In times of increased shortage of crude oil, it is safe to say that rail transport will experience a revival. In fact, rail traffic is dependable and safe, and will be more so in the future since no means of transport is as easy to optimise as the good old railway system. The starting point for perfection is the rail itself ensuring that rail vehicles are safely guided en route. At that, it is a proven carrier of electricity and rolling wagon wheels with a high degree of efficiency. The rail can also be perfectly monitored.

The most recent example is the introduction of diagnostic systems designed to detect wheel imperfections, untrue run and wheel flats. Installed between rail and expensive track, the diagnostic system using precise load measuring equipment lets you check to see if loads and load distribution on trains, engines and wagons are well within tolerance. If these prerequisites are not given, many potential hazards have to be anticipated, e.g. track damage, vehicle damage, loss of reputation through noise emission and – in the worst case – accidents. Long before costly faults manifest themselves, MULTIRAIL WheelScan alerts the operator and ensures that trains are slowed down or stopped in time.

The heart of the system is the weighing tie developed by SCHENCK. The weighing tie directly trans-fers the forces and moments from tracking, measures the forces with highest accuracy, acquires static and dynamic wheel load portions and deduces the relevant vehicle or axle weights. The dynamic portions are used to get information on the so-called wheel imperfections.

Easy? Most definitely not: some weeks ago, SCHENCK was granted a European patent (No. 1212228) for your safety.