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FFU synthetic wood

compounded to produce the perfect material

FFU synthetic wood was developed in 1978 and has proved an excellent solution since 1980 on more than 1,500 km of track.

This technology is currently applied in Europe in the form of top quality, long-life railway sleepers for switches and crossings, railway bridges and level crossings.

In 2007, 2010 and 2017 we visited the factory in Japan and held technical discussions on product optimisations and new applications

Approvals procedures Europe

2008 – positive analysis report by the Technical University Munich
2008 – positive life-cycle cost analysis by the Technical University Graz
2009 – approved by the EBA (German Federal Railway Authority) for operational trials
on the German rail network
2017 – final EBA approval for Germany
2012 to 2014 - approval procedure of the BAV (Federal Office of Transport) Switzerland
2018 – final approval in Switzerland
2012 to 2018 - approval procedure UK
2016 – final approval London Underground
2018 – final approval Network Rail
2015 – approval procedure Holland
2017 – approval procedure SL Project, Sweden
Since 2017 - approval procedure PKP Poland

Marketing

Since 2008 technical presentations internationally
Website, marketing literature and processing instructions
Articles in international railway engineering journals
Trade show stand design, attendance and client consultation during the show

Market launch

2008 – first switch in Germany
2009 – first ÖBB level crossings
2010 – first double-slip diamond crossing for the ÖBB in Austria
2010 – several switches on FFU synthetic wood for the local transport organisations in Hamburg (Hamburger Hochbahn) and Munich (MVV)
2011 – first operational trials on bridge projects for Deutsche Bahn
2012 – two switches and crossings for Deutsche Bahn at Würzburg Station
2012 – bridges in Holland
2014 – first projects in Switzerland and UK
2015 – first projects in Belgium and France
2016 – first projects in Norway and Hungary
2017 – first projects in Sweden and Ireland
2018 – first projects in Italy and Finland

By 2018 FFU was installed on more than 200 switches in Europe and more than 100 bridges.