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Columbus McKinnon manufactures lifting system

Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products has delivered an underfloor lifting system to HYT Engineering that has been manufactured under the Make in India initiative.

The Indian government launched the campaign in 2014 to make the country a global manufacturing hub by strengthening the domestic manufacturing industry.

The pre-assembled system, which was accepted in Ahmedabad, will be prepared for final assembly at the Shakurbasti depot near New Delhi. From the end of 2023, it will be used for the maintenance and servicing of eight-carriage Vande Bharat trains. The end user of the lifting system is the state-owned railway company Indian Railways.

The system complete Vande Bharat trains with a total length of 192 m can be raised to an ergonomic working height, for example for inspection or to comfortably carry out maintenance work such as the replacement of bogies. The synchronisation of the wheel lifting platforms is controlled within a narrow tolerance range of +/- 5 mm, i.e. over the entire length, the maximum height deviation of the lifting platforms is only 10 mm. The cantilever design ensures that the removed bogies can be pushed underneath the lifted train for separate maintenance.

The Vande Bharat Express is a domestic high-speed train that reaches top speeds of 180 km/h, with an operating speed of 130 km/h on its short routes for safety reasons. It connects major Indian cities within a day's travel. The train runs between New Delhi and Varanasi – a distance of about 800 kilometres, which it covers in about eight hours.


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