Run2Rail to investigate carbon fibre and 3D printed parts for trains

A key part of the €2.7m EU-funded Run2Rail project is being led by researchers at Huddersfield University’s Institute for Railway Research (IRR), and will consider the use of novel materials in the running gear of trains.

This could reduce the weight of bogies while maintaining their strength, according to Prof Simon Iwnicki, director of the IRR.

As part of the project, which also includes Politecnico di Milano, consultants RINA and the Italian engineering and design company Blue Group, the researchers will investigate novel designs for two types of rail vehicle: a low-speed metro train and a high-speed intercity vehicle.

“With the low speed vehicle we are thinking that instead of having two bogies underneath, each with two wheel-sets and an axle, we would have either one wheel-set at each end of the vehicle, or four separate wheels,” said Iwnicki.

For the intercity train, the researchers will consider novel body shell construction, he said.

Once they have modelled the two vehicles, the researchers will carry out computer simulations to calculate the loads on each of the components, before designing the materials to be used, he said.