WO2009092896A2 - Railway track renewal train element comprising a ballast clearing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A railway track renewal train element comprising a ballast clearing installation and a sleeper (cross-tie) replacement system. The sleeper replacement system comprises a worn sleeper extraction station and a new sleeper laying station (12) these being positioned respectively on either side of the ballast clearing station of the said ballast clearing installation. The ballast clearing installation comprises a tubular structure (1) closed on itself and delimiting, in a plane that is inclined with respect to the vertical, a closed-loop internal passage through which there circulates a chain that has fingers (3) orthogonal to its direction of travel and shaped in such a way as to carry the ballast into the structure (1) through a frontal opening as far as a discharge orifice (8). The sleeper laying installation comprises conveying means (7) capable of conveying the sleepers with their axes perpendicular to the track, these conveying means (7) passing through a wider region of the tubular structure (1).

Description

 RAILWAY RENEWAL TRAIN ELEMENT COMPRISING A BALLAST REMOVAL SYSTEM.

The present invention relates to a railway track renewal train element comprising a ballast stripping facility combined with a system for replacing sleepers and rails.

It applies in particular, but not exclusively, to the replacement operations of railway sleepers and / or rails, which require at least partially stripping the existing ballast tracks.

The railway rails are supported on wooden or concrete sleepers of standard lengths 2 200 mm and 2 600 mm for level crossings. Mechanized tools have been developed to replace the sleepers at very high yields, that is to say by automating and linking together all the operations to be carried out: disconnecting the "old" rail from the sleepers, separating the old rail on the sides, removal of old sleepers, extraction of troublesome ballast towards the sides of the track, tamping and leveling of the ballast layer, laying of new sleepers, installation of the new rail previously arranged on both sides of the track, fastening of the new rail to new sleepers, re-ballastage by a special ballast train, mechanical tamping of the ballast by specialized gear called tampers. These operations require mechanized tools, relatively bulky, which are mounted on trains of railway works which must also to be able to circulate safely on the railway network when they are not in the works phase.

Ballast stripping can be accomplished using a tool called a dynamic plow, consisting of a relatively high bow with horizontal spades that dive into the ballast and push it out of the tracks. This method has limitations in terms of the volume of excavated ballast, especially in station platform areas. It often happens that this device is saturated, especially when the type of armament changes, ie when it is necessary to dig more to replace wooden sleepers by concrete sleepers, which generates an excess of ballast .

The stripping of the ballast can also be carried out using a device called equalizer and having a carterized horizontal structure and closed on itself, inside which circulates a vane chain. A front opening in a portion of said structure allows, when it is immersed in the ballast, that the pallets cause ballast on the side of the track without being loaded. Nevertheless, such a device has a limited flow of excavated ballast. It allows more surface leveling and leveling of the ballast surface than deep stripping and moving large volumes of ballast.

It is the object of the invention to provide a compact railway stripping facility and to excavate a large amount of ballast in the substation area of the sleepers, combined with a system of replacement sleepers.

To this end, the invention proposes a railway train renewal train element comprising a ballast stripping installation and a tie replacement system, said tie replacement system comprising an extraction station of the used sleepers and a substation station. laying of new sleepers respectively arranged on both sides of the stripping station of said stripping facility. According to the invention, the stripping installation comprises:

A tabular structure closed on itself and delimiting, in a plane inclined with respect to the vertical, a closed loop internal passage having in its lower part, a horizontal section provided with a longitudinal front opening which extends over the the width of the ballast to be cleared, two lateral corridors joining at the upper part of the structure and, in said upper part, an opening leading to ballast evacuation means, the two lateral passages being shaped so as to delimit between their regions; central areas an area of greater width,

A closed-loop chain circulating in said passage under the effect of a driving means integral with the structure, said chain being provided with fingers orthogonal to its direction of movement and shaped so as to drive the ballast into the structure by said front opening to said discharge orifice, the cross-laying installation comprising transport means capable of transporting the crosspieces oriented perpendicular to the track, these transport means passing through said zone of greater width of said tabular structure .

The railway train renewal train element thus defined comprises a stripping installation which is in the form of a tabular structure closed on itself, the tube of which delimits a corridor which has any section, ideally rectangular in order to be able to guide a chain that circulates in a closed loop in said corridor. The chain, called stripping chain, is provided with fingers orthogonal to its direction of movement so as to cause the ballast in the structure through said front opening to said evacuation orifice. In the operating position, this structure is inclined relative to the vertical, the lower part facing the direction of travel of the train and diving into the ballast just behind the drop zone of the old sleepers. This lower part is open frontally so that the chain which circulates inside said structure, provided with shovels and links equipped with peaks called fingers and moved by a pinion, causes ballast inside a lateral lane. called lift corridor.

Logically, the minimum form of such a structure should be generally triangular, the base of the triangle being constituted by the horizontal section which collects the ballast, and the sides of the triangle by the lateral sections which converge towards the discharge orifice. ballast. Nevertheless, in the installation according to the invention, the lateral sections have a curved shape towards the outside of the structure, for example curve or "in the form of circumflex accent", so that their spacing in the middle part said structure is greater than the length of a cross. The structure may have different geometries, for example ovoid or polygonal, ideally octagonal, provided that the spacing of the lateral sections in its middle part is sufficient for it to be traversed by a specific conveyor carrying new sleepers oriented perpendicular to the tracks .

The form of the stripping facility is such that on the one hand the conveyor new sleepers can cross the structure and secondly it can convey the new sleepers oriented perpendicular to the track. The gain is double:

• Space-saving, as new sleepers can be placed closer to the ballast clearing station;

• Simplification of the installation, because the new sleepers can be conveyed in the same direction as that they will have once put on the ballast, which avoids having to make them execute a rotation about a vertical axis with last moment

The ballast stripping installation combined with the system for substituting sleepers according to the invention thus makes it possible to obtain a set mechanized very compact which channels the surplus ballast inherent to the quay zones and cross-type changes, leaving an area without excess ballast, thus ensuring the rear of the train a quantity of ballast sufficient to stall the way to the using mechanized machines such as tampers. In addition, the space between the stripping area and the laying area of the new sleepers can be used to insert additional facilities such as unbalanced bow or plow, dynamic, or vibrating blade tamping facility.

The ballast entrained in the corridor of said structure is discharged through an opening at its upper part and is recovered, for example on a first belt conveyor, so as to transport it to a storage location and to redeposit it on the replacement sleepers thanks for example to a grazing chute.

This first conveyor can retract, for example by translation or by rotation about a vertical axis, so let the flow of baled ballast directly on the track after the installation of new sleepers, which allows to fill immediately the way in the case of show jumping of type crossings and during production cycle ends.

Ballast dewatering is an operation that, depending on weather conditions, can raise a lot of dust and thus make working conditions difficult. It is therefore advantageous to provide a water spray ramp above the stripping facility to stabilize the dust.

The stripping facility shall allow normal and safe movement of the work train when not in operation. For this purpose, the front part must be able to be placed in a high position, by translation or rotation of the installation around a horizontal axis, and maintained in this position so as to respect the UIC template of the track. In the same way, the tie replacement device, the dynamic plow, the snow groomer must be able to be placed in a high position to comply with the UIC template of the track, all folded once inside the UIC railroad jig says circulation.

The invention also relates to a railway train renewal train comprising, in particular:

A set of ballast conveyors consisting for example of rubber mats for transporting the ballast from the substitution zone of the crosspieces towards the rear of the train,

• a so-called grazing chute for making buffer storage and filling the newly laid track with ballast; this chute can be equipped upstream of at least one conveyor receiving ballast and pivoted about a substantially vertical axis relative to said chute to project any excess ballast on either side of the track or on a dock,

A system for replacing old rails with new rails, and further comprising a ballast removal facility combined with a tie replacement system.

The invention will be better understood from the accompanying drawings, given by way of non-limiting examples, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the ballast removal facility;

Figure 2 is a side view of the ballast stripping facility combined with a tie replacement system, mounted on a work train.

In FIG. 1, there is a tabular structure 1 of octagonal shape in which a chain (not visible) is driven by a pinion integral with the axis 2. The chain is provided with fingers 3 which are visible at the opening frontal 4 of the structure. As can be seen in FIG. 2, this opening is immersed in the ballast, which is driven inside the structure 1 by the fingers 3. This opening is preferably rectilinear and has a length sufficient to have a leading edge much greater than the length of a cross.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the spacing between the lateral sections 1a and 1b in the middle part of the structure 1 is sufficient for the new crosspieces 6, transported and deposited on the ballast by the conveyor 7, to pass through the structure 1 in their greatest length; the longest cross-section length to be taken into account is that of railway crossings, ie 2,600 mm.

The ballast escapes from the structure 1 through an evacuation orifice located in the vicinity of the axis 2, is channeled by a funnel-shaped structure 8 and is recovered by the conveyor 5. This conveyor 5 can retract so that the ballast falls directly on the track downstream of the station of installation of the new sleepers.

A dynamic plow 10 can be interposed between the ballast stripping station and the cross-laying station 12.

A snow groomer 11 comprising a vibrating pad can be inserted between the dynamic plow 10 and the station for installing the new sleepers.

The structure 1 is fixed to the structure of the train 13 in a mobile manner, for example around an axis 14 so that it can be raised, for example by means of the jack 15, to respect the gauge of the track during the running of the train . The dynamic plow 10, the snow groomer 11 and the cross-laying tool 12 can also be raised so as to respect the gauge of the track.

Claims

claims 1. Railway track renewal train element comprising a ballast removal facility and a tie replacement system, said tie replacement system including a used tie-out station and a new railway tie-off station (12). ) respectively disposed on either side of the stripping station of said stripping facility, characterized in that the stripping facility comprises: A tabular structure (1) closed on itself and delimiting, in a plane inclined with respect to the vertical, a closed loop internal passage comprising in its lower part, a horizontal section provided with a longitudinal front opening which extends over the width of the ballast to empty, two lateral corridors joining at the upper part of the structure and, in said upper part, an orifice (8) opening on ballast evacuation means (5), the two lateral corridors being shaped so as to delimit between their central regions an area of greater width, A closed-loop chain circulating in said passage under the effect of a driving means integral with the structure, said chain being provided with fingers (3) orthogonal to its direction of movement and shaped so as to drive the ballast in the structure (1) through said front opening to said discharge port (8), and in that the cross-laying installation comprises transport means (7) capable of transporting the crosspieces oriented perpendicular to the track, these transport means (7) passing through said zone of greater width of said tubular structure (1). 2. Railway train renewal train element according to claim 1, characterized in that said ballast discharge port (8) is located above a first conveyor (5) so as to convey the ballast to a storage location. 3. train renewal train element according to claim 2, characterized in that said first conveyor (5) can deviate from its position below said discharge orifice (8), so that the flow recessed ballast from said orifice is deposited directly on the track downstream of the station of installation of the new sleepers (12). 4. Railroad train renewal train element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said stripping installation is equipped with a water spray ramp in order to stabilize the dust emitted by the handling of the ballast. . Railway track renewal train element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it furthermore comprises, located between the ballast stripping station and the new stringer station (12): • a dynamic plow (10), and / or • a grooming facility (11). 6. Railway train renewal train element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is movable relative to the structure (13) of said railway train train, in vertical translation or in rotation with respect to a horizontal axis (14), so as to be able to take a high traffic position in which it complies with the UIC railway gauge said track traffic. 7. Railway train renewal train element according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises: At least one second ballast conveyor for transporting the ballast from the substitution zone of the sleepers towards the rear of the train, and / or A so-called grazing chute located downstream of the cross-substitution zone, this chute being able to be equipped upstream with at least one conveyor pivoted about a substantially vertical axis with respect to said chute, and / or • a system for replacing old rails with new rails, 8. Train using a railway train renewal element according to any one of the preceding claims.