Case Study
Rhaetian Railway,
Graubünden (CH)

Extremely effective vibration
protection at 1700 m above sea level

Effective resilient bedding under
extreme weather conditions

Ballast mats to adjust the stiffnessof the bedding at transition points

Highest Mass-Spring Systemusing Sylomer® in Europe

Project description
The Albula and Bernina lines of
the Rhaetian Railway were granted
UNESCO World Heritage status in2008. These stretches are masterpieces of construction technology
and the art of the railway engineer.
In Samedan in Graubünden four of
the Rhaetian Railway lines cometogether to form the hub of railtransport in Oberengadin.
o remove the Sper l‘En levelcrossing in Samedan andseparate the roadway and railway,
the local authorities arranged tolower the track by up to 5 m. The newsection is 420 m long, with a 288 m
stretch laid as slab track – 100 m ofwhich is in a tunnel. A mass-spring
system was envisaged for the entire
section. As Samedan is about 1700 m
above sea level, its height and theunusual geological conditions –tunnel and track are located inground water – created particularly

T2The Getzner solution
stringent requirements in terms ofvibration protection. For example,temperatures as low as minus 30
degrees Celsius are not uncommon
during the winter.
„We were able to point to our many
years of experience and our
successful realisation of similar highaltitude reference projects, forexample the mass-spring systems in
the Arlberg, Kaponig and Ochenig
tunnels in Austria. All very goodreasons why Getzner was awarded
the contract to install a mass-spring
system to suppress vibrations andstructure-borne noise. This UNESCOWorld Heritage site is certainly
something out of the ordinary. We
consider it a great honour to be able
to provide a section of track bedding
for a railway as prestigious as thisone“, stressed Getzner project
manager Helmut Bertsch.

Farsighted vibration protection
ass-spring systems areemployed in situations where
the highest demands are placed onvibration protection. Plots of empty
land which lay alongside the track will
now be able to be built on in future.
With its solution in Samedan, Getzner
has successfully installed the highest
Sylomer® in Europe – despite theextreme weather conditions during
the winter months.

MThe Rhaetian Railway is the first touse a slab track in the form of amass-spring system: a 288 m long
„trough“ that lies in ground water isthe key element along the loweredlength of track. It has been executed
as a full-surface bedded mass-spring
system. To provide complete drainageof the surface, lateral water channels
and four pump pits were installed,
two of which are heated during thewinter. Getzner also installed strips ofdrainage matting in the corners
along the entire length of the troughto catch any water entering via thejoints. Together, these two measures
ensure controlled and comprehensive
drainage of the mass-spring system.

3Feedback
Quality of life improved in thelong term

What do our clients and partners
have to say about the project?

To provide effective protection fromvibration and structure-borne noise,
it was also necessary to even out
differences in the beddingcausedby superstructure-related matters:„Wherever slab track comes up
against ballasted track, there aregoing to be variations in stiffness.
We were able to even these out very
successfully through the targeted
use of ballast mats“, explains Helmut
Bertsch. Getzner’s technical teamprovided forecasts of rail deflection
as well as the expected natural
frequency of the system andcalculated the types of transition
point that would be required.

„From our perspective, the extensive
know-how of Getzner›s technicalteam made a very valuable
contribution to the successful
implementation of the project. On theone hand they performed thecalculations for the resilient beddingof the mass-spring system and thetransition points, while on the otherthey delivered a solution that met thevibration requirements as set out in
the IFEC specification.“„A constant rail deflection at thetransition points reduces the dynamic
loading on the wheel-rail system andon the superstructure. The result is asignificant reduction in vibrations
and structure-borne noise: the use of
the highly elastic Sylomer® material
ensured that the natural frequency ofthe bedded, lower-level track wassignificantly below the required 20Hz. A positive result for the region“,concludes Helmut Bertsch.

Leo Hirschbühl,
GPL – Overall project manager
for Rhätischen Bahn AG„Getzner and its sales partner Angst+ Pfister, Zurich provided us withexcellent on-site support – thecooperation was very positive andunproblematic. The Getzner teamknows its product extremely well,which, as far as we were concerned,
greatly simplified the handling andinstallation. The site supervision andthe coordination of the materialdeliveries worked perfectly – alldeliveries arrived complete and ontime.“Olaf Schmidt,
Site manager,
Edy Toscano AG

4Facts and figures at a glance
Mass-spring system project for the Rhaetian Railway
Developer:
Project design:
Realisation:
Length:Opened:Material required:

Municipality of Samedan and Rhätische Bahn AG
IG FHP Bauingenieure AG und T. Cavigelli AG, Chur und Domat/Ems
September/Oktober 2011
Total new track approx. 420 m, of which 288 m as mass-spring systemwith Sylomer®
December 2011
1.100 m2 Sylomer® for the base/side mats, 40 m2 ballast matsfor the transition points

Expert assessment
Vibration:
IFEC Consulenze engineering consultants, Rivera
Site management: EDY TOSCANO AG/FHP – Foidl Hegland & Partner AG
Installation ofmass-spring system: Gleisbau Müller, Frauenfeld
Resilient bedding:Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH, Bürs/Angst + Pfister AG, Zürich
This project was carried out in collaboration with our partner,
Angst + Pfister AG of Zurich.

Foundation:

1969 (as a subsidiary of Getzner,Mutter & Cie)
Chief Executive Officer: Ing. Jürgen Rainalter
Employees:
220 in Bürs, 100 abroad2014 turnover:
70.3 m. EURBusiness areas:
Railway, construction, industry
2014 output:
7,367 metric tons of technical
PU materials
2014 recycling:
17 metric tons of residual PU materials
Headquarter:
Bürs (AT)
Locations:
Amman (JO), Berlin (DE), Charlotte (US),Kunshan (CN), Lyon (FR), Munich (DE),Beijing (CN), Pune (IN), Stuttgart (DE),Tokyo (JP)
Ratio of exports:86 percent

AUSTRIA — Bürs GERMANY — Berlin — Munich — Stuttgart FRANCE — Lyon
JAPAN — Tokyo INDIA — Pune CHINA — Beijing USA — Charlotte

Rail construction references (extract)– Northern approach to the Brennerbase tunnel (AT)
– Römerberg tunnel (AT)– Zammer tunnel (AT)– Arlberg tunnel (AT)– Airport link Cologne/Bonn (DE)– Zimmerberg tunnel (CH)
– Gotthard tunnel (CH)
– Weinberg tunnel, Zurich (CH)

Pictures: 1 Title image, Rhb – Peter Donatsch, 2 Edy Toscano AG
3 Rhb – Tibert Keller, 4 Rhb – Andrea Badrutt

JORDAN — Amman
www.getzner.com

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Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH