Measurement of overhead line conditions

  Railway crossings
  Traffic psychology research for more attention at level crossings

  Climate change
  Acting and reacting

  Fibre optics
  Event detection with fibre optic sensors

  Track ecomat
  Superstructure protection, water absorption and noise reduction

  Rail head conditioning
  Reduce noise emission, minimise wear

  Innovation test drives
  Measuring aerodynamic loads and noise barriers

  Optimise driving dynamics
  Increase comfort, reduce costs

  Train running checkpoints
  The infrastructure keeps an eye on the vehicles

Translate4Rail - Crossing (language) borders safely and easily

The future of rail freight transport increasingly depends on cross-border cooperation. This is a major challenge, especially in Europe. The railways still have a very national character. Cross-border communication has also proved difficult up to now.

White Rail Project

Rising temperatures and heat waves cause tracks to become compressed, which makes unrestricted railway operation more difficult. As part of the “White Rail” project, we are changing the colour of the rails to see how this works in a trial run. It is known that darker surfaces absorb temperatures very easily. We hope that changing the colour of the rails to a lighter colour will mean temperatures drop by 5 – 8 degrees Celsius and that there will be fewer restrictions on train traffic due to deformed rails in strong sunshine.

• Translation of video transcript for reading

  White rails
  Filming, Speaker

  Jürgen Neumayr: Today we have the White Rail project here. We are colouring the rail white, on the basis that light-coloured surfaces absorb temperatures less strongly. We have relatively high rail temperatures. Due to the temperature increases, there is always track compression, i.e. the track gives way to tension somewhere. The idea behind this is that we can lower the temperature from the rail somewhat. The rail temperature should go down about five to eight degrees.

  My name is Neumayr Jürgen, I am from the ÖBB- Infrastruktur Anlagenservicecenter Bludenz. I travel quite a lot in South Tyrol and Italy and have seen that the rails there are being painted white. I then contacted the Italian state railways and the South Tyrolean Vinschgaubahn and learned from them that they have not had any rail deformations for the last three years because the rails have been painted white. The whole thing started quite simply: The rails were painted with a brush and white paint, then the whole thing was measured and we noticed that there were temperature differences, i.e. lower temperatures of between five and eight degrees. Then they said they would develop a device that could be used in a sensible, environmentally friendly and economical way. We then sat down and made the first design drawings and then put them into practice with the training workshop in Feldkirch. So after two years we have now reached the point where we have got the whole thing on track. We work with an OBW - a superstructure wagon - with a mounted spraying device. We use it to spray the rail, from rail head to rail web to rail foot with white paint, all four sides of the two rails at once. We drive at five to seven kilometres per hour, which has given us the best results so far.

  On the first trip we spray the rail head, on the return trip we make sure that we hit the rail foot exactly. This way we paint a large part of the rail web twice, so it gets really nice and rich. The paint is applied, but none of the paint gets into the ballast or the base.

  There was a lot of consideration given to the environment when choosing the paint, in terms of spray and environmental impact. It was a challenge to work on this dirty rail without pre-treatment with this white paint. All components, whether it's the pipework, the hoist, the suction point, the processing only works with air. This completely eliminates the possibility of explosive atmospheres at the work site. We can do all the height adjustment with an external fine spindle, from the vehicle. Only the swivel and the tilt still have to be operated manually. The aim would be not to operate these nozzle heads manually from the track, but to use servo motors, set via a control panel, to bring them into exactly the right position so that the paint can really be applied to the rails in the best possible way.

  We are now starting in the ASC Bludenz/ASC Landeck area. I would like to measure the temperatures myself throughout the year, which will be recorded with track thermometers. We want to look at the results, and if it works well, it will certainly be rolled out across Austria at some point.