A section of the track was electrified on the territory of the Northern Mining and Processing Complex (Metinvest Group). The expected economic effect of the innovation exceeds UAH 20 million.
The railway transport department of the Northern Mining and Processing Complex implemented a project to electrify a section of the track on its own, which reduced diesel fuel consumption. According to the production volumes approved until the 2026 business plan, the economic effect of the innovation is expected to exceed UAH 20 million.
It is specified that one of the technical processes currently performed by railway workers is the delivery of rock overloading to build up the sides of the tailings pond. The rock is transported from the Hannivsky quarry to the tailings dam at three reception points, where excavators are located. Transportation is carried out by 2TE10M diesel locomotives or “turntables” consisting of 10 dump trucks running on diesel fuel.
“To reduce the cost of transporting rock to the tailings dam, we implemented a project to electrify one section of the track 2.4 km long, which runs from crushing plant No. 2 to the excavator. To implement the plan, we used materials that remained after working out the faces during the quarry’s production activities,” said Denis Maslak, Deputy Chief of Operations for the UZT of the Northern Mining and Quarrying Complex.
The UZT contact network service played a key role in electrifying the section of the track.
“For the installation, we used goods and materials that were in use but in satisfactory technical condition, including supports and suspensions, insulators and contact wire. When we started planning the work, we encountered technical issues. We had to lay a contact network under two overpasses. It was decided to create special structures for reliable and safe maintenance of the contact wire. Our colleagues, track fitters, helped us. They made a deepening of up to 2 m for the structures under the overpasses, and then leveled the terrain and relaid the damaged links of the railway track. In general, everyone worked professionally and the designated section was electrified,” emphasized Andriy Kovalevsky, head of the contact network maintenance section of the UZT Northern GOK.