advertisement

---

Earlier this year, Italian track maintenance company COSTFER S.R.L. began using Plasser & Theurer's APT 600 S Series mobile electric flash-butt welder as part of a track maintenance equipment modernization program.

The four-axle welder features an integrated rail tensioning unit centered between the machine's trucks designed to perform closure welds at a temperature below that of neutral rail. The welder also includes a welding head mounted on a telescopic jib crane to provide more exact positioning and a hydraulic shearing-off device in the welding head to automatically remove welding burrs.

Since the 1970s, European railroads and track maintenance firms have used Plasser & Theurer's K 355 APT mobile flash-butt welder on high-speed lines. COSTFER is the first to use the APT 600 S Series, which can perform clamping, centering, welding and shearing in one operation, according to a Plasser & Theurer statement.

Since 2002, Union Pacific Railroad has used the APT 600 S Series on heavy-haul U.S. lines.