3D printing on guard for passenger health
Is it possible to reduce the spread of the coronavirus with the help of 3D printing? Russian Railways decided to confirm or deny this suggestion. To this end, the railway operator installed 36 attachments for door handles inside the Lastochka trains. These elements were produced with the help of 3D printers.
The 3D printed attachments for door handles were delivered to Russian Railways (RZD) by Siemens Mobility. They were deployed on toilet and driver cab doors inside the Lastochka trains running in the Moscow area. For producing the 3D door attachments, Siemens Mobility used two Stratasys printers manufactured by the US-based company of the same name. The devices are installed at the Siemens facilities in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
With the help of the mentioned components, RZD intends to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and to safeguard passenger health. By using the 3D printed attachments, the customers travelling the trains are able to open and close the doors to the toilet with an elbow or lower arm rather than a hand. The same is for the train drivers that open and close the doors for entering a cab.
Lastochka trains
The Lastochka electric trains (‘Swallow’ in Russian) are based on the Desiro platform developed by Siemens Mobility. It is one of the most popular trains on the Russian tracks. Initially, Siemens Mobility manufactured the Lastochka units at its factory in Krefeld, Germany. Since 2013, the vehicles are being produced in Russia by Ural Locomotives, the joint venture of Siemens Mobility and Sinara Group.
There are more than 200 Lastochka trains running on the regional routes across Russia. 51 units of this type were equipped with computer vision in order to introduce the Automatic Train Operation (ATO) on the lines of Moscow Central Diameters in 2021.
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