MULTI-PURPOSE MACHINE LÄNNEN 8800I RAIL
Text and photos: Juha Pokki
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The installation teams of Eltel Networks are
used to working under conditions set out by
strict timetables and a busy rail traffic. During
the spring, however, the work on the track was
enlivened by the arrival of the Lännen 8800i
multi-purpose machine with all conceivable
extras to the installation and maintenance
worksite.
I
n the past, the term "railway time"
meant that the clocks on all stations
were synchronised, even though the
interpretation of the time between the
communities may have been slightly different. The term has also lived on to
some extent in the sense that the traffic
on the railway still is based on quite strict
timing. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to maintain control of the overall
picture. The trains adhere to given timetables, and the traffic is very dense especially
in the busiest sections. This means that it
is not allowed to push one's way onto the
On busy track
sections each
minute counts.
track for work, just like that. Every minute
of work is valuable, because it has required
a great deal of arrangements and planning
beforehand. Therefore, the time must be
used as efficiently as possible.
WHAT IS BEING DONE? Sunday in the Bird's
song canyon at the Helsinki railway yard is
busy. The Eltel Networks team has left the
main train station at midnight on Saturday
to replace one of the overhead contact
lines - one of the tens of lifelines for the
electrified railway traffic, which are crisscrossing this area, which is densely covered
by railway tracks.
The open overhead contact lines are
single-wired, hard-drawn copper conductors with a special profile, which pass
the voltage supply of 25,000 volts through
the pantograph of a locomotive or an motorised wagon to be used as the driving
power. A pantograph of carbon wears
down the wire and therefore the contact
line must now be replaced. This particular
line has been in place for 25 years. Its con-
„„NOT JUST ANY CORD. The contact
line is a single-wired copper line, with a
special profile, which wears down in use.
This is how a new wire looks before the
installation.
„„CONTROLLING VIA THE PANEL. The hydraulics from Danfoss and the other functions of
the machine have been collected in one single screen, from which the functions can both
be adjusted and followed, using solutions that make use of the CAN bus technology.
tact surface has been ground from round
to smooth and it has an almost mirror-like
edge. In addition, the wire has lost a part
of its strength over the years. The length
of the line to be replaced is about 1,500
meters. All in all, 28 hours have been reserved for the work. This may sound like a
long time, but despite this, the time frame
does not include any unjustified breathing spaces.
LONG TERM PLANNING. "This project was
started with planning as early as a half a
year ago" says Jarkko Jouhilahti from Eltel
Networks, who is the foreman and at the
same time, the person in charge of safety
at the construction site. "We must observe
the timetables of the trains, and we have
been forced to cancel or replace some of
the scheduled trains, as well as to change
tracks." Although replacing just one line
would not in itself give rise to such an extensive operation, the job triggers multi-
plier effects: "The line runs through several switch passes, and working at them
is complicated. In addition, every time we
have to cut off the power, the outage will
always cover a much larger area than just
the current working point ", Mr Jouhilahti
explains. Therefore, the interruptions in the
voltage supply are often the most frequent
cause for changes to traffic arrangements.
On the adjacent tracks, the local trains
occasionally pass by Eltel's machines,
which are pulling the line. The Tte-machine, manufactured by Saalasti, has been
a common sight at the wiring work for a
number of years, but there is now also
something new to be observed at the site.
CHANGING THE TRADITION. The first Lännen road-rail multipurpose machine, purchased by Eltel Networks, i.e. the 8800i Rail,
has now been in operation for more than
one hundred hours and it has been used
for the electric installation and maintenance works of the tracks both in the Turku
region and here in Helsinki. Since the commissioning, the base for the machine has
been "The Pasila fields", also known as the
lower railway yard, and it has been a really
popular machine in the project works. The
cause of the good impression is not just
the machine itself, but also its consequent
impact on the surroundings.
"Earlier, this work was carried out, using
either one traditional railway work machine and a cable wagon, or even using
two different machines. The working was
then clearly slower ", says Jarkko Jouhilahti.
"Now we were able to take into account
the benefits of this machine, in terms of
timing, already at the planning stage. The
„„NOT JUST ANY SUPPORT. The hydraulic coiling device from Pettersson combined with a front loader, replaces the additional coil
wagon. by virtue of the new machine and equipment, savings can also be achieved in the investment on equipment, in the number
of labour force and in time.
aerial work platform and the coiling device are the main work attachments and
it is evident that the machine will return
the investment very quickly in this work.
The machinery, the team and the time –
all the cost factors have been reduced. "
In addition, transferring the machine, for
example, between the work sites on the
dense network of the Helsinki metropolitan area are smooth.
WITH ALL CONVENIENCES. The machine
is working with a full set of optional extras.
A hydraulic cable device from Pettersson is
rotating at the front. It not only decoils the
new cable, but also rewinds the old cable
The cabin of the
forest-model
offers a very
good visibility
up to the work
object.
onto the reel. For this purpose, there is a
so-called scrap reel, from which the finished coil can be extracted onto the pallet
for recycling.
The rail wheel units are manufactured
in-house by Lännen at their Loimaa works,
whereas the wheels have been outsourced.
At the rear end, the rail wheel unit is attached to the backhoe, which means that
the machine cannot get onto the track
without it. On the other hand, the machine
can hardly be used for anything without it.
Even though digging is only rarely needed during installation of the power lines,
a boom for the aerial work platform has
been integrated in the backhoe. In addition, there is a special tool, "a stick", at the
end of the digging boom for an extension to the Rototilt from Engcon. This "wire
stick" is a hydraulically extending jib with
a simple reel at its tip. This accessory is not
intended for lifting, but for merely adjusting the height and tension of the wire during the installation. All of these pieces of
equipment facilitate and greatly speed up
the work of the installation team.
A GOOD VIEW OF THE WORK. How do
you like the machine? The driver of the
machine, a seasoned railway machinery
operator Mr Mikko Kärkkäinen, says that
the machine feels just fine. "I'm particularly fond of this cabin of the forest type.
Thanks to the curved glass, the visibility
is also unobstructed upward. There's no
need to stretch your neck from under the
long roof to find out what is going on up
there", he says. The controllabilty or the
overall functionality of the machine is not
to blame, as everything seems to be designed specifically for this use. When all
the bells and whistles are in place, you can
focus properly on the work. All the lights
are LEDs and there are many of them, so
the visibility is also fine at night. The aerial
work platform Lännen 1900 extends to 19
metres, which is sufficient for this kind of
work. The platform is also manufactured
by Pettersson. The limiters ensure that the
movements are safe. Thanks to the front
end cameras, reversing of the machine
is easy, since one of the lenses shows the
track wheels, and the other one shows the
overall view in the driving direction.
VICTORIOUS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TIME.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the fight
against time is the greatest challenge in
the cabling work at the railway. When up
to 1,500 trains a day are scheduled to pass
by the construction site, it is not in anyone's
interest to spend one single extra moment
at the work position. "The transportation
agency provides and guarantees us the
working slots and this time, unusually, the
work can be carried out during the daytime", Jarkko Jouhilahti says. The advantages of the machine have been evident ever
since the design stage, as drawing up a
work time scheme like this has been made
possible. In addition, one of the benefits
of the multifunction machine, of course,
is its versatility, as well as the ability to be
applied to other tasks outside this sphere,
if needed. A conventional railway machine
is, of course, not applicable to any other job
than the installation of wiring.
New cable is about to run out on the reel
and together with it, the current job will
reach its end. The only remaining task is to
collect away the used wire, and after that,
a new, tightly scheduled task is waiting for
the machine.
„„TECHNICAL DATA LÄNNEN 8800I RAIL
ENGINE: AGCO 49 AWI, 4.9-litre, 4-cylinder, 125 kw/170
HP, euro level 3B-diesel GEARBOX: ZF, 2-speed powershift,
1. gear max 10 km/h, 2. gear
max 45 km/h AXLES: Dana,
with automatic friction locks,
with optional 100% lock in
the rear. Frame oscillation
+/-400 mm, with automatic
control AOC STEERING: Hydrostatic LS Orbitrol steering,
turning angle at articulated
joint ± 42 °, turning radius in
the middle of the tyre 5.25 m
HYDRAULICS: Danfoss, 280
lpm, maximum pressure with
turbo 225-245 bar FRONT
LOADER: Lifting force in the
lower position norm. 7,000
kp/turbo 7,500 kp, in the
upper position 5,300/5,600
kp.loading height 3,800 mm
BACKHOE: Knuckle boom,
straight boom as an option. Outreach 6,830 mm,
depth 4,970 mm, loading
height with the bottom of
the bucket on a level 3,900
mm, swing torque 4,320 kpm
DIMENSIONS: L 9300 mm, W
2600 mm, H cabin 3,170 mm,
backhoe 4,470 mm, ground
clearance 510 mm, weight
without buckets, depending
on equipment about 15,000
kg