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The welding robot has future potential. That was one of the conclusions after the welding robot demo days on 6 and 7 November at Railcenter in Amersfoort. The robot was developed by Robel Rail Automation, in close collaboration with VolkerRail, ProRail and Strukton Rail. In the future, the welding robot will have to take heavy welding work out of the hands of our welders. During the demo days, we discussed opportunities and challenges with the market.
A Spoorpro journalist was also present and wrote a report, which we are allowed to share in our channels. We are proud to do so! Read it below. The photos in this post were taken by VolkerRail.
A welding robot, built into a double container that rests on a wagon, is intended to help the hundred rail welders in the Netherlands with all the welding work on the railway. The welding robot, developed by Robel Automation, was demonstrated last week at the Railcenter in Amersfoort. SpoorPro was there and was amazed.
“Welding, how hard can it be?” That’s what ProRail programme manager Thijs Cloosterman asked himself when he was involved in the ‘welding robot’ project. “Very difficult, as I soon learned,” he laughs. “Welding is done with all your senses, it’s true craftsmanship. And… We literally weld at the heart of our rail network, wherever and whenever it is needed. That makes it a very important part of our work, whether as a railway manager, rail contractor, engineer, or any other discipline within the rail sector. So if something is devised that can really help us move forward in that work, then it deserves all the attention and appreciation, and all parties involved owe it to themselves and to our rail network to give it a wide berth.”
Everyone who was present at the Railcenter during the two demo days is convinced of this. And they were all there. From directors to welders. Even the highest ‘bosses’ had travelled to Amersfoort. Not only out of curiosity, but also to underline the importance of this project. From CFO Mirjam van Velthuizen-Lormans of ProRail and the directors Ben Hendriks and Tjark de Vries of VolkerRail and Strukton Rail respectively, to the director of Robel Automation Michael Reiter and even his ‘boss’, Johannes Max-Theurer. The director of Europe’s – and possibly even the world’s – largest manufacturer of railway construction equipment, Plasser & Theurer, owner of Robel Rail, had flown in especially for the demo. The CEO of Strukton Group, Rob van Wingerden, also showed his face.
Name-dropping, you say? Well, no. It says everything that all these ‘big shots’ were present in Amersfoort. It emphasized the importance of this project, for the Netherlands, for Europe, and even for the world. After all – who doesn’t realize that yet? – The world is in a bad state as far as the bevy of true craftsmen we still have at our disposal is concerned. They are still there, but they are the ‘Last of the Mohicans’. “We still have a hundred rail welders in the Netherlands,” says Arie Overeem, business line manager at Strukton Rail. “Thermite welders, we have to be very, very careful with them. Of those hundred, only 25 specialize in welding point pieces of switches. These are the Messi’s among welders. They have the fine motor skills and technique to be able to do that work.”
The hundred railway welders do all the welding jobs throughout the Netherlands. A broken rail in the province of Groningen? A sawn-through rail for the retracting of a tunnel section in Gelderland? A broken point piece in a switch in Limburg? The welders get into their welding vans and go on their way to their job, which is time-consuming. And… thus, the number of track welders in the Netherlands is decreasing, while the number of cases in which they are needed is increasing by the year. The railways in the Netherlands have been there for a while, and are no longer in optimal condition everywhere. Add to this the fact that train traffic is growing and that trains are increasing in weight and it is clear that the rail welders have their hands more than full.
“We do train them, together with VolkerRail,” says Overeem. ” But candidates are scarce. In addition, it takes time to train someone to the point where they are ready for the real work. And finding a talent who can become the Messi among welders is no easy task either. You know what it is: welders regularly work at night as well as during the day. Switches always have to be repaired at night, because the trains have to run again the next morning. It is also working against the clock. Plus, where the world sleeps, you are working outside in the ballast, in all weather conditions. Yes, we have the mobile workshop, but it is simply logistically not possible to always use it for these kinds of jobs. So that’s also a problem, who wants that in 2024?”
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The answer is there: Robal Automation’s welding robot. The robot doesn’t care where it has to weld, at what time of day or night, whether it’s raining, freezing, windy or the sun is burning on its head. The robot can and wants to work all the time. “In addition, the robot does not make mistakes, does not get tired and can work with millimetre accuracy, always and under all circumstances,” says Jeroen Mulder of VolkerRail.
It is no coincidence that Robel Automation is now working with VolkerRail, Strukton Rail and ProRail to make the welding robot applicable in the Dutch railways. “Strukton Rail and VolkerRail want to investigate and experience exactly how the robot works and how they can use it,” says Cloosterman. “ProRail mainly wants to learn about the consequences of using the machine in terms of procedures, agreements, contracts, things like that. As a government organisation, ProRail is not allowed to invest in company developments just like that. We can, however, make testing possible by removing barriers. It is simply very difficult for a start-up or new party to introduce something groundbreaking into the railway world. That’s why I sometimes refer to innovating in our sector as ‘playing in the Champions League of innovation’.”
The demonstration on a stretch of track near the Railcenter shows unequivocally that the welding robot is an innovation that the Netherlands can enjoy and benefit from. While the attendees look on curiously from a safe distance, the welding robot starts its laser scan. The scan visualizes the slightest damage to the rail, even below the surface. The welding robot knows what to do next. The weak or damaged spot is milled out, heated to 350 degrees within five minutes with an arm fitted with ceramic plates and then welded by the right arm of the robot. After that, the rail or point switch is reprofiled and the geometry restored. Finally, the robot checks its work by means of a new scan. The robot is strict for itself during the inspection and has no feelings of disappointment or joy.
So. It is there, the welding robot, which will be able to support rail welding in the Netherlands. Robel Automation, VolkerRail, Strukton Rail and ProRail are proud and wildly enthusiastic. The same goes for Johannes Max-Theurer, who concludes that his ‘subsidiary’ has done a great job, together with the enthusiastic Dutch.
Robel Automation’s welding robot is built into a 20-foot and 40-foot container, which are placed on a regular wagon and can be driven to any place on the track. In the meantime, the robot is almost ready for action, because it has already gone a long way through the homologation process. “We now have eight welds on the Maasvlakte that have been continuously monitored for almost a year,” says Arie Overeem. “So the evaluation moment is coming, but everyone is already convinced: this is going to be fine.”
This involves welding in rails, i.e. made of carbon steel. Recently, there has also been a weld in a point piece made of manganese steel. “That is a completely different way of welding,” says Overeem, “reserved for one of the 25 specialists. The hardness of the weld has been positively assessed and we will now see how the weld holds up under a year of busy and heavy train traffic.” Overeem doesn’t say it in so many words, but he is convinced that the weld and therefore the robot will also pass this ultimate test.
So things are looking good for the future of the welding robot, which can be used from 2027. Must be going to be. At least, that’s the intention. “But yes,” says ProRail’s Thijs Cloosterman. “What’s next? Because that’s the hardest thing about innovations: you have to embed them in your system, in your organization. This is often forgotten. That is why we are now asking the question in all honesty to everyone involved: how are we going to do that? How are we going to ensure that the welding robot is included in our way of working, in our planning, in our personnel planning? In short: in our system?”
ProRail is very keen that this innovation is successfully implemented in the Dutch rail maintenance and repair system. One of the big questions is: who owns the welding robot? Or who does it belong to?
It’s also quite an investment, of course. “Should we as ProRail buy it?”, Cloosterman wonders aloud. He realizes that contractors are not eager to purchase a welding robot for tens of millions. The construction of the robot will also take at least five years. That’s as long as a maintenance contract lasts. So that’s also quite a risk.
“In the UK, we manage all the track construction equipment in-house,” says a representative of Network Rail. “In France, as SNCF Reseau, we have our own track construction machines, but contractors also have their own machines. It just depends on what is needed where and when and what kind of work it is,” says a particularly interested and enthusiastic Frenchman. A Dutch journalist suggested a form of wet-lease: an investment company or contractor buys the robot and rents it out on a per-job basis. One welding robot would be enough for the Netherlands, Arie Overeem thinks. A German supplier of railway materials gives the participants in the discussion food for thought: “You can ask yourself: can I afford it? But you’d rather ask yourself the question: can I afford not to do it?”
So there is still quite a lot of water flowing through the Rhine before there is a satisfactory answer to this question for all parties. A major advantage in the discussion is that all parties have an interest in a smooth implementation of the robot in the system. And here too, you have to strike while the iron is hot. So now.
The British, French and Germans present in Amersfoort were amazed: why are these four parties working in unison on the realization and implementation of a welding robot? A machine builder, a railway manager and two usually competing contractors. Wonder and admiration fought for precedence. “But we are all working towards the same goal: to keep our rail arsenal in top shape,” says Arie Overeem of Strukton Rail. “It’s just wonderful to be able to do this together,” says Nico van Zandwijk of VolkerRail. “I enjoy it. It’s not about us, it’s about our track.” And that track is not owned by VolkerRail, not by Strukton Rail, certainly not by Robel Rail and not even by ProRail. It belongs to the Netherlands and the Dutch. “We are railway people and we love the railway. So it’s only good that we all feel responsible for it,” nods Van Zandwijk. “As it should be, actually.”