From June 4 to 6, ContiTech Air Spring Systems is exhibiting at Rail+Metro China in Shanghai. The one-stop supplier for air spring systems in the field of primary and secondary suspension is putting the themes Service and Safety on center stage at the trade show in Hall E7, Booth S180.

"In the meantime more and more air spring replicas that only look like the original are surfacing on the market," warns Friedrich Hoppmann, head of ContiTech’s Railway Engineering segment. "Air springs are not all the same, even if they look alike. The technical characteristics often do not meet requirements, which can lead to expensive failures and ultimately pose a threat to safety."

ContiTech has more than 50 years’ experience in development and production, and has helped air springs make a global breakthrough in rail transport over the past few decades. Since then, the demand for replacement air springs has also been growing worldwide. More and more suppliers of replicas are forcing their way onto this market. However, it is often not until their products have been installed that their quality really becomes clear.

"The replicas offer no reliability because the manufacturers frequently do not have a high level of experience," says Hoppmann. "By contrast, we only produce products in accordance with the specifications of the OEMs. This means that the customer only receives genuine quality; quality on which he can rely."

In addition to the high level of reliability offered by ContiTech products, service also plays an important role for customers. This includes global availability of the products, the tight dealer and service network as well as customer-specific solutions. A global dealer network allows replacement parts to be provided rapidly for the purpose of repair work. ContiTech uses its own employees as well as dealers for this; together with their teams, they can get anywhere in the world within a very short space of time.

The company is constantly expanding this network and regularly provides further training to engineers. And the service goes even further than this: ContiTech provides customers with complete suspension construction kits. They contain all the components required for completely equipping bogies with suspension comfort. This makes the logistics much easier for the customer, and means that no components are ever found to be missing.

Pantographs – uniform contact pressure
At the Rail+Metro China, ContiTech will also feature the application of air actuators in pantographs, which are used to transfer current from a permanently installed overhead line to railway vehicles. In changing weather conditions and at high speeds, pantographs guarantee uniform contact pressure. The air actuators provide reliable, frictionless service for years on end.

The company’s experience built up over many decades and its far-reaching research and testing expertise constitute important reasons behind the rail transport industry relying on ContiTech’s know-how. The company is one of the world’s leading development partners and original equipment suppliers for rail transport. It sets standards in local and regional transit as well as in the high-speed sector. All around the globe, the technology corporation makes an important contribution to future rail transport.