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The Chilean rail operator, Grupo EFE, has just received its brand new comprehensive measurement vehicle, a customized ROGER 600 self-propelled car, that will be used to continuously assess the condition of the national railway infrastructure, helping engineers to optimize maintenance and renewal works while improving safety and availability of the lines.
The vehicle, named MRV — Maquina Registradora de Vía, it's a 18m long steel-bodied diesel-propelled recording car that is equipped with a bundle of systems including those for the measurement and inspection of: track geometry, overhead-line geometry, contact wire wear, rail internal flaws, running dynamics. The recording car supply is part of a wider commercial agreement including the provisioning of long-term professional services aiming to proactively train local Chilean team on the best-practices will assure the highest quality in the measurement and analysis process. The new recording car introduction is expected to drastically reduce inspection time. The seamless integration and perfect interoperability of the opto-electronic systems installed onboard MRV, will allow to complete in just one hour, activities previously requiring more than two-week.
This important reference is the fruit of a close collaboration between EFE and MERMEC engineers started at the very beginning of 2014 following the contract awarding. Currently, MERMEC is carrying out similar projects in Latin America working closely with passenger and freight operators in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru among others.
The company was created on January 4, 1884 by means of the purchase of the companies that exploited the longitudinal routes and the Santiago – Valparaíso route. Since then, the company acquired the railways of the sodium nitrate mining companies in the north of Chile. From 1913 on the network of the EFE extends from Iquique to Puerto Montt. In the 1970s, the company was in crisis due to problems of underfunding and low investment in infrastructure. In 1993, the enactment of a new Law allowed it to modernize its management and subsidiaries for the execution of various tasks, separating freight service through subsidiary Pacific Railway SA (FEPASA, 1993), privatized in 1996. Since then, further improvements have been made in the way of Santiago to Puerto Montt.
More info on http://www.efe.cl/
