ELG Carbon Fibre, a market leader in recycled carbon fibre products, is taking a prominent role in a project to develop a novel composite bogie frame for use in rail vehicles. The project, for which the UK’s RSSB (Rail Safety Standards Board) has awarded a grant of £1.25M, aims to both reduce weight and optimize vertical and transverse stiffness in order to decrease vehicle operating costs, infrastructure damage and environmental impact. Benefits that the project aims to deliver include:
1- Reduction of track wear and hence infrastructure maintenance costs by reducing vertical and transverse loads on the rails
2- Improved reliability and operational availability through the use of an embedded health monitoring system
3- Reduction in energy consumption and global warming footprint