Rail
Today, public transportation increasingly relies on metro and tram systems, the most efficient way of commuting in large cities. These days distances between cities of up to 1000 km are easily covered faster, more efficiently and comfortably by high-speed trains than by planes. Downtown commuting by metro or street car has become the normal mode of transport in larger cities.
Esco Couplings therefore developed Escogear FTRN couplings, a complete range of traction couplings dedicated to the rail industry.
Supplied to the major train and metro builders on the 5 continents, they provide operators with a high level of satisfaction by offering them reliability, long life along with an extremely long MTBM (Mean Time Between Maintenance), resulting in low operational costs.
The Escogear FTRN & FTRNO series couplings are ideally suited to high-speed trains, commuter trains, metro (subways) and streetcars.
Alstom’s AGV 570 Italo train
ESCO Couplings was chosen to design a coupling able to meet the requirements of Alstom Flagship’s high-speed train,AGV 570 Italo, and dedicated to the Italian operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), the highest-speed rail service offering the greatest comfort for the Rome-Milan route.
The total power required by the train is 6 MW, which is distributed over 8 motors, 2 per motorized bogie.
Each Escogear FTRNOD railway coupling transmits 760 KW at max. rotational speed of 8000 RPM and under any of these conditions compensates angular misalignments up to 7 ° and axial misalignment up to 16 mm. Each Escogear FTRNOD 70 coupling incorporates an overload protecting system, if necessary disconnecting the transmission of torque from motor to axle mounted gearbox. After solving the issue, the system can be reset.
And his Challenges
The rail industry needs couplings able to operate in constantly changing conditions, both functionally and environmentally. The operations are quite irregular, often starting and stopping, and accelerating and braking phases occur in quick succession. This results in torque and speed variations in the couplings along with continuous alignment changes due to load changes and curves.
The impact of snow, rain, desert sand and high to freezing temperatures are all specific factors Esco Couplings copes with its Escogear FTRN series couplings, with the lowest maintenance costs (LCC) and a life-time expectancy of 30+ years. Today Esco Couplings, having supplied more than 60,000 couplings, is a world leading manufacturer of railway couplings.
FTRN - series
Torque up to 30,000 Nm+
Bore up to 120 mm+
