HSG-city to grind metro rail network in Oslo

The Oslo local transport operator Sporveien has ordered an HSG-city grinding machine to combine strategic goals like high customer satisfaction, maximum reliability and safety with an increased capacity of the network. Vossloh wants to strengthen the urban rail transport and not only extend the service life and increase the safety of the track but also drive the reduction of carbon emissions over the entire product lifecycle. At the iaf 2022, Vossloh therefore presented sustainable product and service solutions for local transport.

At the International Exhibition for Track Technology (iaf) in Münster, the direct exchange at the product clearly showed what exhibitors and visitors alike had been yearning for: see each other again face-to-face and exchange views about customer requirements and sustainable solutions. This year’s iaf was more international than ever, and the focused talks benefited from the friendly atmosphere.

At the same time, the event provided the perfect stage for celebrating the purchase of an HSG-city grinding machine with the customer Sporveien, after the contract had been signed on 14 May 2022. ‘We wanted to give our delight about the conclusion of the contract a personal touch,’ says Jimmy Hagström, Managing Director of Vossloh Rail Services Scandinavia. ‘Sporveien is a highly committed customer with a clear strategy aimed at making its rail infrastructure even more resilient and reliable.’ A sustainable rail maintenance is the key to combining excellent scores in customer satisfaction and punctuality with a higher line utilization and to coping with the expected marked increase in the number of passengers.

‘An improved track availability can only be accomplished with systematic optimizations of the rolling stock and the infrastructure’, emphasizes Ronny Fykop, Technical Engineer with Sporveien. ‘The general objective of our metro programme is to be able to offer millions of rides by 2030 with an attractive, robust and affordable service. In parallel, we are extending our underground network, adding new railway vehicles and introducing a better train management system. With our own grinding machine, we want to lay the foundation for a long service life of rails, superstructure and vehicle components.’

For maintaining the eleven urban railway lines with their total length of nearly 130 kilometres, the HSG-city will be working 1,500 hours per year as from mid 2023. For this reason, the contract also provides for the supply of spare parts kits and consumables by Vossloh. The factory acceptance test of the grinding machine by Sporveien has been scheduled for early 2023. Jimmy Hagström is looking forward to ‘deepening the open-minded cooperation in the coming months.’

Marcel Taubert, Managing Director of Vossloh Rail Services, concludes: ‘We are delighted to have won Sporveien as a new customer for our preventive grinding. Early 2023, we will be delivering the 30th HSG-city – a success story that fills us with pride and underlines our contribution to “enabling green mobility”.

Further information on the HSG-city and various other projects can also be found on our new Vossloh Topic Lounge platform. Under www.vossloh-topic-lounge.com you can explore the new iaf exhibition topics in a varied way and discover further green perspectives in urban transport.