An agreement between Rowe Hankins and rail power supplier Sécheron enables existing and new users of the Swiss engineered substations to benefit from local representation and technical support. Sécheron substations are already in use on London Underground and in various Network Rail locations. With major modernisation and new network programmes proposed, managing director Toni Hankins is confident that developing a trackside engineering capability is the right way forward.

Sécheron DC substations are carefully matched to the characteristics of the traction system in use. They are engineered to handle the exceptional stresses that arise due to cyclic loading and the effects of track faults.

To support power programmes, Rowe Hankins has invested heavily in DC current test equipment and has the unique capability of being able to accurately calibrate trackside high-speed circuit breakers. With calibration, it is possible to achieve discrimination between breakers on the same circuit. This enables more than one train to be in a particular section of track, therefore increasing potential capacity to meet customer expectations, without compromising safety.

Rowe Hankins are also distributors for LEM rail safety systems. Two products of note at the show were Relaysenz and Pointsenz. These have applications in monitoring performance to give early warning of any technical problems with signals and points so timely preventative maintenance can be undertaken.

Relaysenz relay condition monitors (RCM) are installed with the relays used to power signals and points switching machines. Linked to a data logger, the transducer provides continuous monitoring and allows a defective contact to be easily identified among large clusters of similar devices. This speeds fault finding and rectification, saving time and the cost of replacing a complete relay set where the defective unit is not easily identifiable. A robust construction gives this product a designed lifetime of 25 years.

Pointsenz water resistant transducers monitor points performance directly. By measuring the DC current at the points during a normal cycle of operation, the system records the characteristic footprint for each location. Variations from this footprint may arise for reasons such as rust, lack of lubrication, ballast infiltration, or developing faults in motors. By providing early warning, prompt remedial action can be taken.

Uploaded: September 14, 2005

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