Finnish firm Desec has supplied two TL70 track machines to Iraq.

Iraqi Republic Railways Company received two Switch Laying Machines type DESEC TRACKLAYER TL 70 from Desec Ltd, Finland in March 2007. The contract includes also spare parts and large training package in Finland.

The Contract was awarded to Desec after international tender and hard competition. The contract further strengthens Desec Ltd’s position as leader manufacturer of switch laying machine in the world and in Middle-East.

The Desec Tracklayer (TL) is a multi-purpose machine for track renewal. TL’s speciality is turnout (switch) replacement. It is a unique machine since it can independently pick up track- and turnout panels from any place where they are laid or from a wagon, move them to the working site and install them to the track with great speed and accuracy. The machine grips the load being carried against the bottom of the Tracklayer’s body, so that no sag or distortion of the load occurs. In five minutes the machine can load and unload itself off and onto the flat wagon or trailer for transportation from site to site within loading gauge as an ordinary freight transport on rails.

Due to increasing requirements for fastness, cost-efficiency and quality in turnout replacement the DESEC Turnout Laying -system has increasingly replaced the conventional systems in turnout assembly and replacing.

So far 29 Desec Tracklayers have been sold to 15 countries worldwide.