On track with London Underground

A bonding process developed at TWI has helped London Underground Limited to make significant savings in its maintenance budget. Before development of this process, repairing motor packing plates, which maintain the gap between the axle and motor pinion, would have meant stripping the entire motor down to be returned to the original supplier for restorative work - an expensive and time consuming job.

At TWI, an adhesive procedure was devised enabling the plates to be bonded back in place on the motor within acceptable tolerances. Maintenance staff at London Underground are now trained to carry out this work themselves which will result in a significant reduction in downtime and costs.

For further information on adhesive bonding, please contact Andy Bush. E-mail: andy.bush@twi.co.uk