Morocco rail project uses recycled plastic sleepers

Axion International, which claims to produce the world’s strongest recycled composite plastic industrial building products and railroad crossties (sleepers), has announced the successful completion of its first project with ONCF, the national railway of Morocco. The project provided Axion’s patented recycled plastic composite sleepers for the North African nation.
May 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
5658 Axion International, which claims to produce the world’s strongest recycled composite plastic industrial building products and railroad crossties (sleepers), has announced the successful completion of its first project with 5659 ONCF, the national railway of Morocco. The project provided Axion’s patented recycled plastic composite sleepers for the North African nation.

ONCF, which budgets around 160kms of track to be replaced annually, operates more than 1,900 kilometres of track throughout Morocco  and carried over 29 million passengers last year. The crossties were produced at Axion’s manufacturing facility in Portland, PA and measure 9 inches x 5.5 inches (0.229m x 0.14m) and up to 14.4 feet (4.40m) in length.

Developed in conjunction with Rutgers University’s Materials Sciences and Engineering Department, Axion’s Recycled Structural Composite (RSC) material is inert and contains no toxic materials. It is impenetrable to insect infestation, it is made from virtually 100% recycled plastics and it does not warp, rust or corrode. Because it is lighter than traditional materials, transporting RSC is less expensive and reduces energy costs. In addition, RSC is recyclable at the end of its functional life.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New technology is changing the Weigh In Motion landscape
    June 5, 2014
    Exciting new weigh in motion solutions were showcased at Intertraffic. Guy Woodford reports For many years weigh-in-motion (WIM) has been used solely as a filtering mechanism to detect potentially overloaded vehicles, but introductions at Intertraffic may see that change. At the Intertraffic exhibition to unveil its Apollo range of British-manufactured axle weighbridges was Applied Traffic. The in-motion and static axle-by-axle weighing system offers slow speed and portable weighing solutions suitable for
    Read More
  • South Africa to upgrade public transport
    October 2, 2013
    Speaking at the launch of South Africa’s 2013 Transport Month, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters pledged to spend more than US$500 million on planning, building and operating integrated public transport networks in more than thirteen cities in the country. The major cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town have already constructed over 20 kilometres of dedicated bus lanes. Both cities will expand operations to carry up to 100 thousand passengers a day on each system, while the bus rapid transport system in Joh
    Read More
  • Siemens technology supports UK’s first connected road test environment
    June 2, 2016
    Intelligent traffic systems company Siemens has begun working on its latest Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) project, in a collaborative partnership to create one of the most advanced environments for CAV technologies in the UK. Together with nine other consortium members, the UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UK CITE) project will see trials on UK roads as early as next year, following a successful application for funding from the Government’s US%$144 million (£100 million) Intelli
    Read More
  • Robust enforcement strategy needed for free flow toll roads
    January 10, 2012
    Timidity has no place in effective enforcement operations on free-flow toll roads, says the NRA's Cathal Masteron. What's needed is a robust strategy which starts big and reduces in size over time, rather than starts small and gains a reputation for being easy to avoid
    Read More

Highlighted Content