14.05.20
Overhead conductor rail for 250 km-h proven in single track tunnels
In the single-track, 15.4km long Ceneri Base Tunnel, high-speed tests have been running since April 20.
On May 1st, at 03.30am Deutsche Bahn's High Speed ICE-S test train successfully reached the speed of 275 km/h. From the 13th May onwards, the tests with the extended ICE-S and two pantographs spaced at 200m are running.
Ceneri Base Tunnel is part of New Railway Link through the Alps project. Since the construction of the pilot plant in Zurich-Opfikon in 1984, Furrer+Frey has continuously developed its Rigid Overhead Conductor-rail System.
In 1996, 140 km/h and in 2003 160 km/h were achieved. The leap into the high-speed range was achieved in 2008 with 250 km/h in the double-track Sittenberg tunnel in Austria. In 2016 it was also possible to prove that two pantographs could be installed only 31 m apart at this speed.
In 2017, the ICE-S succeeded in a journey at 302 km/h – a world record for an overhead conductor rail. With the successful tests in the single-track Ceneri base tunnel, Furrer+Frey is now the first company to have a conductor rail system that allows speeds of 250 km/h and more in both double-track and single-track tunnels.
Image 1: the Furrer+Frey-conductor rail system for 250 km/h in the single track Ceneri Base Tunnel (Photo: ©Europten)
Image 2: Transition from overhead conductor bar to the SBB overhead contact line R1 at the south portal of the east tube (Photo: ©Furrer+Frey)
Contact details
Furrer+Frey AG
Thunstrasse 35, P.O. Box 182, CH-3000 Berne 6, Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 357 61 11
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.furrerfrey.ch/en