Keeping railway switches operational in winter
Railway switches are critical components of rail infrastructure. In freezing conditions, they can become blocked, potentially causing delays or even more serious disruptions. The solution: heating elements mounted directly onto the rails to keep the switches at the required temperature.
Our customer specialises in precisely this application. For the housings and structural components of these heating elements – parts that must withstand years of exposure to weather, vibration and mechanical loads – they turned to RG Castings Group.
Casting makes components 3x more cost-effective
Today, RG Castings Group supplies nine different aluminium castings for this system. The most recent component clearly demonstrates the added value of casting: a part that was previously CNC-machined from solid material now costs three times less when produced as a casting. Same function, at a fraction of the cost.
This is possible because casting creates the required shape directly in the material, eliminating material waste and time-consuming machining.
