The director of COMSA EMTE’s Technical and Innovation department, Valenti Fontserè, participated in the Rail Technology Conferences, rail innovation day events in Düsseldorf (Germany) from the 18th to the 20th of March which brought together various industry experts over the three days.
During the event, Fontserè presented the Neoballast project, an initiative led by COMSA the goal of which is to improve the properties of rail track ballast to reduce the level of degradation and lessen the level of vibration and noise from the tracks. The project is currently in the experimental phase and initial testing shows significant improvements in areas such as the extending of the useful life of the ballast.
Neoballast has the collaboration of the company Mapei, the Unversitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Adif and has already been presented in Paris (France) last December during the Ballast Issues & Challenges conference of the International Union of Railways. The initiative forms part of the INNPACTO programme, which boosts collaboration between public administration bodies and private companies on R+D+i projects to promote innovation, stimulate private investment, help the generation of employment and boost technological development.
