Be the Hero in Your Customer’s Journey with Flotec’s Rail Engineering Solutions.

What if you could reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and enhance passenger experience for your train fleet with one simple solution?

That’s what Flotec, a leading supplier of hose and engineering solutions to the rail market, offers to its clients.

Introduction.

On the build-up to Railtex 2023, the Flotec Rail Division began conceptualising what it considered to be a priority concern for its train operator clientele and designed three key points to convey quickly, clearly, and concisely the solution on offer:

• Thinking Passenger

• Reducing Downtime

• Improving Efficiency

It felt important as an SME supplier, that Flotec framed its mindset to ‘think passenger’ and align itself with the pain-points felt by those responsible for operating train fleets.

Rolling stock and the networks they run on encounter a complex mix of problems whereby operators rely upon a diverse supply chain to address the many different hurdles they face.

The villain of the story.

A common issue (the villain in this story) encountered by those running DMU’s is a build-up of pollen, debris, and contaminants in the system, resulting in the engine being inefficiently cooled with Return to Idle (RTI) becoming a major issue.

This phenomenon is particularly prevalent in warmer months. RTI can drastically slow the train down and at worse, bring it grinding to a halt.

This technical issue causes disruption to services, delays, and potential cancellations.

The obvious result being a poor passenger experience.

Flotec to the rescue!

Flotec has designed an engineering solution specifically focussed on solving DMU engine cooling issues.

This plays a significant role in keeping train fleets running to schedule and on time.

Flotec’s award-winning innovation contributes substantially to enhancing the passenger experience.

Helping Northern to be the hero in their customer’s journey.

With post pandemic pressures being for TOCs to entice customers back to the UK network – and keep them, operator Northern knew there was much it could do to improve the efficiency and reliability to its fleet of legacy diesel trains.

Late 2022 saw Flotec secure a major contract with Northern, to modify its entire fleet of 15x class trains.

The solution.

Concentrating on the cooling system, Flotec is busy fitting variable pitch fan and electronic fan control technology, which maintains the efficiency of the radiators by periodically reversing the air flow through the radiators to remove contaminants collected during its cooling cycle.

Coolant hoses have been upgraded to Blue Stripe EPDM hoses and PowerGrip clamps.

This has been proven to eliminate premature coolant hose failures, reducing train fleet downtime.

Existing hydrostatic hoses are being replaced with Flotec’s own-brand Railtec hose and MegaCrimp couplings, which offer a leak-free solution to eradicate premature failures during service.

The project is due to be completed by the end of this year with Northern reportedly seeing a measured and significant improvement to service, which is having positive effects on passenger experience and satisfaction.

The conclusion.

Flotec is more than just a supplier of hose and engineering solutions to the rail market. It is a partner that helps train operators be the hero in their customer’s journey by thinking passenger, reducing downtime, and improving efficiency.

If you want to join the ranks of satisfied clients like Northern and benefit from Flotec’s award-winning innovation, contact the Flotec team today.

Tel: 01509 230 100 | Email: sales@floteconline.com | www.flotecindustrial.co.uk/rail