SD
SIGNAL+DRAHT | Ausgabe 03/2015

Under rolling wheels: A new interlocking unit for Europe’s largest car factory

März 2015 | Jörg Steimker, Jürgen Wiertz, Lutz Gutfreund

In April 2014, Volkswagen’s new shunting yard interlocking unit „West“ was put into service at the Wolfsburg main plant. Before this technical commissioning could take place, one year of renewal work was required to replace the outdated relay-based interlocking unit by an electronic successor based on modular locally operated points with a superordinate train control and monitoring system. This article not only depicts the technical implementation, but also how the renewal work was performed during ongoing intensive shunting operations.