“The fact that the ÖBB is turning to HÜBNER for the refurbishment of one of their flagship vehicles for long-distance rail travel is at once gratifying and inspiring for us,” says Marcel Kaufhold, Regional Sales Manager at After Sales & Service.“What is exceptional about this order is that we as HÜBNER have been chosen to refurbish and modernize the gangway systems of another producer.”
Refurbishment by HÜBNER saves resources
Starting in 2023, HÜBNER will each year be modernizing 136 Railjet gangway systems under its refurbishment concept – all in a resource-saving manner. To begin with, the frames of the gangways will be removed and reused whenever possible. Then all the individual parts of the gangway systems will be checked and replaced as required on the basis of wear. In all cases, the fabric components of the gangway systems will need to be replaced as these elements have generally reached the end of their maximum life cycle after 15 years.
“The core of our refurbishment approach is to replace only what is really necessary – and to reuse as many components as possible. This makes HÜBNER refurbishments as efficient as possible for our customers. And our decades of technical experience enable us to offer this approach for competitive projects as well,” explains Christoph Steinbach, Head of Sales in After Sales & Service.
New technical solution for automatic removal of water
In its refurbishment bid for the ÖBB Railjet vehicles, HÜBNER also stood out with an innovation. “We have developed a technical solution for the automatic removal of water and moisture in the space between the inner and outer bellows. With this new system that has not existed before, it’s possible to remove condensation from the gangways without affecting the their pressure tightness,” explains Harald Ehrlich, Project Manager in the Technical Solutions team. HÜBNER has applied for a patent for this new technical solution.
The Railjet is the most modern high-speed train in the ÖBB fleet. The trains provide passengers with the highest levels of travel comfort in three categories: economy class, first class and business class. With a top speed of 230 kilometers per hour, the Railjet connects destinations throughout Austria and also travels to destinations in Germany, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland.
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