News 2009

In the long Christmas Possession, a new heavy Anchor Boom was installed on the Great Eastern Line.

The two volumes of
"Oberleitungen für hochgespannten Einphasenwechselstrom in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz"
by Georg Schwach were published in December 1989.

For many years they have been out of print.

Today, twenty years later,  we have the pleasure to give access to text, drawings and photographs in PDF format on Internet.

Table with links to the individual chapters

Furrer+Frey Conductor Rails have been installed in ÖBB's Matzleinsdorf Depot. A swivelling portion of conductor rail will swing away to allow the door to close tightly, and without the usual cut-out for the contact wire.

The swivelling portion of conductor rail can be seen inside the depot. On both sides Drop Pantograph Signs will protect the zone while the conductor rail is swung away.

Just in time for this year's Suissetraffic Exhibition F+F created novel solutions:

New Components for the FL200 System

End of Line Signal for DB and speed limit signals for SBB with light emitting Diodes.

For the renovation of a highway overbridge near Sargans a sub-structure had
to be built. By replacing the overhead contact line by a conductor rail the
necessary space could be freed.

Installation of the conductor rail in the zone of the tunnels has started.

Road-Rail Vehicles SBF 03 and SBF 05 are setting up steelwork, whilst the fitters are preparing the conductor rail cantilevers and conduct tests on the bolts. 

RFF regularly keeps you informed about the work in progress.

Replacement of the old fixed termination wires on Great Eastern goes ahead.

1.

Elegant Single Insulator Cantilevers are being installed on the slim structures.

For each track a pair of cantilevers is mounted back to back on a common drop tube.

Boom joints are covered with a special adaptor frame.

2.

Where torsional effects would overload the boom, the catenary is suspended with a pulley (over the track on the right).

3. and 4.

Automatic tensioning is fixed either on new booms or on existing anchor structures.

Each leg can take two pairs of weight stacks.

5.

New mid-point anchors with long Z-Droppers are added.

The first locomotive built in 1873 at SLM works in Winterthur was Cog-Wheel-Engine Nr 7 for the Rigi line. In 2009 it was to run again from Vitznau to the culmination point on the Rigi. However, the chimney on the upright boiler exceeds the height of the loading gauge of todays' electric trains, and clearance underneath the road bridge at Vitznau was insufficient for chimney and contact wire.

The problem was solved by installing two contact wires, spread apart to give enough space for the chimney whilst being close enough to the track centre-line to avoid dewirements. Electrical clearance is just sufficient to allow the steam train to operate under live wires.

In the train-shed at Worbboden the orange 1200VDC-trains as well as the blue 600VDC-trams of RBS are being maintained.

The overhead contact line can be switched from one Voltage to the other. Isolators, Earthing-Rods as well as the Barriers at the stairs leading to the maintenance plattforms are interlocked to guarantee safe operation.

A short piece of conductor rail provides smooth transition from the low portal to the high position of the contact wire within the hall. 

A new tent has been set up in Sisikon to provide shelter for pre-assembling components of the conductor rail for the Axen-Tunnels.

VEL 400 passing approval tests.

The first flight after leaving the cocoon.

F+F equipped three tracks of 250 m each in depot St Petersburg - Metallostroj with moveable conductor rails. two voltages, 25kV AC and 3kV DC can be applied. Running lights indicate live lines.

Training on installation and maintenance of conductor rails is part of the SBB courses for linemen. More than 20 linesmen of SBB, BLS, and Contractors participated this year. In the picture, René Eggenweiler, chief fitter of F+F is demonstrating how to insert the contact wire into the conductor rail.

F+F Rail-Roaders loom large at the 16th international Trucker and Country Fesrtival in Interlaken.

SBF05 is pulling out the contact wire for Tram Bern West. The whole line will open in December 2010.

Entitled “Der neue Bahnhof Visp – Mobilität und urbane Transformation“ Birkhäuser Verlag edited a book about Steinmann & Schmid Architects’ new achievement.
Furrer+Frey was called in to prepare the preliminary design of SBB and MGB Overhead Contact Line Equipment and to install the overhead contact lines of MGB.
As a result, the overhead contact lines today form a front-garden worthy of the new station building.

A new vehicle will ease the work on the overhead contact lines. It is on its way from Spain to Switzerland.

What will it look like when it emerges from its cocoon?

In its April-May edition, "Elektrische Bahnen" reports on the Furrer+Frey overhead contact line portals in Mannheim (see our News dated 25.5.2009).
A second article is dealing with TSI requirements for Earthing and Bonding Systems and mentions the alleviations that can be achieved when adopting a conductor rail.
 

Together with Ingenieurbüro Vogel Messtechnik contact wire uplift was measured at several locations of the inclined overhead contact line during the passage of trains with two, three and four operating pantographs.

The reinforced type of inclined catenary can cope with four pantographs spaced at 9m, 7m, 9m.

The Golden Pass Panoramic Express of Montreux Oberland Railway, MOB, will have more cars in the future and will be operated by two engines. In order to keep contact wire uplift within acceptable limits, a reinforced type of inclined overhead contact line was developed and installed near Sonzier.

To build the bulkheads for a highway underbridge, tracks and overhead contact line had to be removed in several short night possessions. To gain time, a conductor rail was installed on the existing masts. To remove and reinsert short portions of the conductor rail will then only take a few minutes.

Our Site Engineer Pascal Frey and his crew are checking the newly installed GEFF Overhead Contact Line on the Great Eastern Route.

The two tracks on the right hand side have been equipped with the new automatically tensioned GEFF Overhead Contact Line. On the left, the old Fixed Termination OLE is still in place.

The warehouse set up with Forest Freight in Rainham has been well populatet with GEFF Overhead Contact Line material.

Berhau Tunnel was renovated in 2006. A moveable conductor rail had been installed to facilitate the works (see news 2006).

Now the tunnel is finished, and the final conductor rail is installed.

For the Tram in Bordeaux, Cegelec has equipped two Swivel Bridges with Furrer+Frey Conductor Rails.

As before, also this year Furrer+Frey organised a training course for plant conductors together with BLS, according to clause 19c of the Federal Ordinance on Rail Vehicle Conductor Permits.

The training program has been accredited by SBB in 2008.

The first portals on the Great Eastern Route are being replaced by Swiss Design Booms.

The mock-uo installation of GEFF overhead contact line system for the Great Eastern Route has been erected in Rainham to serve for the training of the linesmen.