We are wheel-rail conditioning specialists. Founded in Zurich in 1992 by André Kofmehl with partners from Germany, Igralub has worked the curve-squeal problem specifically for more than twenty-five years, and three decades across the wider rail-conditioning field. Today the company operates subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, Singapore and the USA, with distribution partners across eleven further countries. Beyond rail, Igralub serves more than 2,500 customers in automotive and industrial sectors, from cranes and conveyors through to the global cycling supply chain. The cross-sector volume keeps the chemistry science honest.
Most rail conditioning is reactive and blanket. Too much agent, applied too late, with no record of effect. Our approach is position-precise.
The portfolio centres on biodegradable, eco-friendly rail chemistry across the contact surfaces operators actually struggle with: brake silencers, cog-rail lubricants, flange lubricants and top-of-rail conditioners. We deliver them through onboard and wayside application systems, including airless precision dispensers that work without compressed air. Long-standing relationships with the major manufacturers of lubrication and control systems mean the same control layer integrates with and operates existing third-party hardware already installed on the fleet or alongside the track. Installed equipment stays in service. The unit of upgrade is the controller, not the fleet. One point of contact, from problem identification through to long-term operations and service.
Documented against published BAV sources, the effect runs up to minus 98% curve squeal, minus 12% wear and minus 60% conditioning-agent consumption. We do not claim identical results in every network. Hotspots are individual. Effect requires monitoring. Numbers come from pilots, not promises.
In parallel, Igralub is collaborating with Traila on a full-stack smart conditioning offer. Igralub runs the operational layer: chemistry, application hardware, control and the monitoring that captures what the fleet generates in service. Traila runs the engineering layer above it: multi-body dynamics, wheel-rail contact modelling, dynamic load analysis and the heavy data work that turns operational signal into design-level decisions.
Reference deployments include Mariazellerbahn (Austria), Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (Germany) and TPG Genève (Switzerland). Active engagements across European tram, light-rail and metro networks.
Key Igralub Products
- IOLS (Intelligent Onboard Lubrication System)
- Top-of-rail conditioners
- Flange lubricants
- Brake silencers
- Cog-rail and rack-railway lubricants
- Airless precision dispensers (onboard and wayside)
- Biodegradable, EU Ecolabel-certified rail chemistry
