SD
SIGNAL+DRAHT | Issue 09/2006

Safety of integrated hydraulic point setting and locking systems

September 2006 | Othmar Saria

Under the name HYDROSTAR®, VAE Eisenbahnsysteme GmbH (“VAEE”) has developed comprehensive point operating, setting, locking and monitoring systems for vignol (flat bottom) rail turnouts in several setting points. The structure, function and economic advantages of HYDROSTAR® products for switch assemblies (“HYDROSTAR® ZV”) and movable frogs (“HYDROSTAR® HB”), in particular low life cycle costs enabled by extended inspection intervals, have already been discussed in previous issues [2], [3]. This article focuses on safety aspects of the said products. As for safety, procedures according to CENELEC EN 50129 [1] have been carried out for both systems. Trend-setting for future safety approval procedures in member states of the European Union is that a safety case has been, transcending national borders, implemented according to CENELEC. After HYDROSTAR® HB had been operated in tracks of ÖBB (Austrian Railways) for almost one and a half years, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) approved trial operation of HYDROSTAR® ZV-4D in the autumn of 2005 on account of a safety case assessed by experts of the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA). An approval by EBA has been granted within a German approval procedure too. This gives rise to emphasize the significance of the said standards, to describe safety functions specified by EN 50129 and their implementation, and to report on safety features of HYDROSTAR® ZV-4D.