Heidelberg Materials celebrated a milestone with the inauguration of the new sleeper production facility in Vislanda, Sweden. The investment of around 4 million euro enables efficient, high-quality and precision-safe production of railway sleepers.
The new production equipment includes seven 110-metre-long casting beds, a cutter, robotic assembly and handling, and an automated unloading conveyor. This ensures a capacity of 1200 sleepers per day. To build one kilometre of railway, 1666 sleepers are needed, and each sleeper weighs around 300 kilograms.
Heidelberg Materials, formerly known as Abetong, has been producing sleepers at the Vislanda plant since the 1950s. Today, Heidelberg Materials is one of two suppliers of sleepers in Sweden, with the Swedish Transport Administration as its main customer.
The previous production equipment was in urgent need of upgrading. Just over two years ago, the idea of a modernised plant became concrete. After the investment was approved in 2023, planning and preparation followed. In the summer of 2024, construction work started with demolition, new construction and installation.
In addition to more efficient production equipment, the Vislanda plant has gradually reduced the carbon footprint of its production, partly to meet the requirements of the Swedish Transport Administration.
Recipe optimisation, pellets for heating, recycled crushed concrete instead of virgin aggregate in the new concrete, LED lighting in the plants and transport that runs on environmental fuel are some examples of environmental improvement measures that have been taken. Overall, it has reduced the climate impact by 20 % in five years.
