Switches

Switch systems

The very long life, forecast to be 50 years, and the excellent elastic material behaviour, combined with the high level of chemical resistance of FFU synthetic wood, are crucial for its preferred use in switch systems, which are of high value to the operation of railways.
Operators, and their accountants, who are regularly faced with high costs and maintenance requirements for individual switches, appreciate the many benefits of FFU synthetic wood.
FFU synthetic wood is dimensionally stable when manufactured in any length and thus offers many benefits when used in switches.

Ballast bed and ballastless track

FFU synthetic wood is frequently used for switch systems in ballast beds, on steel bridges and on ballastless tracks.
The replacement of a switch with wooden sleepers with a switch with sleepers of FFU synthetic wood does not require any change to the existing substructure.
If 14 cm high FFU sleepers are used, the ballast height can even be improved for the same gradient.
Many decades of experience confirm the dimensional stability and elastic behaviour of FFU synthetic wood in switches. This technology provides safety, availability and reduced maintenance work, in particular for the highly stressed frog area.

Assembly of switches in the factory

Dimensional stability and the resultant positional stability when assembling switches in the factory are attractive aspects of FFU synthetic wood. Rapid, reliable and partially fully automatic factory assembly of switches requires thus only a very brief commitment of capacity in the factory.
Switch systems built with FFU synthetic wood have a weight comparable to that of natural wood and thus offer advantages in transportation and installation logistics.

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