Calais, France. In the dead of night, Railpro’s team is guided to the deepest point within the Eurotunnel. Five years ago, our first rubber-coated rails were installed here. So it’s about time for an inspection to examine whether the rails are still in good condition. The reason why the coated rails were installed here was because of the extreme conditions of this location. The humidity and temperature levels are high, while salty water penetrates the tunnel’s walls. According to our Export Manager Dominique Martens:
A peculiar experience that you can only understand if you have been at this location yourself
We intend to perform various tests to detect whether the coating has remained sealed and no leakages have occurred. First, the rails’ surface has to be cleaned to make the coating visible again. The thick mud on the rails has formed a salty wet permanent layer on the coating. We cut out small window-shaped squares to see if the rail has been damaged by corrosion. And as it turns out, the coating indeed does what it is supposed to do; the coated rails have not been impaired. Naturally, the cut-out pieces are restored again using our inhouse-developed repair kit specifically designed for this purpose.