Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. Develops Recycled Plastic Cable Cabinet for Platform Door Installation
- New product will help to reduce construction times when installing platform doors, which are being increasingly installed -
Furukawa Electric has developed a cable cabinet for platform door installation, together with East Japan Railway Company, Totetsu Kogyo Co., Ltd., JR East Consultants Company, and JR East Mechatronics Co., Ltd.
Platform doors, which are effective in preventing people from falling from railway station platforms, are being increasingly installed as Japan approaches the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Made from recycled plastic, these recently developed cable cabinets are lightweight and easy to work with—and also help to reduce construction times. Furukawa Electric began launching the product this fiscal year, and cable cabinets have already been installed in Ueno Station, Oimachi Station, and Tsurumi Station (East Japan Railway Company). The product is expected to be used in many other stations belonging to other railway operators.
Background
Cable cabinets for platform door installation store cables installed beneath the platform door. Until now, when installing platform doors on existing raised platforms, the edge of the platform would be excavated, a vertical steel sheet (5.0 m long) or the like would be used as a retaining wall, a metal cable rack would be installed, and finally a space would be left under the platform door to store power cables and the like for the platform door. However, transporting and installing these vertical steel sheets is labor-intensive, and it takes time to couple and fasten cable rack with bolts. Platform doors must often be installed quickly at night when trains are not running, so there was a real need for a more effective way.
Content
This L-shaped cable cabinet combines a retaining wall structure with a cable storage structure. Both functions are therefore performed with this product.
The lightweight product is made from plastic, making it possible for workers to transport and install it without heavy machinery. It uses a male/female coupling structure, eliminating the need to couple them with bolts. It can be installed much quicker than conventional products, and can reduce on-site work (including excavation and foundation construction) by half.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has tasked railway operators with installing platform doors in all stations that serve at least 100,000 people per day, by 2020. With current installation rates at around 30%, railway companies are working toward getting platform doors installed.
With this product, Furukawa Electric will help companies to install platform doors by reducing construction times.
About Furukawa Electric Group
Furukawa Electric (TSE; 5801, ISIN; JP3827200001) Group started business in 1884, when its copper-smelting facility and wire manufacturing factory was established. Since then Furukawa Electric has become pioneers in the latest technologies by addressing diverse technological issues. Furukawa Electric has released products in a number of areas, including telecommunications, electronics, automobiles, and construction, with the three types of materials it works with at their core, namely, optics, plastics, and metals. Many of these products have attained the top global market share, and all of its products have contributed to society in numerous business areas. Furukawa Electric reported consolidated revenues of JPY 843.3 billion (approximately USD 7.8B) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.
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