International Railway Journal - August 2007 - (Page 17)

impact can be used to assemble locomotives. The positive reaction at InnoTrans to Voith’s decision to build locomotives was marred by the negative response to its business model, which forced a quick rethink. For one thing, there are an increasing number of leasing companies in the European locomotive market which have neither the desire nor the ability to assemble locomotives, and railways are not keen to take on a manufacturing role. A major change is also taking place in the deep-sea container business, which will have ramifications for rail. So Voith will now add another 20,000m2 to its Kiel factory at a cost of €12 million and treble its workforce to 300 to enable it to produce between 80 and 90 locomotives a year. Voith has not changed its manufacturing philosophy, however, which is to build two families of locomotives that are reliable through a high degree of redundancy, are modular to suit customers’ needs, and have a lot of common parts, software, and wiring. The locomotives will also have many components that have been produced or designed in-house. The main exception is the diesel engine for the Maxima high-power locomotives. After an extensive search, Voith chose an engine produced by ABC, Belgium, which was originally developed for the marine market, but has also been used in locomotives. “There aren’t any medium-speed engines for highpower locomotives out there that have been designed for use in locomotives that we can use,” says Krey. The Maxima 40 CC, which is currently under test in Germany and Belgium, is powered by a single 16-cylinder ABC engine weighing 23 tonnes. “This is quite a low weight for a medium-speed engine of this size, although ideally we would like an engine that weighs less than 20 tonnes,” says Dipl-Ing Claus Rathje, a senior engineer with Voith in Kiel. “We are working with ABC to meet the EU Stage IIIA exhaust gas emissions standards that come into force in 2009, but without the need for external particulate filters,” says Rathje. “It will require a lot of internal modifications, which is a big job for such a large engine. EU Stage IIIB emissions standards come into effect in 2012, and while the technology to meet this exists for bus and truck engines, it does not yet for rail, but we have time to develop solutions. We will need to make a lot of radical internal and external changes to meet the new standard.” Space has already been provided to add a particulate filter system in the future. Protecting the driver Maxima meets current crashworthiness protection standards for the driver’s cab. There is a non-penetrative plate to protect the driver as well as crumple zones behind the buffers. Maxima will be the first locomotive to use the new Turbosplit hydrodynamic power transmission system, which Voith claims is the most powerful on the market. Turbosplit has one input (up to 4.2MW), but two decoupled outputs. One computer controls each bogie to increase redundancy in the driveline. “This enables traction, adhesion, and wheel slip and slide to be controlled much better than before, and has overcome a major disadvantage of diesel-hydraulic transmission over electric transmission,” says Rathje. Turbosplit can be fitted with two independent hydrodynamic brakes (one per bogie). “A unique feature of this is that it can decelerate the locomotive to a standstill, and it avoids using the mechanical brake,” says MBA Dipl-Ing Christoph Uhl, head of rail marketing with Voith Turbo in Heidenheim. “The hydrodynamic brake can be used for all service braking, and is much more powerful than the braking system on a diesel-electric locomotive,” Rathje adds. A pneumatically-controlled independent pneumatic brake is used in emergencies. Maxima will have a number of other new developments by Voith. TracSys, which should be ready by the end of Maxima and Gravita vital statistics Length over buffers Weight (tonnes) Maximum speed Fuel tank (litres) Engine output Minimum curve radius Maximum tractive effort Starting tractive effort Maxima 40 CC Maxima 30 CC Gravita 20 BB 23.2m 23.2m 17m 126-135 126-135 84-88 120km/h* 120km/h* 120km/h 9000 10,000 5500 3.6MW† 2.75MW† 2.2MW§ 80m 80m 80m 519kN 519kN 346-363kN 408kN 408kN 272-285kN Gravita 15 BB 15.5m 80-90 100km/h 4500 1.8MW§ 60m 330-371kN 259-291kN Gravita 10 BB 14m 80-100 100km/h 3000 1.2MW§ 60m 330-412kN 259-337kN Gravita 5 C 11m 60-67.5 80km/h 2500 700kW§ 60m 247-289kN 194-219kN Gravita 5 B 10m 40-45 80km/h 2000 400kW 40m 165-185kN 129-146kN * Maxima’s riding dynamics are approved for 160km/h † at 1000 rev/min § at up to 1800 rev/min IRJ August 2007 17

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - August 2007

Contents This month News Market News Transit News News Analysis Voith Goes For Maxima Impact First Gauge-Changeable Loco Under Test Power Surge China Feels the Need For Speed A Firm Foundation For Chinese High-Speed Testing Times on the Betuwe Route Tough Tests For Mass Transit Software A Measure of Success Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - August 2007

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