Welding solutions

With the welding processes we have developed, practically every type of rail and switch type around the world, of various profiles and grades can be continuously welded. This guarantees a safe joint whilst, at the same time, increasing travel comfort and the lifetime of the rails. As an end-to-end supplier, we develop, manufacture and supply all components for our different welding processes.

As the inventor and global market and technology leader in the field of Thermit® welding, Goldschmidt has been setting standards for continuously welded tracks for 125 years. With our Original Thermit® welding processes, Goldschmidt enables the excellent joining of vignol, grooved and crane rails. Benefit from on-site services at the track construction site by highly trained and effcient welding teams. For internal quality assurance we use our digital Dari® systems, such as the Q-Weld App. This also allows us to provide our customers with quality data on completed welds on request.

For joint welding Goldschmidt also offers the E/111 process using rod electrodes and E/114 with self-shielded flux cored wire electrodes. These processes are mainly used for grooved and flat bottom rails on behalf of municipal rail operators or are used where Thermit® welding is not possible due to structural or physical constraints.

Wheel-bearing track elements on subway, tram, light rail and mainline railways, especially in track curves, are subject to high loads. As a result Goldschmidt is frequently commissioned to carry out maintenance work by welding. A large part of this welding work is the reconditioning of switches and frogs and the removal of operational damage.

We use mobile working units for the necessary welding work. This also allows work during normal operations without significant restrictions. We carry out the work on your track systems using the following welding processes, which we are constantly optimising:

• Submerged arc-welding
• Manual arc-welding
• Flux-cored wire welding
• Repair welding process Thermit® Head Repair

Depending on your requirements, we use special machines to recreate the original profile or the profile you require on the welded rails after the welding.

Railway tracks subject to heavy loads experience high wear after just a short time – our factory-tempered rails are perfectly prepared and last longer. Goldschmidt uses its many years of experience in maintenance also for new rails.

We weld-temper new rails with highly wear-resistant materials – and you receive a cost-effcient, comfortable and long-lasting product suitable for all new rail projects and renovation work. The reduced surface roughness of the used materials significantly reduces wheel tire wear by more than 90 %. We offer running surface welding for example on tight bends in dense residential areas, which substantially reduces noise emissions. The weld-tempering of new rails is made according to your requirements. For this purpose, we offer you various welding materials developed in-house for the running surface tempering – ET 2000® – as well as for the running edge tempering – ETEKA 5®.

This pays off for you in the long run with a longer service life for your rails, lower maintenance costs and lower noise emissions. And last but not least, it results in improved travel comfort and long-term reliability of rail operations.