Erik Stacke, Head of Switch Control at Magdeburg Transport Company (Magdeburger Verkehrsbetriebe), shares his experience from 11 years of operating the BluePoint switch point heating system. The tram network in Magdeburg comprises approximately 300 switches.

Magdeburg Verkehrsbetriebe (MVB) operates the tram network in the German city of Magdeburg, which has around 300 turnouts. In total, they use more than half a MW. Head of turnout control (Sachbereichsleiter Weichensteuerung), Mr. Erik Stacke, says that the collaboration with SAN Electro Heat began back in 2013. At the time, MVB had an old and unstable radio-controlled system, where the heating elements only heated between two fixed temperatures and often required manual intervention.

Challenge

“The previous system was energy-intensive, unreliable, and difficult to maintain, partly because spare parts could no longer be sourced. The system only offered a simple on/off function, and detected faults rarely made it to the control center. This resulted in frequent disruptions and operational challenges for MVB’s maintenance team.”

Solution -BluePoint reduced energy consumption by 50%

In 2013, SAN Electro Heat and MVB met and agreed on a test installation. BluePoint demonstrated energy savings of more than 50% as well as stable, modern monitoring software. “These were decisive factors in MVB’s decision to continue the collaboration,” says Stacke.

In 2015, a larger replacement of all turnout controllers began, and a few years later all of MVB’s turnouts were kept free of ice and snow with BluePoint. Today, this also applies to all future route extensions, rebuilds, and new depots.

The BluePoint system includes:

  • Corrosion-resistant heating elements
  • Controllers with 4G modem
  • City weather stations, strategically placed around the city
  • Online weather reporting – so the system stays ahead of the weather at all times
  • Control software (SCADA) that ties everything together

Today, the SCADA solution runs on Magdeburg’s own servers (on-premises). *

Results - Documented energy savings

Even after 11 years of operation, MVB continues to see that the system’s temperature control and weather forecasts deliver the promised energy optimization.

Erik Stacke says: “In particular, it should be highlighted that the system does not heat unnecessarily—even on cold winter days without snow. In other words, on the winter days of which there are most.” He continues: “The entire installation paid for itself in under five years. And BluePoint has also reduced our CO2 emissions by more than 60 tons per year.”

Flexible settings for local conditions

Erik Stacke emphasizes the importance of being able to set setpoints individually for each controller, making it possible to adapt for especially exposed turnouts—for example those at intersections with cross traffic—or to apply less heat to turnouts that are sheltered from the wind.

High operational reliability and minimal use of spare parts

Erik Stacke says: “The system is very reliable. We have virtually no problems. We had to upgrade to 4G when 3G was phased out, but since the controllers are built from standard components, it was a relatively straightforward task. SAN supported us throughout the process and ensured that the system quickly returned to stable operation.”

He continues: “They asked me whether we bought spare parts elsewhere. They were surprised they sold so few spare parts. But no—we buy all spare parts from SAN—the systems are just highly reliable,” Erik Stacke says with a smile.

Operational overview

BluePoint software (SCADA) gives MVB a consolidated overview of:

  • The entire city network on one screen
  • All turnouts (with operating information and alarms)
  • All weather stations (with temperatures and precipitation)
  • All faults and alarms (color-coded or in tables)

“The SCADA system gives us an overview of switch heating comparable to the screen view we have for our other technical systems. We are very pleased with that. Whenever we want, we can analyze all the data continuously logged in the system. Among other things, it can be used for energy analysis and for fine-tuning the systems’ energy consumption.”

Recommendations before investing in a new switch heating system

Erik Stacke says that if he were choosing a switch heating system today, he would focus on the following:

  1. Look for documented energy savings and reliability
  2. Choose a scalable solution with flexibility in design and settings
  3. Ensure that the controllers can regulate heating individually
  4. Prioritize a clear overview and simple alarm monitoring
  5. Choose a solution based on standard components—so you are not dependent on a single supplier
  6. Choose a supplier you can see yourself working with for many years to come

Erik Stacke said the last point with a twinkle in his eye.

*Most other customers choose the BluePoint cloud solution, which meets strict NIS2 cyber security requirements.

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