Railway vehicle inspection
Trams, trains, locomotives and construction machinery require specific tests: braking forces, door closing pressure, headlamp alignment and emissions testing. Capelec tailors its expertise to rolling stock.
Measurement applied to rolling stock
Trams, trains, diesel locomotives, railcars, construction machinery and shunting equipment: these rail-based vehicles are inspected using the same physical principles as road vehicles, but under conditions and on components specific to them.
High power outputs, large exhaust systems, maintenance work in workshops or depots, and operational cycles where a vehicle’s downtime is planned well in advance: the measuring equipment must be brought to the vehicle, not the other way round.
Work carried out in workshops or depots
Railway rolling stock is not transported to a testing centre. The equipment used is therefore either on-board or permanently installed in the workshop where it is maintained.
Long-term support
Operators plan in terms of multi-year maintenance cycles. The traceability of measurements and the long-term reliability of the equipment are just as important as the measurement itself.
Three specific requirements for the rail sector
Beyond the measurement of diesel engine emissions, rolling stock requires inspections that are not carried out on the road.
01
Braking forces
On-board solutions enable the braking forces of a rail-mounted vehicle to be tested without the need for a fixed brake tester.
02
Closing of doors
Testers measure the pressure exerted when automatic doors close, a safety feature specific to passenger transport.
03
Headlamp alignment
Fixed test rigs are used to align and check the headlamps of motor vehicles.
Emissions from diesel engines
Shunting locomotives, railcars and construction machinery continue to use internal combustion engines, the emissions from which are measured using the same equipment as that used in the road transport sector: gas analysers, smoke meters and combined test units.
The difficulty lies in accessing the sampling point and maintaining the correct operating conditions during the measurement, which are arranged in collaboration with the maintenance teams.
A requirement to be defined in consultation with your maintenance teams
The requirements applicable to railway rolling stock are governed by frameworks specific to the sector and to each network. They cannot be derived from road transport protocols.
We therefore approach these projects from a practical perspective: which vehicles, which engines, in which workshop, at what frequency and for what traceability requirements.
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