Railway equipment

Tender description

The University of Leeds ambition is to develop a technology park (LETeC), within the Leeds city region. Initially, this will provide facilities for research into High speed rail. The 2 projects under this notice are for 1) Infrastructure testing facility (ITF) and 2) Vehicle testing facility (VTF). The purpose of publishing this PIN (Prior information notice) is to alert potential bidders to a Market Engagement Event which is to take place in Leeds on 19.6.2018 at 10:30 to 14:30. The University of Leeds is undertaking a procurement exercise to seek supplier views and feedback on how best to delivery the project. Completed supplier market consultation questionnaires should be returned to the University via the Delta tendering portal no later than noon on Friday 15.6.2018. The high speed rail Infrastructure testing facility (ITF) is an outdoor structure for the testing of railway track components and earth embankments. The testing rig will incorporate hydraulic actuators located on a reaction beam, to apply downward dynamic vertical loads onto stationary embankment structures. The reaction beam will be 10m long and its vertical position changeable between heights of 0-3m (via a guide and motive system), to accommodate the testing of different embankment heights. Once locked in position, vertical forces will be generated by actuators spaced at 0.65m centres along its length, meaning the beam must have sufficient vertical stiffness to allow for the accurate control of actuators. The actuators will mimic a high speed moving load by operating in sequence according to specifications (frequency and force) that will be provided on the Contractor Engagement Day. The reaction beam will be supported by columns at each end. The frame-to-beam connections require design, however the columns and their foundations will be designed separately by an alternative consultant as part of the civils work contract. In-built craneage capability will be required to lift 5-10t loads onto the embankment samples. Control systems will be required for the crane, frame movement and hydraulic actuators. A hydraulic power unit, piping and cooling is also required, the housing and service duct work will be supplied by the civils contract for the hydraulic power unit. Data acquisition and cabling is needed to monitor future test samples. The Vehicle testing facility (VTF) is a full scale roller rig for the testing of rail vehicles. The delivery of the VTF is expected to comprise 2 stages. Stage 1 will consist of the assembly with which to excite the wheels on the vehicle leading bogie through track displacements representative of those encountered on the network. Stage 2 will deliver an equivalent assembly to be located under the trailing bogie of the vehicle on test. Prospective bidders will be required to submit designs for both Stage 1 and 2 albeit the manufacture and installation of Stage 2 is not part of this notice. The wheels of the vehicle will each be supported on a table mounted roller that has sufficient kinematic freedom to replicate design changes in track geometry along with irregularities. The tables must also be able to accommodate change in wheelset and bogie centre distances along with change in gauge. It envisaged that table motion will be hydraulically controlled. The roller table – ground reaction connection will also form part of the design. Vehicle body motion due to cornering and traction will be provided through compliant reaction frames that will permit the body to respond to the rail inputs. The roller tables will be mounted on a substantial inertial mass. The specification of this mass and its geometry will form part of the civils design, however, the installation of this component will be undertaken by third party and will be installed as part of a civils work contract. The provision of traction motors to the rollers, bearings, drive shaft, drive control, wheels and gears are all currently excluded and it is envisaged these works will be undertaken by a third party who will work with the successful bidder to ensure they are appropriately located within the VTF. However it is the Universities preference to obtain market intelligence if these other components listed above can be delivered as a turn-key solution as part of this commission. Integrated control of the traction motors and VTF is essential. It is proposed that the wheelsets be driven by either the on-vehicle traction system or in the case of a free running wheelset, by the rig mounted traction drives. This provides the facility to accelerate / decelerate the bogie / vehicle in-line with its operational duty cycle. A data acquisition system will also be provided that is capable of recording a representative range of vehicle responses. The successful bidder will also provide the hydraulic power pack and pipework for the VTF. This power pack (HPU) may be shared with IFT but at this early stage this cannot be guaranteed due to adjacencies of the buildings on the masterplan for the new site.