Concepts and prospects for actively controlled railway running gear

Abstract

As active suspension control is becoming an established technology for railways, it is time to look forward to further extensions of the basic concept, especially its application in controlling the wheels and wheelsets of rail vehicles. This article reviews the background to the subject, including an identification of basic configurations and technology options, before providing a summary of known concepts and the corresponding control strategies. The final section speculates upon the longer-term trends, in particular, to suggest what will be the overall impact upon suspension design.

Keywords:

• Railway mechatronics
• Bogie control
• Independent wheels control
• Steering control