RAIL.ONE
25-08-2008

Leipzig City Tunnel decides for RHEDA 2000®

 

RHEDA 2000® ballastless track


* Application of the patented ballastless-track technology by RAIL.ONE.
* Internationally proven system offers top quality and operation safety.
 
 
Neumarkt, Germany, 25 August 2008 – One more win can now be chalked up on the list of victories for the RHEDA 2000® ballastless track system: The City Tunnel in Leipzig – currently the prime transportation project in central Germany – will be executed in RHEDA 2000®. The construction companies contracted to carry out this major project have now selected RHEDA 2000® technology. Over a distance of approximately 4 km, the entire permanent way in the tunnel facilities will be equipped with this patented ballastless technology, including the mass-spring system by RAIL.ONE. Beginning of deliveries is scheduled for 2009 or 2010. The convergence/divergence rail line, which serves all heavy-rail suburban passenger lines (S-Bahn) in Leipzig, is scheduled to go into operation beginning in 2011.

This new project success highlights the leading role played by RAIL.ONE in ballastless track technology. Beginning early with the high-speed line from Cologne to the Frankfurt Airport complex, RAIL.ONE delivered over 180,000 patented special sleepers for this project. Subsequent major projects – such as the line from Nuremberg to Ingolstadt, the Berlin North-South Link, the Dutch HGV line from Amsterdam to Brussels (HSL Zuid), as well as the Taiwan High Speed Rail project – were all implemented with RHEDA 2000®. In addition, the RAIL.ONE Group currently participates with its ballastless track technology in projects in Spain, South Korea, and China.
 
The City Tunnel in Leipzig
Construction of the City Tunnel – long hoped for in Leipzig to realize the north-south connection between the main station and the Bavarian Station – will now become reality. The S-Bahn commuter lines and the Regional Express trains will in future pass through the city centre underground. As core element of the S-Bahn network for Leipzig and environs, the 4-km tunnel will enable efficient and attractive connections between the city of Leipzig and its hinterland. The developers of the City Tunnel are the German State of Saxony, Deutsche Bahn AG, and the City of Leipzig. The European Union and the Federal Government of Germany are supporting this 100-year project.
 
The RHEDA 2000® ballastless track system
The RHEDA 2000® is a monolithic ballastless track system for mainline and high-speed applications. Salient characteristics of RHEDA 2000® include its design without longitudinal concrete upstands at the edges of the TSL, as well as its use of a modified bi-block concrete sleeper with lattice-truss reinforcement. As a result of the monolithic structural design of the concrete track-supporting layer, and owing to the low track structural height, the system is especially well suited for tracks at grade, and for applications with turnouts, in tunnels, and on bridges. In installation areas sensitive to vibrations, RHEDA 2000® can be executed with a spring-mass system. As a result of the mass of the concrete track system, supported as it is on elastic damper elements, vibrations acting on the surroundings are eliminated or reduced.

An additional system solution is the new ballastless track system without continuous reinforcement. In structural design and functional principle, this variation represents the state of the art in transportation infrastructure – but (unlike the standard RHEDA 2000® system) has no continuous reinforcement. These models also minimise the influence of reinforcement on railway signal and earthing systems. 
 
Profile of RAIL.ONE GmbH
RAIL.ONE GmbH conducts business with the goal of providing comprehensively oriented systems and engineering for the entire field of railway tracks and their many and varied requirements. With its patented RHEDA 2000® ballastless track system, the company has achieved an internationally leading position in the field of high-speed rail transportation. In addition, RAIL.ONE manufactures main-track and turnout sleepers made of concrete. In these areas, RAIL.ONE GmbH – as one-stop supplier and in close collaboration with its customers and partners – performs all activities involved in product development, manufacture, and application of concrete sleepers: beginning with engineering; including production, supply, and logistics; and extending to quality management.

With its plants in Germany, China, Romania, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, and Hungary, RAIL.ONE annually produces more than 2.5 million main-track sleepers, as well as over 600,000 linear metres of turnout sleepers. In 2007, the company achieved annual sales of approximately €160 million.
 
 
For further information:
RAIL.ONE GmbH Pfleiderer track systems
Hedwig Blomeier
Marketing
Tel +49 9181 28-693
Fax +49 9181 28-646
hedwig.blomeier@railone.com