The Maintenance Team at Rhomberg Sersa Ireland have carried out a major electrical uplift of an On Track Machine (OTM).
Known as 704, the ballast regulator required an uplift in order to make a step change in the machine's reliability.
The ballast regulator is an important piece of heavy equipment which shapes and distributes the track ballast on the rail network across Ireland. Proper ballast distribution provides optimal longitudinal lateral track stability which is a key element of track maintenance and ensures the smooth and timely operation of trains on the Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) public transport network.
The recent uplift focused on improving the reliability of the stop solenoid circuit due to traction issues experienced by the machine over the previous months.
This had led to some down time on travel shifts and the electrical uplift was carried out in order to prevent the downtime occurring again and to also prevent the risk of any lost shifts and therefore any delay or disruption to passenger journeys on the IÉ network.
Working to a tight deadline, the team also delivered an axle change and repaired the main conveyor belt during this downtime in Rhomberg Sersa Ireland Kildare Depot.
The works took approximately four weeks to complete and 704 was put straight onto shift afterwards and has been running smoothly since.
The ballast regulator is one of a number of on track maintenance machines which Rhomberg Sersa Ireland operates and maintains on behalf of IÉ.
Photographed giving the thumbs up is one of our members of staff, Peter Doyle.
