Case Study
Long-Term Test of Rail Pads
on a Heavy Trafﬁc Route, Brazil (BR)More elasticity for a heavy trafficroute where axle loads exceed
33 metric tons

High-strength rail pads made ofSylodyn® significantly reduce wear

Rail pads withstand theextreme loads

Increased availability of a heavily
used route

The project
The considerably higher loads placedon the superstructure of heavy traffic routes often cause serious damage to individual components. MRS
Logistica S.A., Getzner’s customer inBrazil, has experienced this at firsthand. Getzner was commissioned
to develop a solution to reduce thetrack’s maintenance costs.

MRS Logistica S.A. has been operating a heavy traffic route fortransporting iron ore, container goods
and coal from the interior of the country to the east coast since 1996. The
1,674 kilometre route crosses the threefederal states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas
Gerais and São Paulo, and is constantly

subjected to extremely heavy loads.
Each train on the line is approximately
two kilometres in length and has an average axle load of 33 metric tons.
Wear and closures incur costsGetzner was therefore commissioned
to develop a solution that increased
the availability of the line while minimising maintenance costs – andwithout interfering too much in thesuperstructure system.

Due to the high loads and lack ofelasticity of the track, rail and tension
clamp fractures are increasingly common; other superstructure components
are also subjected to increased levelsof wear. This results in high maintenance costs and repeated periods ofclosure, which in turn imposes significant costs on the operator and detrimentally affects the availability of thetrack.

The route is used to transport container goods and coal to the east coast

Sylodyn® rail pads

The trains on the heavy traffic route areapproximately two kilometres in length

Installed rail pad

This is the first ever long-term test ofGetzner rail pads on a heavy traffic route.
The results are simply astonishing!

Feedback

The Getzner solution
More elasticity, fewer closures
The main reason for the high degree ofwear to all the superstructure components is a lack of elasticity. That is whyin October 2011, MRS Logistica S.A. –working under the guidance of Getzner
specialists – installed high-strength
Sylodyn® rail pads on steel and timber
sleepers on a section of the heavy traffic route in Ferrovia do Aço (near Bom
Jardim de Minas). Joao Marcos, project
manager at Getzner, explains: “The ballast on the test track in Brazil has been
destroyed or extremely compressed,with the result that there is no elasticity at all in the entire superstructure.
Our rail pads compensate for this lackof elasticity.”
Getzner rail pads can be installed orretrofitted quickly and easily. They areplaced directly under the rail base; theinstallation process is quick and does
not require a long closure period.
Significantly less wear
The results were impressive. In a periodof 6 years, there was not a single rail
breakage across the entire test track.
“Although we have absolute faith in ourproducts, this was the first real test in
the field of our high-strength Sylodyn®
rail pads on a heavy traffic route whereaxle loads exceed 33 metric tons. The
results speak for themselves. Even after being subjected to a load of 1250
million metric tons – equivalent to a
20-year service life of a busy route on
the German railway network – signsof wear on the superstructure components were significantly reduced,” summarises Joao Marcos. One of the reasons for this is the measured area ofcontact between the rail pad and therail when a train passes over. At 95 %,this value is very high – resulting in abetter load distribution and less wear.
Proven durability
In Autumn 2017, some of the rail pads
were removed to check their condition.
“We needed to get a feel for the loading that the material had been subjected to for six years. Both a visualinspection and the results of elastic
property measurements in the laboratory demonstrated that our rail pads
showed no signs of wear whatsoever.
This means that characteristics suchas dynamic stiffness are still the sameas specified during installation,” says
Joao Marcos.

What does the client have to say
about the project?
“Modifying the stiffness enables themaintenance costs for a section of
track to be considerably reduced.
Getzner offers various solutions to thisend. On the MRS track, the Getzner
materials provide the superstructurewith the required level of elasticity. In
addition, it is clear that the rail pads do
an exceptional job of withstanding theextremely high loads.”

Antonio Merheb,
Rail Specialist at MRS
Logistica S.A.

Advantages for customers
These positive results suggest that therail pads will continue to be in service
for many years to come. Joao Marcos
is clearly pleased: “The operator, MRS,
has now installed many Getzner baseplate pads in the railway network.”— Significantly less wear
— Less maintenance work andlower costs— Increased availability andprofitability

Facts and figures
Current MRS Logistica S.A. railway
network

Belo Horizonte

MINAS GERAIS

Juiz de ForaSÃO PAULO

Bom Jardimde Minas
RIO DEJANEIRO

Rio de Janeiro

Operator:
Track length(over which the material was installed):
Material:
Loading throughout the entire test period (6 years):
Implementation:
Getzner Project Manager:

MRS Logistica S.A.
100 metres including reference sections
High-strength Sylodyn® rail pads
1250 million metric tons
Since October 2011
Joao Marcos

Getzner Werkstoffe GmbHFounded:Chief Executive Officer:
Employees:
Turnover in 2017:
Business areas:
Locations:

Ratio of exports:

1969 (as a subsidiary of Getzner, Mutter & Cie)
Jürgen Rainalter420
EUR 95.2 million
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