At the beginning of October 2020 cracks in the wagon frame were detected in 6 Sggrs 80’ wagons used in Poland. The cracks were found in section A of wagon on two beams used formerly as a support for kingpin necessary for transport of trucks, near the torsion beam. Another company which is using these wagons was informed of this situation and they found similar cracks in 9 wagons. So far 152 wagons were checked and the cracks were discovered in 15 wagons.
Currently the problem affects 194 of Sggrs 80’, type S81-1 wagons, for which the ECM is AXbenet s.r.o. All wagons are registered in Germany. After modernization in 2016-2017 the wagons were authorized for placing into service by the Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (No 3143-31tka/135-3113#013 issued on August 10, 2016).
According to information received, all wagons are RIV-marked and are operated in international traffic from Poland to Germany and Czech Republic. The wagons with cracks are now withdrawn from service, their ECM and operators are verifying the state of remaining ones.
The Office of Rail Transport would like to remind the ECMs and the rail operators that there is a substantial risk of hidden damage to the wagon frame, which is not easily spotted during extended periods of normal operations. As in the case of Sggrs 80’ wagons, cracks can be located in places hidden under containers, where it is difficult or even impossible to see them if the wagon is loaded. The first of the damaged wagons were not discovered during normal operations, but when the wagons were transferred back to the owner after a period of lease.
Link to the detailed description of alert in Polish and in English.