Advanced Engineering for Railway Rolling Stock: Moving to a New Engineering Dimension

The liberalisation of rail transportation in Europe, which started in the 1990s, has changed the railway market. The flow of goods is moving quickly over ever greater distances, while the logistics are becoming more complex.

Consequently, the manufacturers of rolling stock, namely locomotives, have to meet an increasing number of demands due to altered statutory requirements, as well as new standards and directives.

As most freight traffic in Europe is cross-border, in order to provide a competitive advantage, locomotive manufacturers must overcome a major challenge: interoperable services. In order to operate cross-border, manufacturers must support different catenary oltages (15kV AC, 25kV AC, 3kV DC and 1.5kV DC), different types of pantographs, different train radio systems, different loading gauges, to name just a few of the many national requirements.