Transportation and Rail

Reliable, high-quality lifting and motion control products that keep transportation moving.

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Whether repairing and maintaining rail cars, controlling locomotive equipment or securing loads for transport, Columbus McKinnon products are there to keep things moving. 

When it comes to maintenance and repair, our extensive line of actuators, hoists and crane components help lift, move and precisely position transportation vehicles and components, allowing technicians to get their job done efficiently and safely. 

When vehicles are out on the job, Columbus McKinnon products are used for everything from controlling doors to entire trains. Bus drivers rely on our Duff-Norton-brand actuators to open and control bus while operators use our Magnetek-brand radio remote controls to easily maneuver train cars in the railyard. 

Columbus McKinnon is also a premier manufacturer of American-made chain and forged attachments for the heavy-duty trucking industry, including load binders, binder chain assemblies, and hooks. Our extensive line of load securement equipment provides strength and reliability along with a low total cost of ownership. 

Brands Serving the Transportation and Rail Industries

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Transportation and Rail Case Studies

Browse all of our Transportation and Rail case studies from helping keep airport trams running and heavy-duty vehicle lifts for maintenance shops to specialized wire rope hoists helping construct a tunnel through the Alps.

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Load Securement: Know your Transport Binder Chain Assemblies and Load Binders

Do you know the origin of your Transport Binder Chain Assemblies and Load Binders? Choosing the best product for your load securement job can be a difficult task, with so many options to choose from on the market. If you’re comparing costs and quality, or trying to meet domestic-only product requirements for a project, it’s important that you know where your product is coming from.

Load Securement Application

STAHL CraneSystems Supplies Technology for Railway Car Repair

The Russian/Belarusian joint venture, Osipovichi Wagon Works, was building a new factory for manufacturing and overhauling tank and freight wagons and needed a complete lifting system for the facility. Specifically, Osipovichi needed 36 double girder overhead traveling cranes, including 71 wire rope hoists, 88 end carriages and necessary controls. That's where STAHL CraneSystems' products came in.

STAHL CraneSystems Hoist for Rail Car Repair

People mover trams play a critical role in large airport operations, and in some cases can operate up to 7 days a week, 365 days a year. At the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport, the challenge was finding a U.S.-based single-source supplier for the actuators required to maintain tram operations in both a timely and cost-effective manner.

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Magnetek-brand products have helped railyards increase productivity, enhance safety, and reduce labor costs. The smallest modular locomotive control system in the industry, Magnetek Railyard Radio Remote Control Systems technology combines a lightweight, comfortably contoured portable XLTX radio remote Operator Control Unit (OCU) with a Flex M fixed base receiver with all electronics and pneumatics in one cabinet.

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At Ealing Common depot, a railway service workshop of London Underground, the Tube trains used on the District line will now be maintained with the aid of a lifting system from Pfaff Verkehrstechnik GmbH, Kissing (Germany). On account of its futuristic design, the maintenance staff have nicknamed the versatile and unique dual-purpose system the "Transformer". A total of 28 stationary hybrid lifting jacks from Pfaff Verkehrstechnik with bogie lifting beams and body supports raise and hold the trains measuring up to 117 m long up to 1.44 m high, thus granting the engineers the greatest possible and safe access underneath the vehicle.

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BLS, a railway operating company in Switzerland, has equipped the modernised plant in Spiez with lifting jacks from Pfaff Verkehrstechnik for the maintenance of the latest generation of multiple units. Thanks to the wireless control of the entire lifting jack system via a WLAN infrastructure, flexibility during maintenance work is increased and there are no longer any troublesome control cables on the ground.

The 16 Pfaff-silberblau lifting jacks each have a load capacity of 25 tonnes and can lift and lower entire multiple units with a total weight of up to 400 tonnes and a total length of up to 105 metres for maintenance purposes, for example the well-known 4-carriage multiple-unit train “Mutz” with a total weight of 217 tonnes. Thanks to the new system, which can be extended to include further lifting jacks, the modernised workshops in Spiez will also be able to service 6-carriage multiple units in future.

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The system has a load capacity of 336 tons (56 tons per wagon) and is installed in 500mm deep foundation pits.

In terms of functionality, the system corresponds to an Underfloor Lifting System, i.e. individual bogies can be pushed & removed under the lifted vehicle.

The special feature are the all-round adjustable body support elements which can be adjusted electrically in all directions (up/down, left/right, forwards/backwards).

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