ABB is supplying specialized air-insulated single-phase medium-voltage (MV) switchgear to SBB, the Swiss Federal Railways, for Zürich’s Durchmesserlinie (DML) cross-city rail link project. A total of 33 panels of ABB switchgear will be installed in two substations - Bahnhof Lowenstrasse and Oerlikon Weinbergtunnel – to supply power for four railway tracks running beneath Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main railway station.
The MV switchgear that ABB is supplying for the DML project is a specialized, air-insulated, side-by-side mounted design developed for railway applications and rated at 15 kV and 16.7 Hz. The switchgear is provided in a metallic enclosure housing the different MV equipment and circuits. The circuit breaker cubicles are equipped with vacuum interrupted single-phase circuit breakers. Each cubicle is divided into two different compartments: a high voltage compartment including the circuit breaker, the busbar and the outgoing cable and a low voltage compartment for secondary circuits.

“This contract for the DML project is an important development for ABB’s medium-voltage switchgear business in Europe’s fast-growing railway industry. It continues our long-standing relationship with SBB, based mainly on supplying outdoor apparatus and trackside equipment, and further extends it to the supply of complete indoor switchgear solutions,” said Pablo Furrer of ABB’s medium-voltage business unit. “The key factor in winning this very competitive tender was our capability to deliver a cost-effective, high quality solution allied to our very fast response to SBB’s initial enquiry.”

The single-phase MV switchgear for the DML project forms part of a range developed by ABB to incorporate our expertise in rail best practices into simple and robust solutions, with minimal maintenance requirements, that are easy to install and commission as well as being easy to interface, adapt and integrate into new or existing installations.

The first 16 panels of ABB switchgear will be delivered for Bahnhof Löwenstrasse in September 2012, while 17 panels will be delivered for Oerlikon Weinbergtunnel in May 2013.