SWITCH REPLACEMENT METHOD Russian patent published in 2002 - IPC

FIELD: railway transport; permanent way maintenance and repair. SUBSTANCE: all load-lifting operations are carried out by means of gantry lifts with telescopic rail grips installed on telescopic span beam equipped with rotary pivot. Gantry lifts are brought to place of work in assembled state with self-loading on vehicle on which they are turned through direct angle in plan. One and the same vehicles are used for transportation of new units ands those which are replaced. Gantry lifts are installed in zone of switches to be replaced and new switch unit is unloaded from vehicle, us lowered, and placed over unit to be replaced. Then they are connected by telescopic rail grips into one pack which is lifted, thus separating unit to be replaced from base. pack is shifted in cross direction through half of its width without getting beyond outlet of neighbor track and then, after disconnecting the pack, new unit is caught by rail grips, is shifted backwards and lowered near the unit to be replaced, then unit to be replaced is shifted and placed over new unit after which the units are again connected into pack which is shifted to center of base and is lifted into upper position. Then, after cleaning of base, pack is lowered onto base and old and new units are disconnected, rail joints of new unit are connected and unit to be replaced in lifted in upper position and the same vehicle is moved along restored track, and removed unit is loaded onto vehicle, with displacements of units carried out translationally. EFFECT: replacement of switches with provision of unobstructed motion of vehicles along adjacent tracks, with use of minimum working equipment. 2 cl, 18 dwg