Metro & Depot

Customer Challenge:

Replacement of hardwood timber AV8 turnout bearers by a busy European Metro, prefabricated at client site. The layout it replaced had hitherto been manufactured from tropical hardwood bearers, and had historically be replaced every 7-10 years, due to bearer degradation.

Sicut Solution:

Sicut composite bearers dimensions were 152mm x 304mm, with lengths ranging from 2.6m to 5m. The same AV8 layout designs were adopted as those for a standard timber layout. Handling and installation (drilling, cutting and fastening) requirements were the same as those adopted for timber bearers and no additional training was required for fabricators or for site installation teams. Sicut composite bearers have shown no degradation over the past 5 years, giving customer confidence in the estimated useful service life of the layout of over 50 years; saving the client an estimated €800k.