The Wegberg-Wildenrath Test and Validation Centre () is a railway test centre owned by

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

near

Wildenrath Wildenrath is a township within the municipality of Wegberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town is situated on the Bundesstraße 221 between Wassenberg and Arsbeck on the edge of Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park and close to the borde ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany.

History

The centre is located on the site of the former RAF Wildenrath British military airfield. After the airfield closed in 1992, it was taken over by

which opened the test and validation centre in June 1997. It had five tracks over . By 2007, the railway test tracks had taken over considerable areas of the airfield, with all but the western threshold and overrun of the runway obliterated. The north-east dispersal is completely taken over by sidings, workshops and loops. Of the southern dispersals, the central and eastern are bisected by the main railway oval test track. There are ovals of track for testing trains, and various electrification systems. The test track is connected to the rest of the German railway network by a long branch line to the German portion of the

Iron Rhine The Iron Rhine or Steel Rhine (; ) is a partially operational freight rail corridor connecting the port of Antwerp (Belgium) and Mönchengladbach (Germany) by way of Neerpelt and the Dutch towns of Weert and Roermond. The Treaty of London be ...

freight railway, branching off near

Wegberg Wegberg (; ) is the northernmost town in the district of Heinsberg (district), Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Wegberg is situated between Mönchengladbach in the northeast and Erkelenz in the southeast; the town of Rhein ...

Testing

As well as Siemens the test tracks are also used by competitors such as

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...

and Stadler. There are of

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

and

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

tracks. The facility is used for technical acceptance tests and approvals of locomotives, rolling stock and trams under operating conditions, and personnel training. It has been equipped for trials with

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

References

External links

Test- and Validationcenter Wegberg-Wildenrath
,

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a division of Siemens. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedicated to rail technology and intelligent traffic systems, Railway Electrification, ...

Railway tests and test infrastructure right in the heart of Europe
,

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1997 establishments in Germany

History

Testing

See also

References

External links