Discover flaws as early as possible

Trains and railways are a critical part of the public transport infrastructure. Rails as well as rolling stock components such as wheelsets, wheels and axles are subjected to large dynamic loads. Testing these components with non-destructive testing methods during the production process and recurring tests during their service life are crucial to meet quality and safety standards, extend service life and detect potential damage as early as possible. Our automated and mechanized inspection solutions inspect safety-critical components in the rail sector for internal and surface defects both during production and maintenance.

Our solutions for railway

Rosenxt - Non destructive testing of railways with our RAWIS

Detect failures during production

Railway wheels are exposed to great dynamic stress. Even the smallest defects can lead to failures during operation, posing a risk to people and the environment. The finished rolled rails are also subjected to a strict quality control process during production in the rail rolling mill. For this reason, rails as well as wheels and other rolling stock components must undergo non-destructive testing during the manufacturing process in order to detect any material discontinuities that may occur during production.

Process optimization

Modern production facilities for railway wheels are highly automated. The transport of wheels between the various production machines is carried out with automatic manipulators. Modern testing solutions must therefore be optimized for the production process, equipped with future-proof testing technology and designed to be maintenance-friendly. Factors such as high machine availability, long lifetime, short conversion times for profile changes, and short maintenance and repair times with simultaneously improved inspection resolution play an important role here.

Railway inspection requirements

New rails, railway axles or wheels must be tested during production according to international or local standards or according to the delivery specifications of the end customers. For this reason, the testing systems are designed to be used flexibly. Typical internationally common standards for testing during new production are:

  • EN 13261 for railway axles
  • EN 13262 for railway wheels
  • ISO 5948 for railway axles and wheels
  • EN 13674-1 for rails


Examples of regional standards are:

  • IRST-12
  • IRS R-34
  • IRS R-19/93
  • AREMA
  • AAR M-101
  • AAR M-107/M-208

Support on other regulations is available on request.

As part of maintenance, railway wheels, solid axles, hollow axles and wheelsets are inspected for laminations, cracks and volumetric defects. This is done either on the train or during refurbishing in the wheelset repair workshop using non-destructive methods such as ultrasound and eddy current according to the operator's specifications. Since the specifications for the inspection task are usually customer-specific, the technical design of these systems is based on the customer's specifications.

Typical inspection tasks are:

  • Identification of cracks on the tread and on the rim
  • Inspection of laminations below the tread
  • Detection of transversal cracks on outer surface of the axle
  • Identification of volumetric defects on axle and rim
  • Coupling control