East Midlands Trains

Who is East Midlands Trains?

East Midlands Trains operate the rail service network in and around the Midlands area covering areas from St Pancras to Liverpool, to Norwich.

The Challenge:

East Midlands Trains required a new lifting aid to help them remove alternators and drive shafts weighing approximately 170kg from trains as part of their servicing. Currently, they were using a mobile crane lift in conjunction with a forklift truck or alternatively, a small jacking system which they found awkward to manoeuvre within their restricted workspace.

The major challenge for Advanced Handling Ltd was to design and manufacture a solution to fit within their current infrastructure and set-up without major disruption to operations.

The Solution:

Advanced Handling Ltd. visited site to assess both the application and environment the solution was being designed, manufactured and installed into.

The team designed and manufactured a bespoke model based on their tried, tested and trusted Low Profile Scissor Lift Table design. The table itself was mounted onto a stainless-steel SKID with rail tracks either side which had compression rollers and lock-in pins to aid during install. This allowed operators to manoeuvre the table along the track and into place ready to release and support the engine parts from under the train to take up to the platform to be worked on.

The custom solution had a 1,200mm x 800mm wide platform, a 630mm stroke and a capacity of 500kg which increased the versatility of the scissor lift table for East Midlands Trains. It featured a removable, drop on, adjustable V-Block with roller balls on the side panels to aid manoeuvring larger parts on and off the table smoothly.

The v-block top was attached to a turntable which pivoted 90-degrees. When the table was at its lowered height the table was designed to dock onto a secondary v-block support table on the platform, outside of the pit using drop-in connectors allowing the easy transfer of components from the v-block table onto the platform to be taken away and worked on.

The table was operated by using a simple constant pressure up and down hand controller on a 4-metre-long cable meaning it could be controlled inside and outside of the pit. Additional standard safety features include an emergency stop button on the remote and a safety trip bar under the table which immediately stops the table if it hits an obstruction when being lowered. The table must be raised, and the obstruction removed before it will continue to lower.

The Benefits:

Advanced Handling designed, manufactured and installed a custom lifting aid which met all East Midlands Trains’ requirements in such a way to minimise downtime and disruption to their current operational set-up. East Midlands Trains now have a safer and more efficient way of removing heavier parts from their trains during service and maintenance.

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If you’re facing a similar challenge in your workplace, contact us on 01778 345 365 or email [email protected] & we’ll be happy to help.