Lightweight bogie frame

Winner of the ERCI Innovation Awards 2020

Together with partners, we developed and implemented the technology for the first lightweight bogie frame using an innovative CFRP differential design.

This springboard innovation in rail vehicle technology was honored by the European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI) with the “ERCI Innovation Award 2020”.

The exceptional features of this lightweight construction innovation for rail vehicles are:

• Design and production appropriate for fiber-composite materials, involving dividing the frame into longitudinal and cross members, with a comparatively simple geometry
• Highly efficient production using highly automated, production-ready technologies (braiding and winding)
• Successful cyclical testing in accordance with DIN EN 13749 – more than 12 million load cycles at a load level of up to 160 percent of the normal operating load
• Exceptional dynamic drive properties
• Weight savings of almost 50 percent compared to the conventional steel design