Ensuring sustainable mobility is a key challenge for society as a whole, while also offering considerable opportunities to capture new markets and market segments. At InnoTrans, SIMONA intends to present these new market options to industry experts and qualified end users of thermoplastics within the rail vehicle sector.

The company has developed a range of innovative, lightweight, low-flammability and recyclable thermoplastics – SIMORAIL. Its target groups include designers, rail vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers and thermoformers. In this complex and demanding segment, SIMORAIL products meet new, more stringent fire standards, such as EN 45545 or NFPA130, while also allowing for customised shapes and colours. Thanks to their outstanding material properties, SIMORAIL products can also be deployed in other mobility sectors. In fact, the thermoformed components are equally suitable for trucks, buses and even ships.

Compared to other materials such as metal or glass-fibre-reinforced thermosets, SIMORAIL sheets offer significant weight savings combined with high impact strength. What is more, parts made of SIMORAIL plastic are easier to handle, thus helping to reduce transport and shipping costs. The result: lighter trains – contributing to a reduction in energy consumption and overall costs.

SIMORAIL plastics, unlike metals or thermosets, which have to be painted, have a continuous colour that is not just restricted to their surface. Thus, the repair and maintenance costs associated with chipping or fading of painted surfaces are reduced throughout the life of the part.

Furthermore, SIMORAIL sheets make a valuable contribution to the conservation of resources by replacing heavier materials and thus reducing CO2 emissions. Thanks to their special properties, SIMORAIL sheets are also particularly durable and can be fully recycled at the end of their service life. As early as at the production stage, material waste is returned to the production process, thus guaranteeing minimal material loss along the entire production chain.

To ensure consistently high quality, SIMORAIL products are manufactured under strictly monitored conditions. Therefore, the sheets have an excellent surface quality and offer exceptional processing properties. SIMORAIL sheets can be used to form highly intricate parts in short cycle times, while retaining the overall surface structure with uniform wall thicknesses.

In the future, the business line plans to roll out additional surface modifications. These will include a coating that offers special protection against graffiti. Currently, the removal of graffiti costs transport companies, such as Deutsche Bahn, roughly €100 per m². Companies would be able to scale back these costs, at least for the interior, by using SIMORAIL materials.

Visit SIMONA AG at InnoTrans 2022 in Hall 1.1, Stand 500.


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SIMONA – Global Thermoplastic Solutions

SIMONA AG is one of the leading manufacturers of thermoplastic products with production facilities and sales offices around the globe, as well as an acknowledged development partner within this field. The company's portfolio includes semi-finished products (sheets, rods, profiles, welding rods), pipes and fittings. SIMONA employs approx. 1,600 people worldwide. The Group manufactures 35,000 products in Germany and abroad, offering best-in-class solutions tailored to a wide range of applications in the fields of industry, infrastructure, mobility, building, advertising and aquaculture. Annual production exceeds 150,000 tonnes. SIMONA AG is a stock corporation listed in the General Standard. The company's registered office is in Kirn, Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). For further information, please refer to www.simona.de.
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