Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, hosted an exclusive celebration party in honour of the successfully completed Europe Train project on 23 July 2013 at UIC in Paris.
Johannes Gräber, EuropeTrain Project Manager from DB Systemtechnik, pointed out that the 200,000 km test runs had been carried out all over Europe and sometimes under extreme weather conditions (-25°C in Sweden and +42°C in the South of Italy). These runs, combined with numerous analyses and tests carried out over the past two years by the Europe Train International Analysis team, finally resulted in two products released in May 2013 for homologation.
UIC has so far spent around 15 million euros on the whole development process for K and LL Brake Blocks.
The Europe Train Final Report (B 126 RP 43) and the “Usage Guidelines for composite (LL) Brake blocks”, as well as Appendix M3 of Leaflet 541-4, will now provide all the necessary measures for converting wagons equipped with cast iron brake blocks to LL-blocks and contains as such all the necessary requirements for the retrofitting and operate wagons with LL Brake Blocks.
The Europe Train Final Report and the 9th edition of the “Usage Guidelines for composite LL Brake Blocks” were already approved at the Rail System Forum Plenary Session on 16 April 2013.
In his speech Johannes Gräber thanked all sponsors from the railways and the supply industry for their support both in cash and in kind, as well as all those in the operations sector from 13 countries whose contribution over the past two years has been vital to the outcome of this four million euro project.
He further thanked the Measurement Team in Minden, Lloyds Register for their software support to carry out the analyses, UIC Working Group B126.13 and SET 06, SET 07 and the Train Track Interaction Group for the staunch work both on the reports and the guidelines. Special thanks were given to UIC with its team of interpreters, technical edition, communication and the Rail System Department.
During the revision process of the Europe Train final report and the selection of the homologated LL Brake Blocks, ERA (European Railway Agency) had been kept informed on a permanent basis, thus a revised ERA Technical document 2, based on the results of the Europe Train Project, and confirming the exchangeability with cast iron for standard wagons, was published on the ERA Website at the end of May 2013.
At the end of the celebration ceremony the first official homologation certificates for LL Brake Blocks were distributed by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux to representatives of the manufacturers of the certified products (ICER, COFREN and BECORIT).
