Visite de l’usine CAF de Reichshoffen (2/2)

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Regiolis are electric or dual-mode railcars that can be seen in circulation for over 10 years almost everywhere in France. They are operated by several regions on their TER lines, but we also find them assigned to the Léman Express, the Franco-Swiss RER which radiates around Geneva, and to certain Intercités connections since these trains can be available in several versions and there are There is one suitable for longer journeys. Beyond the borders of France, trains derived from this range have been sold to Algeria and Senegal, and we will soon see them rolling across the Rhine since the Grand-Est region has placed an order with the manufacturer CAF for a 30 copies intended to serve seven railway lines which, departing from Strasbourg, Mulhouse or Metz, will end in Germany in the three states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. These are dual-mode (diesel-electric) and dual-voltage (15 and 25,000 volts) trainsets which are currently under construction. Second part of the report filmed at the CAF factory in Reichshoffen in Alsace. After having seen how the chassis were created, formed the cauldrons, painted, equipped and fitted out the different elements constituting a Régiolis train, the last stages will be the placing on bogies, the finishing touches and the tests. Hello and welcome to Aiguillages ! From the previous workshops through which they have passed, different vehicles emerge: motor cars, and end or intermediate trailers which are still missing an important element: real train wheels. To do this, they will be moved by this transporter bridge moving on an air cushion and which can rotate 180 degrees. It will allow them to be delivered oriented in the right direction to the last workshops through which they will have to pass and to emerge on rails transformed into complete trains ready to be transferred to their end customers. These operations take place in the workshop called MSB for Mise sur Bogies. We are moving from a vehicle world to a train world, so with a very specific engagement, we are going to assemble in railway jargon, couple the different vehicles together to constitute a train. So we can have, let’s say, two main types of bogies: motor bogies and carrier bogies which are common to two vehicles. What we can see there. In MSB, we return with vehicles, with false bogies, these are tools which only allow us to handle vehicles within our organization, from our site to put the vehicles on real bogies. So there are different connections. There are the electrical connections which are via the inter-boxes and the mechanical connections with the different male and female yokes to provide a mechanical connection between the two boxes. We rely on the bogie, on the suspension cushions and there is the tunnel between two vehicles to do everything that involves sealing and everything that involves the passage of passengers between two different vehicles. The Régiolis are, in fact, designed on the model called “Boa”. They are made up of a set of articulated bodies resting on common bogies, the two at the end being motors, the others carrying, with the exception of the long versions for which a third motor bogie is added in the center of the train. There, we are in front of a motor bogie, so there are two electric motors which are coupled with reduction gears and it is these motors which will turn the wheels, what we call axles in railway jargon so that the train moves forward and all of these motors are powered, either by catenaries, or by the power-packs that we saw previously. These railcars are only produced in an electric or dual-mode version, the diesel engine being used in this case only on sections of lines without catenaries. Once the assembly of the bogies is complete, the newly formed trainsets will be subject to final attention. So we come to install the different equipment that we call internally the oar finishing. Everything that is AEL door equipment this kind of small assemblies to finalize, we will say the train, we will do a complete quality check to find out if today the train, it complies with the customer’s prerequisites and our customer comes to receive the train on site and gives us authorization to deliver and ship the departure train from the Reichshoffen train. So, here, we are in a train that is a little different from the Senegalese train that we saw in the packing line, we can see a big change, it is that there is luggage above the seats. The color of the seats is different. There, for example, we have doors, let’s say automatic, which we don’t have on other trains. The cabin is finished. So there was the filling. So that, for example, is the finishing activity. We are finalizing everything that is upholstery in the cabins, the control console which is finished with the different plates and the different manipulators. And that’s the different relays, the different pieces of equipment that we also finish. So, there, we are in operation of what we call ourselves, we are internalizing PC 11. This is checkpoint eleven, it is the last one before the final SNCF customer reception. So there is quality control in progress. So we come to identify the different problems, we will say aesthetic or functional of the train, and we will establish a list of alterations. And this entire list of alterations must be processed before departure and before the end of the control activity to return to customer reception. But before being handed over to the customer, the Régiolis trainsets will undergo a final stage of checks in a final workshop where they will be able to be powered up, they will spend a good week there. So basically here, what we’re doing… We’re going to test the entire operation of the train, from the smallest reading light at seat level to the traction of the train. We’re even going to start running around in the workshop to be able to check that each engine works independently of each other and test everything related to air conditioning, etc. We have catenaries on all the test tracks. We can manage to do 25,000 volts, 15,000 volts, 1500 volts… We have all the European voltages and basically, we will operate everything that drivers would see or that travelers are likely to see. To make sure everything works. A static test cycle time in a train is eight days plus one day of dynamic tests outside and that’s three times eight. So we’re constantly filming. There are technicians on the train all the time, there are tests going on all the time during these eight days. That day, the very last of the trains to leave the factory made its first turns on the test track. We are on the test track as said, which is 300 kilometers long. We go back and forth on this test track. We change cabins each time and we can drive up to 60 kilometers per hour. So we do speed increases and emergency braking at 30 and 60 kilometers per hour. And then, above all, we’re going to test all the different safety equipment, the imposed speeds… Obviously the horn tests, we don’t do it inside the factory, we do them outside during decent hours, we’re going to say, so during the day. Here, it’s TFA trains, so France-Germany cross-border trains, that’s why here on this train, so it’s dual-mode, dual-voltage, so there are power packs, there are 15,000 volts and 25,000 volts, but we don’t do 1500 volts. And typically, in a test campaign, how long will this train spend on this line? A day. So moreover, in three times eight, including constantly. So this morning they started at 5am. The tests will end tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. So, in fact, she really goes back and forth all the time? That’s it ! Constantly, back and forth. There are instructions between the teams of course, so it doesn’t run all the time, but there are around thirty minutes each time. between each team and they take turns like that. So the software we have to carry out the tests is a test sequencer where we have actions to carry out, results which are expected. If the results are not expected, the test technicians stop, look for the fault or repeat the test if they were not in the right conditions or something but most of the time, it will rather be a fault . There, they will suddenly carry out the Vacma part normally, is that right Fabrice? That’s it ! So there, typically, driving at a speed greater than three kilometers per hour with the manipulation in traction after 2.5 seconds, it should have the sound RA Release the support. After five seconds. Broadcast RA sound, test all buttons. We know it by heart by force, but it’s the continuation of the tests like that. You should therefore have a different sound and emergency braking after 2.5 seconds. Once again. Now, it will test all the acknowledgment buttons following the second sound which therefore only emits after 30 seconds of holding the button. Watch out FU! While the trains are put to the test to validate the proper functioning of all the equipment they are equipped with, other equally intensive tests are carried out in offices located a stone’s throw from the workshops. They concern on-board software which supports both passenger information functions and devices ensuring the proper functioning of trains or driving assistance dedicated to drivers. At Laborame, we are made up of two teams: a team which tests the on-board computer software on PC and on mini test benches and we have another means of testing which is this whole part… which is supposed to represent a complete train, the electronic equipment identical to the train where we test our software and also it allows us to test the different computer networks, the electrical diagrams of the train with a low voltage simulation and the different screens presented to the train drivers. I set up a simulation where we are supplied with 25,000 volts. So we can see on the screen the catenary voltage which is represented to the conductor. And so, after having chosen the direction of travel, we can ask the trains to pull with the driving manipulator and therefore the simulation makes it possible to show a traction force on the screen and then the simulation so that is a tool which we use to actually represent the speed of the train. So this is a new material that is being tested at Laborame. This equipment is used to manage hydrogen storage and trains. So the software for this hardware was developed here in-house at the design office and therefore here at Laborame, we were able to carry out the first functional communication tests on the low-voltage interface networks of the sensors. And we can also see at the back, for example, the temperature sensors are PT 1000. And in fact, to simulate these temperature sensors, we used an Arduino board and we designed an additional board to simulate the different temperature sensors or the electrical circuits of the train are either reproduced or simulated here at Laborame. Once the trains are put into circulation, IT is used again so that they continue to provide their parent company with news. In fact, our trains communicate with the ground using SIM cards which are installed on each train, independently of each other. And as a result, it allows us to see in real time the remote diagnostic information of the train and any possible breakdowns that may occur on the various equipment present and which manage the functionality. There are two types of alerts which are coded either directly in the software during the development of the train and therefore these will automatically report to us via the tool as damage present on the equipment and will trigger interventions. And after our growth teams, reliability also relies on all failures that they have been able to observe in the past months to capitalize on this feedback and set up new alerts that we will code directly into the fleet supervision tool. We see the map of France with all the regions and we have no red dots, so there are no points in a critical situation. Orange dots correspond to medium level alerts and therefore do not directly impact train operations. So right now there is nothing significant on the fleet. The Régiolis fleet is a particularly reliable fleet, recognized by SNCF. It is one of the rare trains that was able to come out of warranty at the initial expiration of 24 months. So it’s a great success for our site and we see here through these indicators that the level of reliability is particularly good. And the same goes for everything that concerns the availability of the different fleets in operation. The construction of Régiolis should continue for a few more years on the site, but as it is far from saturating the factory’s production capacities, it should soon coexist with that of a new series in particular: the Oxygène trainsets, but for that , we will have to reorganize the workshops. The Reischsoffen factory, where we are in full transformation, we will welcome new projects. We are making space everywhere. We are in the process of reorganizing all of the manufacturing lines. We had almost 8 million euros of investment this year anyway. We buy new equipment, we prepare for the industrialization of new projects, new means of testing too. So, there it is, it’s still a small revolution for the Reichshoffen site since it’s been a few years at least 10 years since we started big projects like those we’re going to welcome tomorrow and that makes us feel good. good and we are happy to be able to share it. At the Reichshoffen site, we have enormous potential in terms of number of production hours. Today, on Régiolis, the line you installed is intended to produce two vehicles per day. So this is huge, which was basically the intention of the initial contract. Today, we have a much lower production rate. So in fact, the idea is to make room and leave room for new projects because there are in fact, there are a lot of them and therefore nevertheless, it requires a transformation and a real project, a real structured analysis which allows us to organize it in the right way. It’s true that the industry often has this somewhat old-fashioned image, I would say, where we don’t necessarily work in good working conditions, etc. We have also mechanized a lot at home, we have lots and lots of room to know how. It’s really the railway, for me, that’s the characteristic, is that we leave a lot of room for know-how. So people like that. There are people who can find vocations, I’m talking about vocations, eh, I’m really talking there. And all that coupled with the passion also for the finished product, for me, it’s an equation that works and there is really a future in the railway industry, there are plenty of jobs, there are plenty of job offers all over France, not just here. And I think it’s a sector that must continue to attract. It just needs to be a little more known. I hope that this report will help to do so and I suggest that you make an appointment to follow the rest of this industrial adventure and discover the innovations which will undoubtedly make their appearance during the launch of this new production line. And you ? Do you work or have been employed in the railway industry? If not, would you like to or could have pursued a career there? Tell me in the comments. And while waiting to see you next week, I can only advise you to see where to watch the first part of this report.