The bogie is being developed as part of a two-year programme delivered by a consortium of companies comprising of ELG Carbon Fibre, Magma Structures, the University of Birmingham and the University of Huddersfield with additional support from Alstom.

The new carbon fibre bogie is much lighter than models made with traditional materials which will reduce track wear and infrastructure maintenance costs while also reducing energy consumption and the trains overall environmental footprint. Sensors inside the Bogie will monitor any possible issues which would Improve reliability and operational availability.

There are significant potential benefits from adopting novel materials and construction methods in railway vehicle bogies. The reduction in mass results in energy savings but can also reduce track forces and improve dynamic performance. I hope that the tests on the CaFiBo bogie being carried out here at Huddersfield will help to encourage the railway industry to accept these new techniques. Simon Iwnicki, Director of the Institute of Railway Research at the University of Huddersfield

Over the next few months, the bogie will be tested on the University of Huddersfield’s state-of-the-art test rolling rig named the Huddersfield Adhesion & Rolling contact Laboratory Dynamics rig, or ‘HAROLD’.

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