Erection of cost saving telecommunications cable links within railway tracks

Railway track cables have to guarantee  a high grade mechanical impact resistance due to various environmental influences which might occur in the course of time. This necessary mechanical cable behaviour shall be obtained by a corrugated  steel sheathing which withstands even permanent impact and vibration loads reliably.

The necessary stiffness of such cables within the foot of  railway tracks on the one hand and a certain bending behaviour for branching purposes on the other hand shall be achieved by a special steel sheath design  due to adequate pitch lenghts and depth of corrugation.

As transmission elements both copper conductor elements particular for signalling purposes for shorter distances and optical fibres to carry higher  data rates for trunk lines shall be employed. In certain cases copper/optical fibre cables shall be manufactured.

The high reliability of OF railway track cables using corrugated steel sheathing have been proved again considering a long term trial within a city metro project  in North Germany.

Jointing sleeves shall be located normally outside of the railway track space due to easy access for future work on the cable link. In such cases cost saving fibre-art-modules are installed in DCS-jointing sleeves in order to enable single circuit management systems.

This new cable installation method exhibits an overall cost reduction of about 50 % under certain circumstances compared to the conventional laying procedures. Additionally a remarkable time reduction for installation work presents a further important advantage.

Nexans delivers all necessary components and services including the laying procedure to build up complete railway track links.