Lifting & jacking equipment

Lifting and jacking equipment raises railway vehicles or their components to the working height required for maintenance, inspection, or component exchange, and enables bogies to be separated from vehicle bodies.

Stationary underfloor lifting systems are installed into the workshop floor below the track. When a vehicle is positioned over the system and the lift actuated, columns or platforms rise to engage the vehicle underframe, raising the complete vehicle.

These installations are common in high-throughput depots where consistent positioning and rapid deployment matter more than flexibility. Once the vehicle is raised on supporting columns, the bogies can be lowered on drop tables and moved to the bogie workshop.

Alternative for depots

Mobile column jacks offer an alternative for depots where vehicle types vary or where the floor layout does not permit fixed installations.

Each column is wheeled into position and its lifting arm engaged with a designated jacking point on the vehicle underframe. Wireless synchronisation controls across all columns coordinate the lift, with sensors correcting speed differentials between columns in real time to maintain a level vehicle at all stages of travel.

Column capacities range from 5,500 kg to 50,000 kg per unit; sets can be configured in any multiple of columns to match the vehicle weight.

Bogie-specific equipment

Bogie lifting platforms are mobile units that run on workshop tracks beneath the removed bogie, raising it on an electrohydraulic system to a comfortable working height for inspection and component exchange.

Bogie rotators allow the bogie to be turned onto its side, giving access to the frame underside without the ergonomic hazard of working beneath a suspended load.

Bogie turntables transfer bogies between adjacent workshop roads or reposition them for different access angles. They run on embedded rails and are powered electrically or operated manually for lower-frequency use.

Standards and safety

Railway lifting equipment must meet the Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC), which requires CE marking and conformity assessment before placing the equipment on the European market.

Load ratings, overload protection, emergency stop functions, and synchronisation accuracy are verified as part of the conformity assessment. Workshop facilities using stationary underfloor systems are also subject to the Pressure Equipment Directive where hydraulic systems are involved.