Bogies / Wheelsets supplement

• An update on Bombardier’s Bogie Technical Centre
  In Global Railway Review Issue 4 2014, Bart Vantorre, Head of Bombardier’s Business Unit Bogies gave an overview of Bombardier’s Bogie Technical Centre (BTC) detailing the key facts and the motivation why such an institution was being established. Now, Heiko Mannsbarth, Head of Engineering, Products & Customer Support and Guido Bieker, Head of Structural Mechanics and Tests at the Business Unit Bogies, focuses on the current status in terms of staffing, product development and testing facilities at the BTC…
• Mechatronic bogies: what are the benefits of adoption and how do we reduce the risks?
  The School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering with the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University (UK) are undertaking innovative research that is exploring concepts and issues associated with mechatronic railway vehicle bogies. In particular, it considers how the reported benefits of these sub-systems, such as reduced complexity and less track wear, are balanced against perceived risk of their adoption on to a rail network. The work is also investigating how any identified risks with the technology could be reduced to a level equivalent to that accepted for current ‘passive’ bogies by the implementation of advanced condition monitoring techniques. This project is set within the context of a progressive and ambitious UK Rail Technical Strategy and the Rail Value for Money Report that both emphasise the need to reduce operating costs through the implementation of disruptive technology, such as the increased use of mechatronics on rolling stock. Christopher Ward, Mitixa Jani and Sarah Dunnett from the School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, provide further details…