Post Event Roundup

On Thursday 16^th July, a PWI-sponsored group of 11 was hosted by Pandrol Australia for a site visit of their track equipment manufacturing facility at 12 Bessemer St Blacktown in Western Sydney.

Our hosts for the tour were Justin Bagge, Tim Hoare and Pat Mahony, all members of the Pandrol Australia management team.

The tour commenced in the Pandrol Board Room with a site induction and overview of Pandrol’s beginnings in the rail fastening system, and its development through to today where innovative and specialised equipment is being developed and utilized for rail maintenance activities.  This includes products for all types of different railway systems, from heavy haul to passenger and metros, and light rail, including dual gauge applications.

We were then split into two groups to undertake a tour of the manufacturing facility.  There are two distinct parts to this facility: one section producing the rail insulators and rail pads, and the other section fabricating e clips and fast clips.

The insulators and rail pads are produced from raw material pellets which are injection moulded to create different-coloured rail pads and rail insulators for different applications.  The raw material must be completely free of any moisture prior to production, but the moulded product requires quenching in a steam bath as part of the process to mitigate against brittleness.  The factory can also produce customised products for specialised applications, such as a slightly wider insulator for tight gauge situations.  There is a significant emphasis on quality control to ensure the products meet the strict requirements for consistency and electrical resistance, to name but a few properties.  There is also minimal wastage in the factory, and every thing that can be is reused.

Our tour group then passed through into the steel fabrication section.  Steel bars are delivered to the site from InfraBuild Steel (formerly One Steel) at Rooty Hill, and also from Whyalla.

For both e clip and fast clip production, the steel bars are delivered in specific lengths to minimise wastage.  The bars feed into a furnace machine that heats them to over 900° C, are cut to the required length, pretzeled into the required shape, and then quenched to ensure the elastic properties of the rail fastenings are provided.  This whole process is automated, with one operator ensuring that the process continues smoothly.  As part of this production process, checks are undertaken to ensure product consistency and quality.  This includes clip dimension checks, and laboratory tests of the clips’ mechanical properties to ensure they meet the requirements.  These sampling tests are undertaken on a continuous basis.

To complete the tour, the group was invited to witness a demonstration of Pandrol’s rail aluminothermic welding products and systems.  Pandrol is constantly updating its processes and equipment to try and minimise as much as practicable the impact of human errors upon the weld quality.  They have developed equipment to auto-align and square up the rail ends in preparation for the weld, eliminating the requirement for welders to use chocks, wedges, and straightedges.  The mould comes with a self-sealing product, eliminating the need to seal the mound around the rail by hand using sand and clay.  The crucible pre-heating can be undertaken using a normal LPG BBQ gas bottle, rather than requiring huge industrial gas bottles.  There is also a process for quenching the weld.  This results in a consistent weld than minimises the likelihood of a weld failure.

The tour concluded in the Pandrol Board Room, with a show of appreciation for a comprehensive overview of Pandrol’s operations.

I would personally like to thank the Pandrol team of Justin Bagge Head of Engineering, Quality & Fastening Systems Asia Pacific for facilitating this tour, and his co-hosts Tim Hoare, Managing Director Asia Pacific and Pat Mahony, Manufacturing Manager Asia Pacific for the enthusiasm and pride that was evident in showcasing their factory and this manufacturing capability in Western Sydney.

A real hidden gem in the heart of Sydney. 

Details of Site Visit:

Arrive at 9:15am for a 9:30 start
Induction and Presentation (company overview)
Morning Tea:  Tea, coffee, and biscuits
Site inspection and tour, potentially breaking into smaller group to view different parts of the factory
Practical demonstration: aluminothermic welding process – to be confirmed
Finish at around midday

Participants:

Limited to 12

PPE requirements:

Safety boots or shoes, long pants, long sleeves, hi-viz vest (safety glasses and hearing protection provided)

Parking:

Available on-site for 6-10 cars, otherwise parking available on the street

Other information:

No photos or videos are allowed to be taken.  PWI will take one group photo for publicity purposes
People with pacemakers or medical implants will require special consideration due to production processes within the plant.

Registration:

Please send an email to sitevisits@pwinsw.org.au to register interest.
Depending on the level of interest, it may be possible to arrange another tour.

Membership

To attend PWI AUS functions you must be a current financial member or corporate representative or guest. Please refer to the membership page for all memberships including corporate membership.

If you are not currently a member of PWI AUS you can join via our Membership page.  Upon joining you will receive a Login ID and password to register for events.

For any queries please contact  info@pwinsw.org.au