Aluminium floors reduce weight and cut consumption

Alstom has gained a leading position in the global market for rail vehicles by continually turning out new, customized solutions.
Among the most successful products in its diverse range are the two-tier coach concepts for urban, regional and Intercity transport. Since 2002, Aleris Aluminium Bonn GmbH has been delivering ready-toinstall aluminium intermediate floors to France.
Well over 25,000 employees and a presence in more than 60 countries, the rail engineering group Alstom Transport is one of the foremost providers of solutions for rail-mounted transport alongside companies like Ansaldobreda, Bombardier, Siemens and CAF. As well as rail vehicles for urban, regional, intercity and freight transport, Alstom’s range includes services such as maintenance, renovation and spare parts, control and instrumentation technology, track, catenaries and finally a large range of infrastructure equipment.
Within Passenger Transport there are six product families, each of different design according to use, but all have superior comfort, speed and reliability in common. The six are: trams urban light and underground trains, Intercity, express and high-speed trains. The aim is to match performance and consumption to the highest expectations by means of sophisticated technology.
In its endeavour to deliver the last two aspects, the company regu lary uses aluminium as the material for individual components or entire subassemblies. This was the case in the bulding of two-tier coaches for the TER2N NG model, which in France are made primarily of steel. To reduce weight, they are fitted with aluminium intermediate floors, which makes for a weight saving compared to seel. The idea of constructing them from hollow sections, however, ensures that they can withstand the requisite load. This trains can be seen in use in regions such as Alscane- Lorraine, Nord-Pas de Calais, Paca, Upper Normandy, Pays de la Loire, Picardy, Rhone-Alpes and Luxembourg.
Since mid 2002, the Bonn plant has been supplying Alstom with ready-to-install aluminium floors. All consist of five longitudinally welded large 6005A-alloy sections, but there are three different cross-sections. Then there is a transversely welded so-called end section as well. There are two floor variants: one is 8,750 mm long and 2,612 mm wide; the other is 8,910 mm long and 2,612 mm wide.

Delivered ready-to-install
Bernhard Müller, Project Manager with Aleris Aluminium Bonn GmbH, said «As far as manufacturing is concerned, the floors are an excellent product as they are delivered ready to be installed in the coach without further ado». Achieving this back at the Bonn plant means that the sections produced on the 90 MN press have to go through several stations in the plant: starting with welding on the large section welding plant, on to machining on the largest CNC machine, final cutting to width, milling out corners for the steps and end machining to prepare for attachment of the end sections, and finishing with manual welding.
Al of these production processes take place in the Bonn plant, which makes for cost-effective manufacture with short delivery periods. The comprehensive documentation, too, required as part of the demanding specification is cut above the rest, just like the tight tolerances. Transporting the loads of 24 floors, stacked one on top of the other, is no mean logistical feat either, considering the large dimensions involved. Indeed, the finished floor is considerably wider than the usual standards. In manufacturing entire floors, the company demonstrates its consumate development from purely aluminium semi-finished product provider into a system supplier in coach building. There’s no doubt that an important element is the 90 MN press and welding construction certified to DIN 6700-C1. Aleris not only meets the clients’ demand for semi-finished products, but also ready-to-install components, in an effort to reduce costs, stocks and logistical expense.