Rail Business Days 2023 (2)

Part of the exhibition of Procházka MP was two-road vehicles of the Italian company Zephir, which it represents on the Czech and Slovak markets. This time it was the CRAB 1800 E model from the lowest power class, without a cab for the driver. The 12 kW electric motor is powered by lead acid batteries with a voltage of 80 V and a current capacity of 350 Ah. The vehicle, with a weight of 4.0 t and a maximum tractive force of 18 kN, is capable of moving up to 360 t on the track without inclination. 

The wide range of handling equipment also included this year's very useful news from Hegenscheidt-MFD, which Procházka MP also represents exclusively on the Czech market. It was the Kompakt hydraulic device for rerailing, which enables safe handling of the vehicle. The entire device (in blue, in the second photo) moves along a traverse that is laid over the track, while on the so-called beam support the vehicle is placed on two vertical lifting cylinders (set to different heights for illustration).

The beam support and the vehicle are moved along the traverse by a horizontal hydraulic cylinder, the pin of which is inserted from above into the corresponding circular holes in the traverse after each movement of the vehicle to the track. This method replaces the hitherto usual, but very dangerous operation of the staff, who had to manually insert the vertical pin into the holes in the traverse under the vehicle being rerailed.

The entire system is controlled remotely from a safe distance from the vehicle (as Lucia Niesten, Sales Manager at the Hegenscheidt-MFD's Rerailing Systems Division, is demonstrating), the power source for the hydrostatic pump is the petrol aggregate visible in the left part of the second photo. 

It should be clarified that the described device is used for "simple" derailments, e. g. at a turnout or marshalling yard or on a tram track where there is a reasonably flat area for disposition; for cases where the vehicles are already in a very inclined position or far away from the track, a large crane has to be called in.