Siemens automates transshipment railroad station on Norway‘s northern coast

Siemens has been contracted by the Swedish mining company Bergbaugesellschaft Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) to equip the Narvik transshipment railroad station in Northern Norway with signaling and instrumentation and control technology. Siemens is supplying the MK2 interlocking, the Rail 9000 operations control system, 60 Type ACM200 axle counting systems, a container for the indoor systems, a diesel emergency power unit, shunting signals and derailers.

Narvik lies north of the Arctic Circle and is a vital port for the shipment of iron ore, and since 1902 has been the most important harbor facility for the transportation of ore from the Swedish town of Kiruna. Thanks to the warmth of the Gulf Stream, the port remains ice-free all the year round. The iron ore from the pits belonging to mining company LKAB is transported some 180 kilometers by rail from Kiruna in Sweden. The Kiruna line has been operating since 1903, initially using steam locos and today with electric locos, hauling trains of up to 8500 tonnes.

This year Siemens has modernized not only Nravik but also Maschen, the biggest classification yard in Europe and the hub of European rail freight traffic. Siemens equipped both hump facilities in that classification yard with ultramodern Trackguard Cargo MSR 32 type hump control technology. This includes the route and speed control units for all points, retarders and propelling systems, as well as the radio-based integration of the humping locomotive for variation of the humping speed. What’s more, Siemens supplied and installed Trackguard Retarder TW-F/ TW-E type top hump, lower hump and classification track retarders.