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Several passengers were injured as a Sydney Trains passenger service failed to come to a safe stop at a platform at Richmond Station. The incident however could have been far worse had the end stop failed to absorb the impact and keep the train on the track. The end stop performed above its specification in dissipating the energy created by the impact. This ought to come as a wake-up call to the industry: if trains are travelling into stations at higher speeds, then there is clearly a need for investing in higher capacity end stops to prevent passenger injury.
The end stop which took the hit was manufactured by Oleo International, a global leader in energy absorption hydraulics. Oleo has earned an outstanding reputation for high quality end stop products which have been installed on railway networks throughout the world.
End stop systems are critical in absorbing the impact when trains fail to stop or slow down sufficiently at the end of a line. They protect passengers, rolling stock and infrastructure and the incident in Sydney highlights the role this technology plays in rail safety.
Oleo has been designing and manufacturing energy absorption solutions for over 60 years and supplies a wide range of end stop products to the rail industry. Its ongoing commitment to research and development ensures it continues to innovate and add new products and services to its portfolio.
As safety concerns continue to move further up the agenda, Oleo’s end stop technology is being employed by an ever-expanding range of international customers. Oleo’s distributor for Australia, State Wide Bearings Plus, are looking to purchase a number of additional end stop products from the UK-based manufacturer which has been approached by a number of other rail companies keen to exploit its safety technology.
SWB is the distributor for Oleo’s products across Australia and New Zealand and has represented the company for the last three years.
Tony Williams from SWB said: “The quality, high performance and reliability of the Oleo products is undisputed, which came to the fore during the recent crash incident at Richmond Station in Sydney NSW Australia.
With the valued help and input from the Oleo design engineers, SWB are now working directly with Sydney Trains NSW project management team to replace the damaged end stops at the Richmond station, with the latest Oleo upgraded designs”.
Oleo International’s Chairman, Sul Sahota said: “Fortunately, these incidents occur very rarely. Yet what happened in Richmond demonstrates how critical effective safety systems are. Our commitment to quality and safety is recognised throughout the rail industry and our end stops are being used on networks across the world. We also work with customers to meet bespoke requirements and will continue to invest in the very best energy absorption technology.”