Tribo

Composite Brake Shoes

TRIBO’s plant as one of the largest manufacturers in Eastern Europe who makes friction products for the railway industry in Ukraine

The brake systems and types of brake shoes used on the rolling stock that runs on the Ukrainian Railways is very different from the rest of the world trends. For example, while most European countries are still in the process of substituting cast iron technology, 100 per cent of freight cars operating in Ukraine are equipped with asbestos-free composite brake shoes with a high friction level.

Back in 1967, railway companies began to actively use cast iron brake shoes. Historically, there was a significant shortage

of cast iron, therefore, in order to produce composite brake shoes for wagons, in 1979 in Bila Tserkva ‘BTZ Tribo’ launched its work (at that moment it was Asbestos Products Factory). In USSR it was the only friction plant outside Russia.

Put into series production in 1967 (in 1979 at Tribo) brake shoe 25610-N was, obviously, made of asbestos. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ‘BTZ Tribo’ lost the ‘license’ to manufacture brake shoe 25610-N and therefore the company had to develop its analog 2TP-11, at first it was asbestos as well, and eventually was substituted with an asbestos-free 2TP-11-01.

2TP-11-01

Nowadays, the Ukrainian Railways use composite friction products that do not contain asbestos or heavy metals, which was more a requirement of the market than a government regulation.

On the other hand, Ukrainian Railways had been widely using mainly cast-iron brake shoes in passenger traffic until the beginning of 2015. In 2015, Tribo manufactured its first batch of combi blocks for passenger coaches – 2TP-155. 2TP-155 is not a direct replacement for cast-iron block, but the braking system of passenger coaches used in former Soviet Union countries can be easily adjusted to change the clamping force. Active development of cast iron blocks substitution began in 2013 after Tribo had invested in the R&D centre, for instance, purchased an inertial dynamometer TecSA TTR2600.

Today, 80 per cent of tread brakes in passenger traffic are equipped with combi and composite brake shoes, including suburban traffic, where now 50 to 60 per cent of the motor rolling stock are equipped with Tribo’s with cast iron inserts (2TP-156) as a direct replacement for cast iron brake shoes. The use of combi blocks on the motor rolling stock should be underlined because in this case, they must meet really high requirements for heat conductivity to ensure heat transfer from the friction surface to the surroundings, otherwise, there is a risk of overheating.

Regarding the traction rolling stock, this is Tribo's latest project with Ukrainian Railways to replace cast iron brake shoes. A direct replacement of cast iron brake shoes for shunting locomotives has been developed and field testing on main-line locomotives is continuing. As for disc brake systems, these are also in use on the rolling stock of the Railways of Ukraine. So far, this is no more than five to ten per cent of the passenger rolling stock.

‘80 per cent of tread brakes in passenger traffic are equipped with combi and composite brake shoes, including suburban traffic, whereas now 50 to 60 per cent of motor rolling stock are equipped with Tribo’s cast iron inserts.’

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