The freight division of the Swiss Railways, SBB Cargo, works on the prototype car of the future, less noisier, lighter and more efficient than the current vehicles. The test phase will begin in the middle of 2017 with sixteen prototype and container ships. The test will last for four years and will allow to check the innovative materials and systems that integrate the new freight car and. This is the result of the collaboration of numerous suppliers and industrial partners of CFF.
The bottom line is that SBB Cargo will be able to make 5 to 10 decibels less noise and reach the level of a passenger train.
The prototype is now available in Switzerland before the approval for the regular operation and from 2018 also international. It is intended for use in the express freight network at 120 km/h.
The project is known as “Train 5L” for the five Germans letters with which thw words begin, “leise” (quiet), “leicht” (light), “laufstark” (performant), “logistikfähig” . As for the logistic requirements there is “life-cycle-cost orientiert” (with reduced life cycle cost).
For the new cars, whose bogies are adjustable and are not fixedly mounted, disc brakes replace traditional pads and the axles are fitted with a buffer, making them even quieter than those with base composites.
They will also be equipped with four different automatic coupling types, an important step in the way of the automation of the operation.
SBB Cargo has developed this train in collaboration with the Technical Innovation in Rail Freight, Technischer Innovationskreis Schienengüter-verkehr (TIS), and with fifteen manufacturers of equipment and components. The project is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and Transport (FOEN) and the Swiss Federal Office for Transport (FOT).
With its “5 L Future Initiative”, the merger aims to create the foundations for the “Rail freight wagon 2030”.
Foreign goods trains – on transit routes make up about two-thirds – are still allowed to rumble through Switzerland by the end of 2019; But from 2020 on to noisy cars the passage is forbidden. However, if the EU does not enact its planned new regulations until 2022, Switzerland will postpone its ban until then.
© Photo SBB
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