The request we received from our customer Nedmag B.V. in mid-2023 was both interesting and challenging,” says Mustafa Akpinar, Team Lead Technical Support Standard Freight. Specifically, the Dutch company wanted to have 35 hopper wagons converted so that they could transport dolomite lime.
The goal was to make sure that the product could be efficiently loaded and unloaded.
A dusty affair
“One challenge in all this is the fact that dolomite lime is an extremely dusty product,” says Mustafa. “This, in turn, means that unloading needs to be as dust-free as possible.” The customer is able to do this thanks to its special unloading equipment, which drives right up to the hopper wagon’s unloading unit. But what was still needed was the right technical interface to the wagon.
“The request we received from our customer was both interesting and challenging.“
“We developed a new flat slide valve module for this purpose,” Mustafa explains. This module enables the sliders to be opened and closed pneumatically (i.e. by air pressure), which results in as little dust as possible during unloading. In addition, electric and pneumatic switches installed on the flat slide valve module also help with unloading.
before
after
On to the next challenge
But the challenges didn’t end there. “The wagons have to cover the distance from Hermalle-sous-Argenteau in Belgium to Veendam in the Netherlands,” Mustafa explains.
“To do this, they have to go through a tunnel that’s over 120 years old and simply too low for our wagons.” To make it possible for our wagons to still pass through it, they had to be lowered to a maximum height of 4.2 meters.
4.2
meters
The wagons had to be lowered by this amount.
But neither dust nor old infrastructure could stop Mustafa and his team. “We are proud that we were able to take delivery of the first hopper wagon converted to meet our technical and qualitative standards, and that we were able to carry out a successful test run at the customer’s premises,” he says. The remaining 34 wagons are to be completed and delivered to the customer by the end of the year.
3 questions for… Casper van Hooije
This project has become a success story not only because of the technical achievements, but also because of the close cooperation between Technical Support and Sales – right from the start. We asked Casper van Hooije, Head of Bulk/Intermodal Benelux, what made this collaboration so special.
1.
What was your role in the project?
As Head of Bulk and Intermodal Benelux, I was responsible for the sales component of the project. Specifically, this means taking on the special requirements of our customer and looking for solutions within VTG. I was able to do this in cooperation with Mustafa and his team.
How did the collaboration with the colleagues from the technical team work out?
Cooperation is key – also in this case. For me, it was the second time collaborating with Mustafa and his team and again, I profited from their technical expertise because the project was not a simple plug-and-play solution but required a great deal of discussion with the customer and technical finesse.
2.
This also included the biggest challenge in the project: modifying our standard freight wagons for the journey through the tunnel. Although the first test with a standard Hopper wagon was not successful, we succeeded in the second test run with the modified wagon.
3.
What did you learn from this project that could be applied to future projects?
This project is for the long run! Almost three years will have passed between our first test in the tunnel and delivery. I have therefore learned that, especially with technically demanding projects like this, not only is patience important, but it is essential to involve the technical colleagues as early as possible.
As a salesperson, you not only benefit from their knowledge, but also get an opportunity to present the company’s full technical range to the customer.
I also learned that even though you think you already have the best possible solution in the drawer, things can still change in real life. That’s why it’s worth investing time in a prototype. Plus: the world is changing so fast that there are also enough external factors that can have a negative impact on projects (and their completion), such as the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in our case, which resulted in higher adjustment costs. These then had to be discussed and approved by the customer again, although we already had an agreement. So, it’s even more important to use internal synergies and to react to new developments together.
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