Milling instead of drilling and flame cutting

Over time, contamination like dirt, sand or foliage accumulates in the profile of grooved rails. Such contamination can then harden and reduce the effective groove depth, thus impairing the safe guidance of rail vehicles. Screw-on rail drainage boxes channel contamination and rainwater quickly out of the grooves into the drainage system.

Up to now, cut-outs for track drainage were flame cut on site. In some cases, holes were drilled for track drainage. The advantage: rapid implementation with existing equipment on standard tracks. The disadvantages: flame cutting in particular can cause track fractures due to surface notching and thermal influences. In addition, simple bore-holes made for groove drainage tend to clog up with leaves, etc.

HANNING & KAHL now mills slits into existing grooved rail tracks and thus ensures defined drainage without negative impact on the rail material.

A vertical milling machine which is mounted on a crosstable attachment (coordinate table) with X and Y axes is attached to the foot of the rail with a clamping device. Via the X and Y axes, the milling machine can now be moved in the necessary directions to the track. Should individual trains have to cross in an emergency while processing, the milling machine can be easily removed from the crosstable attachment. The crosstable attachment remains on the track; it can be driven over as it does not protrude beyond the upper edge of the track. The milling machine can be mounted again in a few easy steps, and processing can be continued immediately with high repeat accuracy.