On the right track MATISA

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

MATISA is a pioneer of track maintenance work mechanisation. Abigail Saltmarsh reports on the company’s presence at the International Exhibition for Track Technology.

AT MATISA Matériel Industriel SA recently took part in the Interna tional Exhibition for Track Technology, where it revealed some exciting new developments.

Stephan Guby, the marketing and sales director, said that the exhibition was a major event for the company, which specialises in track maintenance work mechanisation. “This only happens once every four years and is a dedicated event for those in track technology,” he explains. “Everyone who attends is active in this area and so it was the ideal place for us to present our product range and our new technologies, as well as to meet our customers.”

With more than 200 exhibitors from 21 countries, around 25,000 attendees and a gigantic exhibition area in the indoor and outdoor area of Halle Münsterland, the exhibition is by far the largest fair in the world in the field of track technology.

This was the International Exhibition for Track Technology’s 26th event. It featured special vehicles, construction equipment, maintenance machines and the latest technical developments for infrastructure design and safety.

“Our presence at the event was very important for us as it allowed us to present our products, our future developments and demonstrate our presence in the world,” he adds.

A niche business

MATISA’s history goes back to 1945 when the company was founded to focus on track maintenance work mechanisation. It developed the first machines dedicated to track construction and maintenance to be used worldwide and went on to become a respected name behind a long tradition in quality, knowledge and innovation.

“Today MATISA still belongs to a very small club of companies in this area,” says Mr Guby. “We not only produce the machines but we also focus on related services throughout the lifetime of the machines, spare parts and maintenance.”

Headquartered in Crissier, near Lausanne, in Switzerland, where it also has production and research and development facilities, the group also has seven competence sites in Europe, Japan and Brazil.

A complete range

Over the decades, MATISA has developed its portfolio of products. Today, it offers a complete range of tampers for line, switches or combined line and switches, which restore long-lasting track geometry by using modern tamping technology.

It also supplies high output ballast cleaning machines, machines for track renewal and construction of new tracks and ballast regulators and a variety of vehicles for other track and catenary maintenance work.

The company also supplies monitoring and analysing vehicles to ensure railway safety, as well as efficient and economic maintenance planning. It also dedicates time to the design and construction of special and combined tailor-made machines.

New developments

The International Exhibition for Track Technology, which took place from May 28 to 30, saw MATISA showcase two new major developments, explains Mr Guby. The first was a new generation of modular tamping machines and the second was a development that sees the integration of ballast compaction with tamping. “What is exciting about the new generation of tamping machines is that it redefines the modularity of the machine,” he says. “This means that it can be configured to fit the requirements of customers in different countries worldwide. By redefining the different units, we took the opportunity to introduce new technologies in order to also improve the performances, the efficiency and the maintainability of the machine.”

“This is a highly technical machine and by using it they will be able to reduce delivery times and become more efficient. The first of these machines is actually under production and was presented at the exhibition. We are ready to start moving into production using this concept.”

Another major development is to integrate ballast compaction with tamping. “This new system is an improvement in technology that will ensure optimum tamping quality and will allow customers to be able to open lines at full speed much faster. This could also be of great benefit to customers.

Again, this is a completely new concept. It is already in development and we plan to carry out tests this summer. We have already had feedback from networks showing that there is great interest in this technology,” he says.

Organic growth

MATISA is focused on organic growth. While it is largely centred on Europe, Japan has historically been a strong railway market and Latin America and China are also poised for further development.

“We hope to see further investment in Europe over the coming years so the market will become a bit more dynamic. This will remain our most important market and as investment flows back into infrastructure again there will be more projects,” he says.

“Demand is increasing for high tech products and we are ready to deliver them to customers across the world.” n