Spanish Season for Safety: Brake Training Workshops with CAF Maintenance Teams

The Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), headquartered in the Basque Country, is one of the leading manufacturers of rail vehicles. The URBOS 100 trams made by CAF operate in different Spanish cities. We recently offered training workshops for CAF maintenance staff on the HANNING & KAHL braking systems installed on the trams.  By Ievgen Kostyna

Within a short time, five training workshops were held for Spanish projects – in locations in Saragossa, Granada, Sevilla, Málaga and Vitoria-Gasteiz. For each of these  projects, CAF forms a maintenance team which is trained by HANNING & KAHL at the local transport authority in the respective location. The projects vary in size – from just two vehicles to ten or more. The training workshops last two days with half a day devoted to theory and a day and a half to hands-on work. The objective is to explain the functional interconnections and demonstrate concrete applications on the vehicles.

In the theoretical part, participants are introduced to the structure and function of the braking system, in particular the HEY-C brake control unit, the hydraulic units of the PR-NL series, the passive brake calipers and of the track brakes, using technical documentation like operating instructions, parts lists and drawings. Real error images from operation are also discussed in order to illustrate typical problems in a practical way. The diagnostic software plays an important role here as it constitutes the basis for systematic troubleshooting.

In the practical part, participants work directly on the vehicle. One main element is the application of the diagnostic software BMON and BLOAD with which errors can be detected and analysed. Routine maintenance work is also practiced – including the replacement and inspection of components like the hydraulic unit, the brake calipers and the track brakes.

Special attention is paid to the auxiliary release functions which are integrated into the hydraulic unit. Release with the hand pump and the feed-in device and also mechanical auxiliary release on the brake caliper with the force cartridge are discussed and practiced.

Depending on project type, special-purpose service equipment was presented, for example a mobile brake simulator or a filter-flushing unit for the hydraulic system. These tools assist the maintenance teams with error diagnosis and system maintenance during ongoing operations.

Purposeful and practical training of this kind ensures that the CAF maintenance team confidently masters the complex braking systems on the URBOS 100 vehicles.