Tuning von Güterwagendrehgestellen durch Radsatzkopplungen

Since 30 years cross anchor bogies are in service in South-Africa. Mileage of wheelsets is about 3 million km. Rails on lines where only vehicle with cross anchor bogies are running are not renewed even on sites with small radii. Theoretical consideration shows, its not pure chance but due to the advantage of direct coupling of wheelsets over indirect coupling by bogie frame in conventional bogies. Direct coupling devices as cross anchors, A-frame etc can not really be used to upgrade existing bogies. But radial arm coupling device of SCHEFFEL does. This upgrading allows to give existing bogies running behavior of South African cross anchor bogies. This is shown for Russian three piece bogie ZNII-H3 and normal gauge bogie Y25 running in western European countries with the aid of simulation results. Results of test runs with a Chinese three piece bogie upgraded with radial arm can not be presented for comparison as running behavior of original design is not available. But measurements confirm gain of stability and improved self steering capabilities of wheelsets in curves due to upgrading with the radial arm device for only $ 2000.