TÜV SÜD’S Rolling Stock Test Center Offering an Extensive Portfolio of Certification Services
TÜV SÜD’s test center for rolling stock supports manufacturers, suppliers, and operators, helping them to comply with legal and voluntary requirements for rolling stock and components. Holding all necessary accreditations, the test center offers an extensive portfolio of services from its locations in Halle/Saale, Goerlitz, and Berlin in Germany and Winterthur in Switzerland. With distinctive advantages over other proving facilities, the test center in Goerlitz enables widely varied types of test scenarios to be realized at its roughly 50,000-m2 premises. This year, the Rolling Stock Test Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
TÜV SÜD is one of the world’s leading testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) companies, providing services to the rail industry from conventional rail systems to high-speed trains and metro and urban rail systems. Over 450 experts from the Rail Services business unit support manufacturers, operators, and authorities throughout all stages of a project and all phases of a product’s life cycle. To this end, TÜV SÜD not only maintains its test facilities for rail applications and proprietary testing tools; in addition, the TIC company holds all international accreditations and approvals needed for these activities.
“With a comprehensive service portfolio for manufacturers, suppliers, and operators and extensive testing facilities, the Rolling Stock Test Centre is an essential pillar of our rail services”, says Dr. Martin Webhofer, CEO of TÜV SÜD Rail. Besides testing to place rolling stock and components into service, the experts at the Rolling Stock Test Centre perform tests during design and development phases that combine stationary tests and track tests with simulation analyses, e.g. for testing driving dynamics and pantographs. “After organizational restructuring in the past year, we were able to further optimize the test center’s capacity and strengthen collaboration between the four locations”, adds Uwe Rönsch, Head of the TÜV SÜD Rolling Stock Test Centre. “With this result, we emphatically underline our pledge to provide swift services and processing from a single source.”
The Rolling Stock Test Centre was founded in 1997 by IVM Joint Venture GmbH after German rail operator Deutsche Bahn decided to close its locations in Halle/Saale and Goerlitz. Subsequently, the Halle/Saale location saw the development and establishment of the test areas of running dynamics and brakes, while in Goerlitz, the test center took over the entire proving grounds for strength testing of traction and buffer equipment, including all track systems, rolling stock and test rigs. The Rolling Stock Test Centre was recognized by the German Federal Railway Authority as early as April 1997. Since November 2005, it has also held accreditation as per ISO/IEC DIN EN 17025.
TÜV SÜD took over the Rolling Stock Test Center in 2008 and integrated it into TÜV SÜD Rail. Since its establishment in 1997, the test center has continuously expanded its range of services, in test areas including “Crashworthiness requirements” in accordance with EN 15227, “Dynamic testing of tank containers and flexitanks” in accordance with CSA B625 and COA, and “Pantographs” in accordance with EN 50317. Acquisition of IWT4, the special measuring wheelset technology from SNC Lavalin in Stockholm, and the testing department of Prose with locations in Berlin, Winterthur, and Stockholm enabled the test center to expand and complement its service portfolio by adding the test areas of EMC – electrics, aerodynamics, acoustics, and vibration in the field of machine dynamics.
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