Roediger Vacuum
Roediger Vacuum
Outlook: Automated Supply and Disposal Systems for Trains
This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine Issue 5 2021.
Many of us have already experienced the unpleasant situation that the toilets have been blocked off during a train ride. At this point, no one really cares about the cause of this circumstance. It’s simply annoying for the traveller and damages the image of the railway operator.
A major cause is often the lack of staff availability. This can be remedied by automating the service processes of the trains inside the service and maintenance depots. Therefore, more and more railway operators are considering the use of robots to provide fully automated solutions for a train’s water supply and wastewater disposal processes.
The automation should meet the following new requirements and raised expectation of railway operators:
- Increase of efficiency in order to increase availability of trains
- Increase of reliability of train servicing systems
- Reduction of dependence on lowly-skilled operators
- Significant reduction of servicing time
First Pilot Installation
Aqseptence Group GmbH with its Roediger brand – a specialist for water supply and wastewater disposal systems and a key supplier for Deutsche Bahn and other railway operators – joined forces with bip technology GmbH – a company specialised in automated maintenance systems for trains. Together they developed a solution that has already been tested at a pilot installation.
The aim of the solution was to replace the physically strenuous and labour-intensive activities involved in service work on trains with automated solutions.
Tasks & Challenges
The main tasks and challenges in the implementation of the project were as follows:
- Definite registration of train positions
- Visual detection of train connection nozzles
- Development of composable technology packages for the activities required for the operation (e.g. opening and closing of covers and valves)
- Monitoring and documentation of supply and disposal processes
- Communication with other train service systems
