Six-column wireless lifting bank — EMU overhaul depot
Wireless-synchronised six-column vehicle lifting bank replacing an ageing wired system, recovering 1.5 hours of planned downtime per overhaul cycle.
Client: UK rolling-stock depot (confidential)
Challenge
A UK rolling-stock depot's 1990s wired lifting bank was reaching end of serviceable life. Mean-time-between-faults had dropped to under six weeks, and the bank's rigid synchronisation scheme couldn't accommodate mixed-class overhauls. Downtime per fault was averaging a full shift.
Engineering response
Somers Handling specified and installed a six-column wireless-synchronised lifting bank, capable of operating on mixed-class sets. Columns were drop-in replacements for the existing foundations. Commissioning was staged across three weekend windows so the depot maintained continuous operational capacity.
Outcome
Overhaul cycle time reduced by approximately 1.5 hours per vehicle set through faster lift-and-chock sequencing. Downtime from bank faults fell to under an hour per month in the six months following commissioning. The wireless control scheme also enabled a second team to run parallel bogie work during lifts.
The depot’s original lifting bank dated from the mid-1990s and had been through one major overhaul in that time. By late 2024 reliability had dropped to a point where planned overhaul slots were being lost to lifting-bank faults — and the rigid wired synchronisation scheme made mixed-class work problematic.
Somers Handling surveyed the installation over a single weekend window, scoped the replacement as six columns of 30 t capacity with wireless synchronisation, and sized the columns to fit the existing foundation pattern as drop-in replacements. Detail design, manufacture and factory-load testing took twelve weeks. Commissioning was phased across three weekend windows so the depot retained operational lifting capability throughout the transition.
Outcomes at six months
- Mean-time-between-faults moved from under six weeks to over six months.
- Cycle time for a standard overhaul dropped by approximately 90 minutes.
- The wireless control scheme let a second maintenance team work parallel bogie tasks during lift cycles, previously impossible under the wired regime.
Similar challenge on your site?
Send a short description of the load, environment and duty — a Somers engineer will be in touch within one working day.