Basic Design for Railway Cables
As a global supplier, Caledonian offers extensive range of copper and fi ber cables in three key economic sectors: infrastructure, industry and building. Our cables are used in rolling stock, railway infrastructure, energy and telecom networks, automobiles, shipboard, oil, mining & petrochemical, windmill applications, etc. Caledonian has always been at the forefront of meeting the requirement of the most advanced railway standards within the ERTMS. The ERTMS requires high levels of EMC performance. Caledonian signalling and control cables are designed and built to comply with such EMC requirements, with the use of special insulation and sheath materials with different screening designs.
Caledonian designs a wide range of signalling and control (branded as RAILSIG), power (branded as RAILFEEDER), coaxial (branded as RAILCOX), fi ber optic (branded as RAILOPTICS) and databus cables (branded as RAILDATA) specially adapted to rail environments, providing enhanced fi re performance, oil resistance and fl exibility. In rail sections including the station, trackside and tunnel, virtually all the cables have to be halogen free, as well as fi re retardant, and assure low toxicity and minimal smoke to enhance survival, fi re fi ghting and emergency operations.
Caledonian covers wide area network for main line, metropolitan area network for subway, light rail and intercity arrival/departures, and station range cable for effi cient rail management. Caledonian can provides optic fi ber for both analogue and digital railway applications such as (ESTMS/ETCS). Caledonian can also offer reliable cables to power the trackside equipments and provide low frequency communications.
Copper multicore, multipair and multiquad are used for signalling and control cables. Caledonian signalling and control cables guarantee electromagnetic immunity critical for communications from catenaries and current rail. They are designed to survive along the track, resistant to high temperatures, humidity, oil and ultra violet light. They have high dielectric strength, and come in low smoke halogen free and fi re retardant versions suitable for tunnels, stations and platforms. The cables can be customized to provide different reduction factor, special fi re performance sheathing and specifi c color coding. Caledonian signalling and control cables exhibits exceptional performance because of special manufacturing process, choice of suitable insulation and sheathing materials for the rail environments.
Caledonian railway cables offer Rail authorities and operators, contractors a wide range of cable solutions, which may be one of the world's most comprehensive and technologically advanced answers to rail industry.
Caledonian has developed railway cables that meet the challenges posed by railway industry for low smoke and toxicity, even in a system that has the stringent requirement in the world. London Underground, a thriving railway system that carries a billion passengers in a year, also lay claim to be the oldest train system in the world. The fi rst underground railway to operate electric train, it is usually referred to as a tube, thanks to the shape of the tunnel far below the street level. Built in late 1800s, the long tunnels were not designed for optimum fi re safety. In fact, the long sections are designed without exits. As a result, if a fi re began inside the tunnels, smoke and fumes will overwhelm the passengers, who would have no ready means of escape. Therefore, extreme precautions are taken to prevent the occurrences of fi re smoke, fume and toxic vapor, which is one reason the system standard for smoke and toxicity is the most stringent of any rail systems in the world.