The Felbermayr Transport- und Hebetechnik GmbH & Co KG company from Linz, Upper Austria, is active worldwide in the areas of transport and lifting technology, as well as in the construction sector. For the field of international low loader rail transport (ITB), special wagons for rail traffic require regular modification and maintenance. In addition to flexible and versatile high-performance rail equipment, Felbermayr operates special wagons having between 6 and 32 axles, and a load-carrying capacity of up to 500 tons. These wagons are modular, which means that they can be converted to meet the requirements of their load.
To convert the wagons in this way, tasks such as safety inspections, servicing, and possibly repairs must be performed directly on the special wagons. While performing these activities, the persons working on the wagons are located in a fall-risk area. In order to ensure that the specialist personnel are safe while performing their activities on the wagons, and to protect them from falling, as legally required internationally, to date 150 linear metres of the TAURUS rail-based safety system from INNOTECH have been installed on the special wagons.
Requirement for robust fall protection with a long working life
Felbermayr’s high-performance rail equipment is suitable for very different types of heavy cargoes, because it can be restructured to meet the specific requirements of each transport job. As mentioned above, the fitters who perform these conversions move directly along the surface of the wagons. The starting point for their work are the uppermost steel beams on the special wagon. This is also exactly where INNOTECH's TAURUS rails are mounted for fall protection, directly on the top surface of the special rail wagon’s steel construction.
From this point, the rail safety system protects reliably against falling, and so servicing and repair tasks, as well as the necessary safety inspections can be performed in safety. Because the work mostly takes place in the open air, it is important to select a safety solution which provides dependable protection in all weathers. The tasks are performed on the wagons in a weekly cycle. Under this regular use, the demands placed on a fall protection system are particularly high. Accordingly, a robust solution with a long working life was therefore an important prerequisite for this project.
Adaptation of the rail onsite
The TAURUS system, made from aluminium rails, is resistant to both high and low temperatures, as shown by the Zugspitze reference project. The risk of falling because of lack of attention, missteps, or weather-related slips on the wagons can be reliably neutralised by the safety solution. Thanks to the TAURUS-BEND-10 bending device, it is possible to carry out modest onsite adjustments to the rail system. This provides additional flexibility during installation.
Adjustment on site!
“When we looked for an appropriate fall protection system using rails which are reliable and adapt flexibly to the curves of the wagons, the only solution we found was INNOTECH’s TAURUS. Adapting the rails onsite using the bending device was a further installation benefit which convinced us to select the TAURUS rail system,” says Maximilian Cisek, Felbermayr Transport- und Hebetechnik GmbH & Co KG.
Summary of the benefits
- The TAURUS rail system allows tasks on Felbermayr’s special wagons, such as modifications, safety inspections, servicing, maintenance, and repair, to be performed safely
- The special characteristics of the wagons require the TAURUS rails to be bent, and this is performed directly during onsite installation, using the TAURUS-BEND-10 bending device
- The weekly use of the fall protection system requires a high level of robustness, and this is provided by the proven TAURUS rail system.
