The customer faced a longstanding issue during essential train maintenance.
The current method for removing wheels from their axles caused damage to the axles 50% of the time. The removal process took approximately two hours per wheel because it was labour intensive. This led to excessive downtime, unnecessary maintenance costs, and the practice also posed a potential safety risk due to the amount of human interaction.
The method they were using to remove wheels from their axles took 2 hours per wheel, caused damage to the axles, and required human intervention.
DRB designed a gravity-based system that detached the wheel from the axle in just 15 minutes, leaving no damage. The system required no human contact on the wheel, so safety processes were improved.
DRB’s technical intelligence and practical experience meant the client was able to remove the wheels from the axle 8-times faster than before. This increased uptime and reduced maintenance costs because the axles were no longer being damaged in the process. The biggest value delivered was improving safety practices because of the massive reduction in human intervention required.
