But it is not by changing the company colours, where blue and white continue to dominate. With the green colour, the company from Třemošnice, East Bohemia, shows that it has innovative, environmentally friendly products in its portfolio. This was also the case at the 14th edition of Europe's most prestigious railway fair, InnoTrans, which was traditionally held in the last week of September in Berlin.
DAKO-CZ is one of only three European manufacturers of braking solutions for rolling stock in Europe. And although it is the smallest in terms of capacity, it competes boldly with other manufacturers from Western Europe. Both in the quality and range of its product portfolio and in the number of innovative solutions. Among them, the Brake By Wire concept, an electromechanical braking system, has been around for many years. However, the innovations at InnoTrans represented the production of the Czech manufacturer belonging to the CSG group across its entire portfolio.
The company from Třemošnik, which is a traditional exhibitor at InnoTrans, presented more than twenty exhibits this year. DAKO solutions were also part of many exhibits of the company's customers, such as Croatian freight wagon manufacturer Duro Daković, Czech companies Nymwag CS and CZ LOKO, Italian company SVI, Swiss company Harsco Rail or Slovak company Tatravagónka.
The attention of clients, customers and the professional public was naturally drawn to the new products. DAKO-CZ has been supporting research and development for a long time, looking for innovative solutions, therefore at this year's InnoTrans it was able to present 11 products in a world premiere. Among the highlights were two new variants of DAKO electromechanical brake units, new electronic control units, the DAKO digital automatic coupler (DAC for short) for freight wagons or the DAKO digital solution for remote monitoring of freight wagons.
The future belongs to electromechanical brakes
DAKO-CZ has been setting trends in the development of electromechanical brakes for several years. Until now, it has focused mainly on trams and has already received numerous references in this area from several European cities. The magic of its Brake By Wire concept is that it replaces pneumatic and especially hydraulic braking systems. The Brake By Wire system brings a higher level of safety thanks to short reaction times, weight savings, simplified installation in vehicles for vehicle manufacturers and the complete elimination of oil management and the risks associated with oil spills into the environment. This is also why DAKO-CZ calls this concept the Green Solution.
"We clearly see a future in the development of electromechanical braking systems. Our aim is to stay ahead of the competition. Today, we offer electromechanical braking units for trams, but we are also preparing solutions for subways, complete train units and our thoughts are also moving towards electromechanics in freight transport. Electromechanical systems will become a substitute for pneumatic and hydraulic braking systems," says Stanislav Pometlo, Vice-Chairman of the Board and CEO of DAKO-CZ.
In this area, the company presented two innovations at the fair in particular in the form of disc brake units - an electromechanical brake unit for non-traction tram chassis and the DAKO KKBE unit for complete units and subways. Both are capable of serving as service, rescue, locking, parking and emergency brakes for vehicles.
Among the range of presented control units, the new generation of the electromechanical brake control unit iRB-06.1 was presented. Interestingly, this control unit, together with the disc brake unit for traction (motor) chassis and another novelty, the DAKO magnetic rail brake, forms the brake system to be applied to the Prague trams type 52T project manufactured by the Škoda Group. The first of the 40 sets ordered are to be delivered to the Prague City Transport Company as early as the end of 2025.
Automatic coupling and other premieres
Other major innovations introduced by the Czech manufacturer include the DAKO digital automatic coupler. This is a significant innovation in the process of coupling and uncoupling freight trains, which makes it possible to automate the entire process without human intervention. This solution is offered by DAKO-CZ in several versions: from the simplest, which ensures mechanical coupling of the train and connection of the main brake line, to a solution that allows fully automatic coupling disconnection and therefore does not require human intervention. Of course, this solution also includes the connection of the electrical and data lines.
"In Europe, an initiative has been underway for several years to introduce this solution as a Europe-wide standard for freight wagons, given that we are the last continent that has no automatic coupling standard in place and sticks to the concept of fully manual coupling using a so-called screw-driven coupling system. This issue has divided the professional community into two almost irreconcilable camps of supporters and opponents. At DAKO-CZ, we believe in innovation and see the automatic coupler as a tool that will enable a new level of automation not only for the coupling of trucks, but for the entire freight transport sector. That is why we decided to come up with our own alternative to traditional coupler manufacturers," says Miroslav Táborský, Technical Director of DAKO-CZ.
In the field of hydraulic braking systems, DAKO-CZ has introduced a brand new ENA combined emergency unit, which is designed to provide emergency braking of the hydraulic braking system in the event of a failure of the main hydraulic control circuit. The pipeline can be pressurised either manually using a hand pump or by using a hydraulic pump with an electric motor if an electrical supply is available. DAKO-CZ has also introduced a new flushing loom, which is used for oil filtration and flushing of the hydraulic circuit in trams.
DAKO-CZ did not remain aloof in the area of innovations in the field of pneumatic braking solutions either. The company has introduced a new disc brake unit that can be supplied to customers either with or without a parking brake. The advantage of these units is their compactness and low installation and maintenance requirements. Also introduced was the HFx panel, which incorporates pneumatic control of the passive braking system with a range of functionality from brake cylinder pressure monitoring to diagnostic capability.
Also of interest is the DAKO BECU (Brake Electronic Control Unit), the latest generation electronic control unit designed to control electro-pneumatic braking systems and more. In turn, the DAKO MBTD (Mobile Brake Test Device) enables diagnostics of freight car brakes. Live demonstrations of the automatic brake test were carried out directly in Berlin, on a GOK YAPI wagon from Turkish partner Gökrail, a new DAKO-CZ customer.
"In freight transport, one of the very hot topics is also the various internet devices and sensors. At the fair, we presented a digital brake switchboard and especially our own concept for a digital freight wagon based on a DAKO control unit, a range of wireless sensors and our own software platform. The main idea behind the solution was to present a modular system that is able to take into account the often very different requirements of potential clients," adds Miroslav Táborský.
DAKO-CZ thus proved at InnoTrans that it can set trends in the industry. The management of the company, which is part of the industrial-technological group CSG, supports development projects intensively. And although DAKO-CZ focuses on the development of electromechanical braking solutions, InnoTrans showed that it is not neglecting other areas either and is contributing to the future, digitisation and railway safety.
