It is hard to imagine today’s world without trains and other rail transportation vehicles. In the 19th century some wise persons made a key contribution to industrialization and today are fully integrated in the globalization of markets and growing urbanization. Rail-mounted vehicles can transport large number of people and goods safely, quickly, and efficiently even over great distances. Moreover, trains or rolling stocks are very environment-friendly in their use of electricity obtained from regenerative sources. The prerequisite for rail systems being able to function at all, however, is the products manufactured by the cable and cable-processing industry. They are to be found in all technical systems, for example in the wheel bearings and brakes, the drive systems and other engines, in on-board electronics, air-conditioning systems, lighting and information systems, door mechanisms, seats and interior cladding …
At first glance the most obvious cable products we would expect to find are the traction cables in the carriage bogies and, in the case of electrified lines, the overhead catenaries or power lines. The Traction Cables are designed for protected, fixed installation inside and outside railway vehicles for connecting fixed and moving parts in direct current and alternating voltage technology, especially converter technology.
Many components require electrical power to be able to function. It is supplied through cables as the central element with high electrical conductivity. Around 3km of cables for example is installed in a double-deck carriage. The power supply is controlled by contact and circuit elements, in which innumerable springs, flexible parts and screws all play a part. Around 15,000 electrical clamping points are fitted in the carriage already mentioned. The figures relating to a modern high-speed locomotive such as the 109E from Škoda are even more impressive: The E-locomotive, which is authorized for speeds up to 200km/h and can travel though areas with different power feed systems, contains cables with a total length of around 30km.
Those Railway Power & Control Cables are used most widely in railway technology. Normally they complied to France RATP Railway Standard and UK NETWORK RAIL Standard. Besides traction cables and railway Power & Control Cables, Caledonian can also provide: Signalling cables, Telecom cables, Databus cables, High temperature cables, etc. for IEC standards, British standards, and French standards and so on.
Such an E-loco is supplied with the electrical power it needs to operate from the catenary lines positioned above the tracks. In addition to masts and crossbeams, the catenary system also comprises supporting railway cables and droppers, which are used to suspend the contact cable on the supporting cable. Both components are also produced from cable. If we take a look down towards the track installation, we notice further cable products: In this connection, a railway cable is positioned between the rails, the “track (line) conductor”, which ensures the inductive transmission of data to the rail-mounted vehicles and remote-controlled intervention in the train control system for example, if necessary, to initiate emergency braking.
Railway cable has been an indispensable communication component in the rail transport system right from the start. Other cable products instantly recognizable in track installations include screws, springs and flexible elements, which are used – in the case of specific platform design – to fasten the rails to the sleepers. Railways are dependent on cable products, which, upon closer inspection, also apply in equal measure for all areas of transport technology.
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