Case Study
Railway Substations Connectors
TE worked together with the French National Railway to help to build the South Europe Atlantic (S.E.A.) to shorten the trip from Paris to Bordeaux to just over 2 hours.
Extraordinary Customer Experience
TE's teams worked proactively with a customer to meet a double challenge. With the expertise of TE's engineers, an adaptive solution in the new railway traction substations was provided and products were installed only 3 weeks after the engineer's approval.
The Challenge
The South Europe Atlantic (S.E.A.) project was a completely new high-speed rail line in France between Tours and Bordeaux.
The S.E.A. has been built to connect Paris to Bordeaux within 2.05 hours.
For this project, a consortium of companies was in charge of the design and construction of the line and the high voltage substations. They required all connectors to be designed as per the French utility requirements.
TE has historically been an approved partner of the players of the French transmission and rail industries, for HV clamps and connectors.
The specific layout design of the new railway traction substations of the S.E.A required adaptive solutions such as busbars supported horizontally by post insulators. Consequently, the conventional connector solution did not fit this specific configuration.
For compact design reasons, the horizontal busbar arrangement was the solution of choice for the customer’s engineers. This new busbar arrangement required alternative connectivity solutions to conventional outdoor substation applications.
The Solution
Since the installers already completed the civil engineering work, we were asked to take up the double challenge of delivering an alternative connectivity solution within the initial timeframe.
Engineers and product managers of both companies worked proactively together to react in the most effective way. From the very first discussion, it was obvious that TE’s innovative SIMABUS connectors were offering a strategic advantage.
The first job was to define the most effective industrial approach, using some standard components, to meet the customer’s requirements. Based on detailed analysis and a modular concept, TE engineers designed a reliable and sustainable product solution with rapid delivery. SIMABUS connectors allow a fixed or sliding function to the connected tube. They can be installed independently in a vertical or horizontal position on-site without adaptation of the supporting structure.
The second challenge was to produce the requested parts within short lead time. SIMABUS connectors’ modularity allows us to manage available inventory on standard components.
Consequently, the design to the customer’s connector becomes fast to produce by assembling standard components.
Customer’s engineers fully approved SIMABUS connectors. The new connectors were installed only three weeks after making the decision on the proposed solution.
340
kilometers of rail lines
6,785
delivered connectors
3
weeks between the decision on the solution and the installation of the new connectors
“TE showed its ability to adapt to a very specific, challenging situation. Their team reacted quickly to meet our project requirements. This project needed a partner with experience in providing effective and reliable solutions for specific applications - within a short time period. TE is that partner.”
The Outcome
Customers often face issues in the field, which can strongly affect their execution planning. Thanks to more than 60 years of experience, TE could solve a major problem with one of its highly engineered connectors. TE’s experts avoided the commissioning delay of that substation which would have led to huge financial penalties. This is how TE provides an extraordinary customer experience.
Rework old technical specifications, optimize products to save costs, design products to fit any application, support customers directly in the field with technical expertise and much more: all are part of the job and of the daily business of TE’s team.
TE engineers are experts in designing and supplying products for harsh environment applications bringing more than just connectors. This experience reinforces the will to offer our customers worldwide an extraordinary customer experience.
