An innovative track superstructure system that can be used for reducing noise emissions and maintenance costs was recently highlighted as part of the German "365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas" initiative. FRENZEL-BAU GmbH & Co. KG in Freden, Lower Saxony, a medium-sized company, specializing in rail construction solutions, has worked in close collaboration with Bayer MaterialScience to develop this system called Durflex®. It is based on stabilizing the ballast stones under the track using the elastic polyurethane foam system Bayflex® from BaySystems, the global polyurethane system partner of Bayer MaterialScience. Over 2,000 companies, research institutes and other establishments submitted applications for this year's "365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas" contest.
The cavities between the ballast stones in the track bed are completely filled with the polyurethane foam system. This almost completely prevents the stones from shifting as a result of the forces generated when a train passes over them. This in turn increases the durability of the ballast superstructure considerably and also absorbs the structure-borne noise at the point where it is usually generated. The system can be used for building new sections of track and upgrading existing stretches. Durflex® was successfully tested on the two stretches of track and, encouraged by the positive test results and public feedback, FRENZEL-BAU and Bayer MaterialScience are also looking to work on developing Durflex® further in various projects in the future. Plans include construction of a longer demonstration track in Germany.
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