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March 2018
Advanced Rail Systems (ARS), which provides automated yard switches and devices, manufactures the YM-16 electro-hydraulic switch machine. The YM-16 needs “virtually no maintenance” — no greasing, lubricating or replacement of wear parts is required, according to the company. It also has enough power to throw #24 turnouts and turnouts with welded heel blocks.
“Our newest high-speed hump machine has the same high throw force, but throws in 0.45 seconds. YM-16 throws in 1.2 seconds,” the company says. “The holding force is 2,000 pounds for both machines and, as the machines are similar, both are easy to maintain.”
The Pathfinder control software, which provides NX routing and DTMF switch control, doesn’t require annual maintenance fees; users can complete updates and make changes as required, ARS says.
The company also offers what it terms “the next step in car tracking and inventory management” — ARS Smart Yard Technology, which integrates Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) technology into the switch machine assembly, providing “the functional benefits” of both systems.
In characterizing its vision of the “Yard of the Future,” GE Transportation offers a “holistic solution” to enhance reliability, reduce maintenance overhead, improve utilization of existing capacity, and increase margins and volume, the company says.
GE’s solution features an integrated communications network (including a wireless mesh network covering the facility) that can monitor and control ground infrastructure (i.e., power switches, process control systems) and mobile assets (remote control of yard and road locomotives using LOCOTROL Remote Control Locomotive video analytics for inventory tracking). The information gathered is analyzed “at the edge” and relevant information is passed to the RailOS Cloud and for use by an integrated suite of inventory management (Rail TMS, Shipper TMS) and decision support tools (Yard Planner and Movement Planner systems).
“With the Yard of the Future, everything in a yard is visible and smart planning tools are the norm, not the exception,” the company says. “The impacts on work at downstream yards on and off your network are considered and decisions can be automatically made to improve productivity, reliability and flexibility, while enabling safer operations. This sets the stage for automation of both yard and line-of-road processes.”
Janam Technologies LLC’s XM2-RFID for Rail is a handheld RFID-reading solution. The XM2-RFID for Rail features “best-in-class” read range and battery life, and is the “first fully integrated handheld computer to deliver the ability to read AEI RFID tags to the palm of the hand,” the company says.
Designed to provide the power and performance required for all-day- every-day use by mobile workers in freight and rail operations, the XM2-RFID for Rail can read the AEI RFID tags required on all North American rail cars, enabling railroads and intermodal companies to track and monitor equipment more effectively.
The device is equipped with a user-addressable compass for integration with transportation applications, a 3.2-inch color display, a Zebra SE4500 2D imager for robust decoding of the hardest-to-read barcodes and support for Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 operating system.
Pintsch Tiefenbach U.S. Inc. offers a variety of switch zone protection equipment, including customized hardware/software solutions featuring the company’s axle-counting technology.
“The use of axle-counting technology is immune to almost all environmental variables and outside influences, resulting in incredible long-term reliability and availability within the yard,” the company says.
The switch zone protection equipment is suited for yard applications and provides “a safe alternative solution to track circuits,” the company says. Single switch protection units also are available.
Pintsch Tiefenbach also provides yard automation solutions for switch control with switch protection, optional route control and route setting via push-button panels at the yard entrance or via PC control.
Additionally, the company offers custom-engineered system solutions.
RailComm LLC has introduced mobile device control capabilities to its DOC yard automation software platform. As a result, yard operations now can be managed from anywhere using RailComm’s Soft Control Panel, which runs on PCs, tablets and smartphones. Switch and derail control, routing, blocking and protection can be executed from anywhere in the yard, the company says.
The Soft Control Panel integrates with RailComm’s recent innovations, including the iTrack real-time fully automated rail-car inventory system.
The company’s automation solutions also are available in the cloud. RailComm recently launched its TIM (Test Inspection Management) Forms platform. The first application, Title 49 CFR Part 217 Efficiency Testing, is now available as a mobile application with a cloud-based dashboard and reporting system.
The MSR32 — Siemens Rail Automation’s state-of-the-art yard automation system — is designed to expedite transportation times and reduce the overall transition period by automating marshaling yard operations.
The MSR32 is a modular, open microcomputer system that supports the adaptation to various performance requirements. It’s suitable for the automation of high-capacity yards, but its compact size means that smaller- and medium-capacity facilities also can be equipped with the MSR32 system and then expanded when necessary. The application software for the system controllers and the operator PCs work in a “strictly problem-oriented way” and all system controllers are operated in real time, the company says.
The MSR32 system is characterized by optimal operator guidance and short training/familiarization time. In addition to system and installation status displays, online help is also available. All procedures used have been tested and field-proven.
“The performances of installations in Germany, Russia and other countries have proven the efficiency of the system in even the roughest marshaling yard operations,” the company says.
Twinco Manufacturing Co. Inc.’s TMC-1 WR Submersible Switch Machine is designed to “address the most demanding requirements of today’s rail and transit operations,” including uncontrolled climatic events such as flooding and extreme temperature variations, the company says.
To that end, the unit features sealing technologies used in other industries to control all electrical and mechanical inputs and outputs to the machine. In addition to the machine as a whole being rated IP68, all interior electrical connections and components are sealed to a minimum of IP66.
The electrical-mechanical switch machine also has “the fewest parts of any machine on the market while employing as many modular components as possible,” Twinco says.
The compact, low-profile-height machine can be adapted to customer-specific requirements, such as trailable vs. non-trailable or between the gauge or beside the rail.
Vossloh Signaling Inc.’s Modular Yard Automation (MYA) suite of products is designed to help railroads improve yard efficiency by replacing hand-throw switches with power switch machines and accompanying systems to remotely control and monitor the switches.
MYA is a combination of Vossloh Signaling products that link together to form a turnkey solution. Each Vossloh MYA solution is tailored to an individual project’s needs.
MYA products typically include Vossloh TS-4500 hydraulic switch machines, electronic modules and yard control software.
Electronic modules also can link with RailMaster™ — the company’s proprietary (MS Windows based) yard control software. RailMaster features a dynamic graphic interface from which users can initiate switch throws, pre-program routes and monitor yard activity.
MYA systems can be controlled from multiple settings on- and/or off-site, depending on customers’ preferred configuration. They can be operated from remote dispatch centers running RailMaster on PCs or laptops. The company designs MYA systems featuring radio remote control (DTMF/Data Radio) capable of throwing switches throughout the yard, including from the cab of a locomotive.
Vossloh also supplies on-site control kiosks with RailMaster controlled with a touchscreen interface.
ZTR Control Systems offers a variety of solutions to help railroads maintain yard efficiency.
ZTR Railway IoT solutions for locomotives and other railway equipment provide access to advanced diagnostics, alerts, positioning, reports and maintenance planning “from anywhere at any time,” the company says.
The ZTR ROVER™ is an advanced, portable remote control solution for locomotives, with advanced safety features and slow speed control to optimize operational efficiency. The company says it also can help railroads optimize locomotive resources through a custom-designed Tractive Effort Analysis Study, which evaluates yard requirements against current fleet and recommends solutions for locomotive modernization improvements.
The NEXSYS™ III-i Control System maintains the control and functionality afforded to the mother locomotive while extending advanced control to a daughter unit in “mother-daughter” applications, the company says.
And on the locomotive reliability front, ZTR offers an axle generator that “not only connects with up to eight on-board systems, but also has superior reliability and zero maintenance,” the company says.
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