Railway | Wire, Hose, and Cable Shielding
 
Tenneco Systems Protection is the world’s foremost supplier of railway protective sleeving and shielding solutions for wires, hoses, and mechanical assemblies. As the proud designer and manufacturer of Bentley-Harris products, we offer a comprehensive line of high-quality solutions intended to protect or improve system performance across a broad range of applications.
 
Our full line of products designed for the railway industry has been extensively tested to the various regional requirements of our railway customers and can be used to protect wire harnesses and cable assemblies in several areas of a railway car including in the cabin, chassis, undercarriage, and within electrical cabinets. Applications include high-speed trains, monorails, rolling stock, and light rail. Our railway wire shielding, railway hose shielding, railway cable shielding, and railway protective sleeving are well known to provide excellent protection against the rigors of use and time.
 
Applications We deliver a full line of high-quality solutions intended to protect or improve system performance across a broad range of applications, including:
 
• Propulsion and Control
• Train Monitor Systems
• Door Systems
• Traction Control Systems
• Bogies
• Speed Control Systems
 
Railway Wire Shielding has several uses here are just a few below:
 
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Protection: Railway systems, especially electrified railroads, generate significant electromagnetic interference due to the high voltage and current levels used to power trains. EMI can interfere with the proper functioning of nearby electronic equipment and communication systems. Railway wire shielding helps reduce EMI by containing the electromagnetic fields generated by the railway infrastructure.
 
Protection from Environmental Factors: Railway tracks and infrastructure are exposed to a variety of environmental factors, including extreme temperatures, moisture, dust, and debris. Railway wire shielding provides a protective barrier for the cables, helping to prevent damage or degradation from these factors.
 
Mechanical Protection: Railway cables are often subjected to mechanical stress, such as vibrations and impacts caused by passing trains and maintenance activities. Railway wire shielding can provide a physical barrier that helps protect the cables from damage, ensuring reliable and safe operation.
 
Security: Railway wire shielding can also enhance the security of railway communication systems by making it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to tamper with or access the cables. This can help prevent disruptions or security breaches.
 
Signal Integrity: For communication and signaling systems along railways, railway wire shielding can help maintain signal integrity by reducing interference from external sources, and ensuring reliable communication between various Railway hose shielding railway components and control systems.
 
Environmental Protection: Railway equipment, including locomotives and rolling stock, operates in diverse environmental conditions. Railway hose shielding helps protect hoses and pipes from exposure to elements such as rain, snow, UV radiation, extreme temperatures, and atmospheric contaminants. This protection ensures that the fluids within the hoses remain at the appropriate temperature and free from contamination.
 
Mechanical Protection: Railway hose shielding is subjected to mechanical stresses, vibrations, and impacts during train operations, coupling, and decoupling. Shielding provides a physical barrier that helps prevent abrasion, punctures, and damage to the hoses and pipes. This ensures the integrity of the fluid-carrying systems and prevents leaks or ruptures that could compromise safety and performance.
 
Safety: Ensuring the safety of railway operations is critical. Railway hose shielding helps prevent fluid leaks, which can be hazardous if they lead to spills of hydraulic fluids, fuel, or other substances. Leaks can not only pose environmental risks but also create safety hazards for railway personnel and passengers. Shielding minimizes this risk.
 
Extended Lifespan: By protecting hoses and pipes from environmental factors and mechanical damage, railway hose shielding can significantly extend the lifespan of these components. This reduces maintenance requirements and associated downtime, contributing to the reliability and cost-effectiveness of railway equipment.
 
Maintenance Efficiency: Railway hose shielding can make it easier to inspect, maintain, and replace hoses and pipes when necessary. It helps keep these components accessible and in good condition, reducing the time and effort required for maintenance tasks.
 
Preventing Contamination: In some cases, hoses may transport fluids critical to the operation of railway systems, such as hydraulic fluids for braking systems. Railway hose shielding helps prevent contamination of these vital fluids, ensuring that they remain clean and functional.

 
Railway wire shielding applications in the real world:
 
Signal and Communication Systems: Railway wire shielding is commonly used to protect the extensive network of signal and communication cables that are critical for safe and efficient railway operations. These cables carry information related to track signals, train control, and communication between railway personnel. Railway wire shielding is a must in these situations.
 
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Protection: Railway wire shielding is essential to mitigate electromagnetic interference caused by various sources such as nearby power lines, substations, and other electrical equipment. Shielding prevents unwanted signals from corrupting vital railway communication systems.
 
High-Speed Rail Systems: High-speed rail systems require robust railway wire shielding to ensure uninterrupted data transmission and signaling, as well as to meet stringent safety standards. These systems often involve advanced technology and precision signaling to ensure safe and fast train travel.

Subway and Underground Railways: Subway and underground railway systems are located in environments with high levels of electromagnetic interference from electrical systems, tunnels, and urban infrastructure. Railway wire shielding is crucial to maintaining constant communication and signaling in these challenging conditions.
 
Tunnels: Railway tunnels, especially those in mountainous or urban areas, often require specialized railway wire shielding to protect against water ingress, corrosion, and EMI. The shielding helps maintain communication and control systems within the tunnels.
 
Railway Stations: Railway stations are key hubs for passenger and freight transportation. Railway wire shielding is used to protect cables that connect various systems within stations, including ticketing, security, lighting, and communication.
 
Crossings and Intersections: At railway crossings, where railways intersect with roads or other forms of transportation, railway wire shielding is used to protect cables involved in signaling and safety systems to ensure smooth traffic flow and prevent accidents.
 
Remote Monitoring and Control: In modern railway systems, remote monitoring and control are essential for efficient operations. Railway wire shielding is employed to protect cables used for remote monitoring, surveillance, and control of railway infrastructure and equipment.
 
Data Transmission: With the increasing reliance on data for railway operations and passenger information, railway wire shielding is essential to maintain high-speed data transmission between various points along the railway network.
 
Safety Systems: Railway safety systems, including those for train control and track integrity monitoring, rely on secure and reliable communication. Railway wire shielding helps ensure the integrity of these systems and reduces the risk of interference.
 
Harsh Weather Conditions: Railway wire shielding can protect cables from damage caused by harsh weather conditions such as rain, snow, and extreme temperatures, ensuring consistent performance of railway systems year-round.
 

Railway cable shielding and its applications:
 
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Mitigation: Railway systems, especially electrified railroads, generate significant electromagnetic interference due to high-voltage and high-current electrical systems used to power trains. EMI can disrupt or degrade the performance of nearby electronic equipment and communication systems. Railway cable shielding helps reduce EMI by containing the electromagnetic fields generated by the railway infrastructure, ensuring that sensitive equipment functions properly.
 
Environmental Protection: Railway cables are exposed to various environmental factors, including extreme temperatures, moisture, dust, and debris. Railway cable shielding provides a protective barrier that helps prevent damage or degradation from these elements, prolonging the lifespan of the cables and ensuring their reliable operation.
 
Mechanical Protection: Cables installed along railway tracks can be subjected to mechanical stress, such as vibrations, impacts from passing trains, and maintenance activities. Railway cable shielding helps protect the cables from physical damage, ensuring they remain intact and functional.
 
Security: Railway communication and signaling systems are critical for safe and efficient railway operations. Railway cable shielding can enhance security by making it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to tamper with or gain access to the cables. This helps prevent disruptions, vandalism, or security breaches.
 
Signal Integrity: Reliable communication and signaling are essential for railway safety. Railway cable shielding helps maintain signal integrity by reducing interference from external sources, ensuring that signals between various railway components and control systems are clear and consistent.
 
Safety: Railway cable shielding can contribute to safety by minimizing the risk of electrical faults, short circuits, or other cable-related issues that could pose hazards to railway personnel and passengers. Ensuring the integrity of electrical cables is crucial for safe railway operations.
 
Reliability: Railway systems depend on a wide range of electrical and communication cables to function correctly. Railway cable shielding helps protect these cables from external factors that could lead to downtime or system failures. This enhances the overall reliability of railway operations.
 

Railway Protective Sleeving - its uses and functions:
 
Cable Protection: The primary function of railway protective sleeving is to safeguard electrical and communication cables from various external threats and environmental factors. These threats can include moisture, dust, debris, temperature fluctuations, mechanical stress, and physical damage. The sleeving provides a physical barrier that shields the cables from these elements, ensuring their integrity and functionality over time.
 
Prevention of Mechanical Damage: Railway cables are exposed to mechanical stresses such as vibrations from passing trains and maintenance activities. Railway protective sleeving helps absorb or distribute mechanical forces, reducing the risk of damage to the cables. This is especially important for critical cables that control signaling, communications, and safety systems.
 
Enhanced Safety: By protecting cables from damage, the use of railway protective sleeving contributes to the overall safety of railway operations. It helps prevent cable failures, short circuits, and electrical faults that could pose safety hazards to railway personnel, passengers, and the equipment itself.
 
Longevity and Reliability: Railway protective sleeving extends the lifespan of cables by shielding them from harsh environmental conditions and mechanical wear and tear. This contributes to the reliability of railway systems, reducing the need for frequent cable replacements and maintenance.
 
Easy Maintenance and Inspection: Railway protective sleeving is typically designed to be flexible and easy to work with. This makes it easier for maintenance personnel to access and inspect cables when necessary. Maintenance tasks become more efficient as a result.
 
Cable Organization: In complex railway systems, there are often numerous cables running alongside each other. Railway protective sleeving helps organize and bundle these cables, reducing clutter and making it easier to manage and trace cables during installation, maintenance, and repairs.
 
Fire Resistance: Some railway protective sleeving materials are fire-resistant or flame-retardant. This added property can be crucial in railway applications, where fires can have catastrophic consequences. Fire-resistant sleeving can help contain fires and prevent them from spreading along cable routes.
 
Corrosion Resistance: Depending on the material used, railway protective sleeving can offer resistance to corrosion, which is beneficial in outdoor and exposed railway environments where cables are susceptible to corrosion over time.
 
 
Functional Solutions
With dedicated product lines focused on reducing the effects of mechanical wear, impact damage, and thermal degradation, Tenneco Systems Protection can help extend component life and reduce service costs. Additionally, complementary product families target thermal insulation, reduction of electromagnetic interference, and noise attenuation, as well as bundling and routing control, to ensure that systems operate at optimum levels and deliver the ideal user experience.
 
Engineering and Technology
Tenneco Systems Protection takes pride in being a solution provider and partner to our customers. Utilizing a customer-focused approach to quickly solve technical problems and support customer challenges, we aim to deliver the right solution for each application. From engineering in the field through new product design and testing, we strive to provide excellent engineering & technical support in all aspects of the engineering process.
 
Tenneco Systems Protection’s world-class technology centers utilize state-of-the-art test equipment to simulate real-life conditions, identify root causes, and evaluate product performance. Our continually expanding testing capabilities help to support our customer’s needs including qualification, validation, and application-specific testing.
 
Tenneco Systems Protection is committed to listening to its customers and continually evolving its product portfolio to meet the challenges and demands of the ever-changing marketplace. Drawing from a broad range of capabilities, and utilizing a variety of different materials, constructions, and design features, we can create new innovative product designs to meet the needs for performance, survivability, and installation.  Our railway wire shielding, railway hose shielding, railway cable shielding, and railway protective sleeving products stand up to the test of time.

 
About Tenneco Systems Protection
Tenneco Systems Protection was founded in 1924 as Bentley-Harris, acquired by Federal-Mogul in 1998, and most recently acquired by Tenneco in 2018. Tenneco Systems Protection built its foundation as a North American manufacturer of insulation sleeving for electronics, expanding into the aerospace market in the 1960s and the automotive market in the 1980s.
 
Today Tenneco Systems Protection continues to grow into new markets and geographic regions in order to meet our customers’ ever-changing needs. With sales offices, technical centers, and manufacturing facilities located throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, Tenneco Systems Protection continues to deliver innovative products to a broad customer base within a number of different markets including automotive, aerospace, defense, and railway, as well as a host of other transportation and industrial segments.
 
As the market leader in railway protective sleeving and railway shielding solutions, our goal is to deliver value through continual improvement in our products and processes by focusing on innovative product solutions, superior engineering and technical support, outstanding customer service, manufacturing excellence, and global presence.