Case Study Rhaetian Railway, Graubünden (CH)

Extremely effective vibration protection at 1700 m above sea level

Effective resilient bedding under extreme weather conditions

Ballast mats to adjust the stiffness of the bedding at transition points Highest Mass-Spring System using Sylomer® in Europe

Project description The Getzner solution

The Albula and Bernina lines of stringent requirements in terms of Farsighted vibration protection the Rhaetian Railway were granted vibration protection. For example, UNESCO World Heritage status in temperatures as low as minus 30 ass-spring systems are 2008. These stretches are master- degrees Celsius are not uncommon Memployed in situations where pieces of construction technology during the winter. the highest demands are placed on and the art of the railway engineer. vibration protection. Plots of empty In Samedan in Graubünden four of „We were able to point to our many land which lay alongside the track will the Rhaetian Railway lines come years of experience and our now be able to be built on in future. together to form the hub of rail successful realisation of similar high- With its solution in Samedan, Getzner transport in Oberengadin. altitude reference projects, for has successfully installed the highest example the mass-spring systems in Sylomer® in Europe – despite the o remove the Sper l‘En level- the Arlberg, Kaponig and Ochenig extreme weather conditions during Tcrossing in Samedan and tunnels in Austria. All very good the winter months. separate the roadway and railway, reasons why Getzner was awarded the local authorities arranged to the contract to install a mass-spring The Rhaetian Railway is the first to lower the track by up to 5 m. The new system to suppress vibrations and use a slab track in the form of a section is 420 m long, with a 288 m structure-borne noise. This UNESCO mass-spring system: a 288 m long stretch laid as slab track – 100 m of World Heritage site is certainly „trough“ that lies in ground water is which is in a tunnel. A mass-spring something out of the ordinary. We the key element along the lowered system was envisaged for the entire consider it a great honour to be able length of track. It has been executed section. As Samedan is about 1700 m to provide a section of track bedding as a full-surface bedded mass-spring above sea level, its height and the for a railway as prestigious as this system. To provide complete drainage unusual geological conditions – one“, stressed Getzner project of the surface, lateral water channels tunnel and track are located in manager Helmut Bertsch. and four pump pits were installed, ground water – created particularly two of which are heated during the winter. Getzner also installed strips of drainage matting in the corners 2 along the entire length of the trough to catch any water entering via the joints. Together, these two measures ensure controlled and comprehensive drainage of the mass-spring system. 3

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Quality of life improved in the What do our clients and partners long term have to say about the project?

To provide effective protection from „From our perspective, the extensive vibration and structure-borne noise, know-how of Getzner›s technical it was also necessary to even out team made a very valuable differences in the beddingcaused contribution to the successful by superstructure-related matters: implementation of the project. On the „Wherever slab track comes up one hand they performed the against ballasted track, there are calculations for the resilient bedding going to be variations in stiffness. of the mass-spring system and the We were able to even these out very transition points, while on the other successfully through the targeted they delivered a solution that met the use of ballast mats“, explains Helmut vibration requirements as set out in Bertsch. Getzner’s technical team the IFEC specification.“ provided forecasts of rail deflection as well as the expected natural Leo Hirschbühl, frequency of the system and GPL – Overall project manager calculated the types of transition for Rhätischen Bahn AG point that would be required. „Getzner and its sales partner Angst „A constant rail deflection at the + Pfister, Zurich provided us with transition points reduces the dynamic excellent on-site support – the loading on the wheel-rail system and cooperation was very positive and on the superstructure. The result is a unproblematic. The Getzner team significant reduction in vibrations knows its product extremely well, and structure-borne noise: the use of which, as far as we were concerned, the highly elastic Sylomer® material greatly simplified the handling and ensured that the natural frequency of installation. The site supervision and the bedded, lower-level track was the coordination of the material significantly below the required 20 deliveries worked perfectly – all Hz. A positive result for the region“, deliveries arrived complete and on concludes Helmut Bertsch. time.“

Olaf Schmidt, Site manager, Edy Toscano AG AUSTRIA JAPAN Tokyo (JP) Beijing (CN), Pune(IN),Stuttgart (DE), Kunshan (CN), Lyon (FR), Munich (DE), 86percent PUmaterials Ratio of exports: Bürs (AT) 17metric tons of residual PU materials Locations: 7,367 metric tons of technical Mutter &Cie) Headquarter: 2014 recycling: Railway, construction, industry 220 70.3 inBürs, 100abroad m.EUR 2014 output: Business areas: 19692014 (as turnover: asubsidiary of Getzner, Employees: Chief Executive Officer: Ing.Jürgen Rainalter Foundation: Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH withSylomer December 2011 Total new track approx. 420 m,of which288 masmass-spring system 1.100 m Material required: Opened: September/Oktober 2011 Municipality of Samedan andRhätische Bahn AG Length: IG FHP Bauingenieure AG undT. Cavigelli AG, ChurundDomat/Ems Realisation: Project design: Developer: Mass-spring system project for theRhaetian Railway Facts andfigures ataglance Angst +Pfister AG of Zurich. This project was carried outincollaboration withourpartner, for thetransition points Getzner Werkstoffe GmbH,Bürs/Angst +Pfister AG, Zürich Resilient bedding: IFEC Consulenze engineeringconsultants, Rivera mass-spring system: Gleisbau Müller, Frauenfeld Installation of EDY TOSCANO AG/FHP –Foidl Hegland&Partner AG Site management: Vibration: assessmentExpert 4 — Tokyo — — Bürs —Bürs

INDIA —Pune INDIA GERMANY — Berlin — Munich —Stuttgart —Munich —Berlin Amman (JO), Berlin (DE),Charlotte (US),

CHINA —Beijing CHINA 2 Sylomer ® ® for thebase/side mats, 40m

USA —Charlotte USA

FRANCE — Lyon —

JORDAN JORDAN ww 2 ballast mats Keller,3 Rhb–Tibert 4Rhb–Andrea Badrutt Pictures: 1Title image, Rhb–Peter Donatsch, 2 Edy Toscano AG w.getzner – Weinberg tunnel, Zurich (CH) – Gotthard tunnel (CH) – Zimmerberg tunnel (CH) linkCologne/Bonn– Airport (DE) – Arlberg tunnel (AT) – Zammer tunnel (AT) – Römerberg tunnel (AT) – approachNorthern to theBrenner Rail construction references — Amman base tunnel (AT) .com .com

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