A few months ago, Infrabel renewed 4 switches and 1 km of track in just 48 hours! A world first which won the company a “2021 RailTech Innovation Award”.

Limiting the impact of works on traffic is a constant challenge for Infrabel, so its engineers developed an unprecedented technique. Firstly, they prefabricated a giant concrete slab (480 m x 8 m) parallel to the railway line at Franière. Then they pushed this slab, fully equipped with 2 tracks, ballast and 4 switches, into its final position… like a giant Tetris game.

This operation, which usually causes weeks of disruption for rail traffic, was completed in a single weekend at the beginning of September 2020. A real feat for a structure weighing 6,100 tonnes!

This innovation won over the jury at RailTech Europe 2021 which took place from 30 March – 1 April. The “RailTech Innovation Award” in the infrastructure category was awarded to the Belgian railway infrastructure manager.

Would you like to know more about it ? Then watch the following videos 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpjwuXncU2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtDHDHtVbpU