The level of interest in 3D Printing has greatly increased over the past few years. More and more companies in the railway industry have started integrating 3D printing technologies into their production and maintenance work. How well does this technology support the industry?

In the railway sector, building a good train requires a huge number of very high-quality spare parts. But what happens when these components break? If the part is recently manufactured part, it is quite easy to find another as the production line has not been terminated. However, when the component was built 30 years ago, it would be much more complicated to find the replacement part.

Most of the time, railway companies find out that the spare parts they need are no longer produced and it makes no economic sense to ask a traditional manufacturer to produce a small batch of spare parts.

To solve train obsolescence, the rail sector is thus increasingly turning to 3D printing. According to Railway Technology, this technology will “be able to put obsolete spare parts back on the market and reduce their manufacturing time by up to 95%.”

“Last year, GE Transportation, a division of General Electric, began early trials on using 3D locomotive components, stating that it will produce 250 different parts by 2025. Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch state-owned railway operator, is also experimenting with the technology.”

“Siemens Mobility, the rail division of Siemens, recently installed a 3D printer at its new maintenance facility in Dortmund, Germany. The depot has already printed spare parts for Düsseldorf Airport’s SkyTrain, a fully automatic suspended cabin railway that connects different terminals of the airport.”