Leipzig City Tunnel Chooses RHEDA 2000 Patented Ballast-less Track Technology
26 August 2008
Neumarkt, Germany – One more win can now be chalked up on the list of victories for the RHEDA 2000® ballastless track system: the City Tunnel in Leipzig – currently the prime transportation project in central Germany – will use RHEDA 2000. Over a distance of approximately 4km, the entire permanent way in the tunnel facilities will be equipped with this patented ballast-less technology, including the mass-spring system by RAIL.ONE. the beginning of deliveries is scheduled for 2009 or 2010. The convergence / divergence rail line, which serves all heavy-rail suburban passenger lines (S-Bahn) in Leipzig, is scheduled to go into operation in 2011.
This new project success highlights the leading role played by RAIL.ONE in ballastless track technology. Beginning early with the high-speed line from Cologne to the Frankfurt Airport complex, RAIL.ONE delivered over 180,000 patented special sleepers for this project. Subsequent major projects – such as the line from Nuremberg to Ingolstadt, the Berlin North-South Link, the Dutch HGV line from Amsterdam to Brussels (HSL Zuid), as well as the Taiwan high-speed rail project – were all implemented with RHEDA 2000. In addition, the RAIL.ONE Group currently uses its ballast-less track technology in projects in Spain, South Korea, and China.
RHEDA 2000 ballast-less track system
The RHEDA 2000 is a monolithic ballast-less track system for mainline and high-speed applications. Salient characteristics of RHEDA 2000 include its design without longitudinal concrete upstands at the edges of the TSL, as well as its use of a modified bi-block concrete sleeper with lattice-truss reinforcement. As a result of the monolithic structural design of the concrete track-supporting layer, and owing to the low track structural height, the system is especially well suited for tracks at grade, and for applications with turnouts, in tunnels, and on bridges.
In installation areas sensitive to vibrations, RHEDA 2000 can be executed with a spring-mass system. As a result of the mass of the concrete track system, supported as it is on elastic damper elements, vibrations acting on the surroundings are eliminated or reduced. An additional system solution is the new ballast-less track system without continuous reinforcement. In structural design and functional principle, this variation represents the state-of-the-art in transportation infrastructure; but – unlike the standard RHEDA 2000 system – it has no continuous reinforcement. These models also minimise the influence of reinforcement on railway signal and earthing systems.
The City Tunnel in Leipzig
Construction of the City Tunnel – long hoped for in Leipzig to realise the north-south connection between the main station and the Bavarian station – will now become reality. The S-Bahn commuter lines and the regional express trains will in future pass through the city centre underground. As a core element of the S-Bahn network for Leipzig et environs, the 4km tunnel will enable efficient and attractive connections between the city of Leipzig and its hinterland. The developers of the City Tunnel are the German State of Saxony, Deutsche Bahn, and the city of Leipzig. The European Union and the Federal Government of Germany are supporting this 100-year project.
