Vienna - centre of excellence for climatic and comfort testing

By the end of 2002, the vehicle testing station at the Vienna Arsenal had been in operation for more than four decades, specialising in the climatic testing of rail vehicles. The facility allowed the weather conditions required for the testing of rail vehicles to be created and if necessary, reproduced in a test chamber at any time. Time and cost-intensive track tests were thus no longer necessary.

The tests were aimed at examining the thermal economy of passenger, special freight and refrigerated rail cars. Work in the vehicle testing station was primarily focused on determining heat consumption, heat losses, heat transfer coefficients and thermal comfort in rail passenger cars. The static chamber was mainly used for functional tests of all relevant rail car system components and for soak tests.

Vienna can look back on a long and internationally recognised tradition as a centre of expertise in climatic and comfort testing of rail vehicles. Many international long-distance and commuter trains passed their final exams in the Arsenal vehicle testing station before being placed on the track, among them the prestigious ICE and TGV high-speed trains.