AMEST - Measuring and Control Technology

permits the test duration to be cut by even fi ve times, and clears the way for carrying out life expectancy tests of fi ve diff erent product modifi cations. In this case, such a benefi t also results in cost saving when implementing developmental and control tests. VÚKV — The railway vehicle research institute off ers not only design work and technical calculations, but also expert consulting and testing of dedicated components. Recent activities include supporting the development of trams for Istanbul and Kayseri, fatigue tests of bogie frames and testing of the Rgns freight wagon. VUZ (Railway Research Institute) off ers expert services and comprehensive solutions in the fi eld of assessment, testing activities, and consulting for the railway system and rail transport.

ACRI represents the Czech rail manufacturing industry. The Association gathers over 50 of the Czech Republic’s leading large and SME rail supply companies active in the design, manufacture, maintenance, and refurbishment of rail transport systems, subsystems and related equipment. ACRI represents its members’ interests at the national level and via membership of UNIFE also at a European level. ACRI is a unique Centre of Technical Standardisation acting in the railway sector, involved in European technical standards transfer to the Czech national standards system.

PROSPECTS FOR THE CZECH RAILWAY INDUSTRY The Czech railway industry has tremendous potential. Investment in this sector will have a multiple eff ect on domestic economic development. Specifi cally, it will have a favourable impact on employment, will improve the quality of transport services and lead to a higher

culture of travel, while also raising the export performance of enterprises. In general, Czech railways will require considerable investment in the next few years to attain the desired standards. In particular, this means investment in the development of the railway infrastructure, in addition to the completion of the railway corridors and the modernisation of key railway junctions. Nor must we forget about regional railway lines. To be competitive, we must fi t the main corridors with the ERTMS/ ETCS European train control system, modernise freight corridors passing through the Czech Republic, harmonise the costs of all types of transport, invest in the modernisation and purchase of new carriages and, last but not least, start preparations for the construction of high-speed lines that will make the conventional lines available for freight transport.

MARIE ALŽBĚTA VOPÁLENSKÁ General Director ACRI – Association of Czech Railway Industry E-mail: vopalenska@acri.cz www.acri.cz

AMEST MEASURING AND CONTROL TECHNOLOGY, SAFETY GUARANTEE FOR HIGH-SPEED TRAINS

Modern railway transport is characterised by an ever higher speed of trains. This is true particularly about Chinese railways, which are setting world speed records. Along with the speed of trains, the requirements for their operating safety and reliability are rising as well. This applies above all to the high quality of wheels and wheelsets, and the high level of inspection of the required parameters in their serial production. For this purpose, experts from the Czech AMEST company have developed special control and measuring technology for a Czech (Bonatrans Bohumín), Indian (Rail coach Factory, Rae Bareli) and Chinese (Taiyuan Heavy Industry, Taiyuan) customer. AMEST specialises in the development, production, and installation of automatic measuring stations for complete interstage and final inspections of components manu

factured with the dimensional tolerance of thousandths. The original construction of AMEST stations applies the tested principles of laser technology, optics, and programmed electronic equipment for automatic control of the whole process of precision measurement and production monitoring. At the input, AMEST stations are fitted with loading equipment timed as a follow-up to the preceding operation of the production line, and at the output there is a device for marking and sorting the checked pieces by the required tolerance. At set intervals, the equipment produces an electronic statistical record. This ensures that no piece that does not have the required parameters reaches the final assembly phase, and the place and time of the production and inspection of the particular piece can be ascertained if necessary.