Innovative rail clamp from smart-TEC for the Swiss rail network
27.02.2025
Tens of thousands of welds are made every year on the Swiss rail network to join tracks seamlessly. Each of these welds must be individually and permanently marked. This means that the relevant data fields are filled in and recorded directly on the construction site. This includes the signatures of the service provider and the client.
In the past, this process was completely paper-based. However, for the past two years, service providers from the rail infrastructure sector, such as construction and maintenance companies, have been recording the data exclusively digitally in a central database. This so-called repository is also used by the internationally active Walo Bertschinger AG.
The solution is based on two GS1 standards:
- The GS1 standard Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS) according to ISO/IEC 19987 and 19988 enables standardized communication of events such as welds.
- The use of unique, serialized GS1 keys, specifically the Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI), which is a worldwide collision-free, non-speaking serial number.
High-tech marking from smart-TEC
A rail clamp is attached directly to the rail base, next to or below each weld seam, on a durable aluminum plate from the smart-PLATE range. The GS1 key GIAI is lasered onto it.
Through years of field testing, GS1 Switzerland Solution Partner smart-TEC has developed a marking solution that can withstand the extreme conditions of rail operations.
smart-TEC offers GS1-compliant coding solutions for the railroad sector, including HF, UHF and 2D code technologies.
As an established provider of identification solutions using GIAI, smart-TEC is an important partner to the rail industry.
Our marking solutions are characterized by their extreme resistance to thermal, chemical and mechanical stresses and withstand, for example, heating by gas burners, ballasting and compaction of the ballast bed.All marking solutions from smart-TEC are individually customizable in terms of shape, size, imprint, frequency and material. Years of field tests have proven their reliability. The fastening options are also diverse and can be flexibly adapted to the respective application scenarios.
Thanks to our digital marking solution, the previously paper-based process is now carried out uniformly and digitally by all welding service providers throughout Switzerland.The process can be illustrated as follows:
- The ordered service is recorded as a project in the work preparation (AVOR)
- On the construction site, the smart-TEC rail clamp is scanned with the printed GS1 key GIAI using a reader. This allows all relevant data to be recorded on the move.
- The team leader and the client sign the digital log directly on site.
- After approval of the report by the AVOR, a PDF file and a machine-readable XML file in accordance with the EPCIS standard are automatically generated and stored in the central repository. The client can process this data automatically if required.
Outlook with regard to the Digital Product Passport (DPP)
Rail markings are becoming increasingly important, particularly in light of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) prescribed by the European Union. The planned revised Construction Products Regulation (revCPR) and the Ecodesign Directive (ESPR) will require energy-intensive construction products to be linked to globally unique identification keys and corresponding data in future.
This structured data is provided by the responsible companies in a database so that all stakeholders along the entire product life cycle can access it. The combination of the GIAI identification key, the smart-TEC labeling solution and data transmission via EPCIS has proven successful in practice.
