New Wheels, New Wheelsets, New Bogies

Innovation looks nowadays linked only to digital revolution. Some concepts in the railway industry are so well established that re-thinking fundamental (structural) compo-nents of rolling stock seems impossible or useless. The authors believe on the opposite that modern simulation packages, advances in manufacturing processes and the use of new materials should be applied for a deep re-analysis of existing products in running gears, transmissions, structural elements and so on. This paper is the result of a long lasting R&D work that led to the development and patenting of new solutions, always keeping an eye on costs, industrial applicability and compatibility with the existing railway system. Therefore we are glad to introduce three major advances in the technology o safe-ty-critical components: a novel concept of tyred wheels (“Liberty wheels”) that dramatically impact on maintenance, an innovative wheelset (“AIR Wheelset”) largely improving safety (and reducing costs) and a bogie frame for freight wagons (“4L bogie”) that saves up to 3 tonnes vs. a conventional Y25 bogie and allows higher speeds. All these innovations were carefully assessed by virtual homologation and are ready for deployment. In one case (the Liberty Wheels) the development phase happily ended with tests on a real vehicle.