Molinari Rail has successfully completed the operating licence approval for a special diagnostic vehicle of Swiss Federal Railways. Molinari Rail conducted the approval process for the modification of the original EuroCity donor vehicle with the Federal Office of Transport (BAV), prepared various simulation analyses and supervised type tests in Switzerland and Germany.
The increasing use of railway lines in Switzerland requires a more intensive review of the Swiss rail infrastructure. To ensure the availability of rail traffic, SBB uses special diagnostic vehicles. One of these is the pulled diagnostic vehicle (gDFZ), a converted EuroCity carriage. This vehicle, which has been in test operation on Swiss and German rails since 2018, was granted an unlimited operating licence in May 2020.
Molinari Rail carried out a running dynamics analysis on the vehicle for Infotrans. Using 3D multi-body simulation, running stability, derailment safety and wheel-rail forces were analysed. The challenge was to ensure optimum running behaviour for the modified wagon up to a speed of 200 km/h in accordance with the requirements of the relevant standard (DIN EN 14363 standard for the test for technical approval of railway vehicles). In addition, a running dynamics analysis for speeds of up to 250 km/h was also carried out to ensure that the special diagnostic vehicle could also be used for today’s high-speed routes in Switzerland.
The decisive factors for the comprehensive analyses by Molinari Rail were the significant increase in weight and the more stringent requirements for vehicles with pantographs, which necessitated the installation of new primary and secondary springs as well as a new roll stabilisation system.
In addition, Molinari Rail analysed the requirements for homologation based on the valid legal requirements for the converted vehicle, coordinated and agreed with the Federal Office. Based on this, the company carried out the homologation process with the Federal Office and all parties involved in the project and completed it with the unlimited operating permit.
The Russian company Infotrans, “Scientific and Production Centre for Information and Transport Systems”, has equipped this vehicle with measurement technology and converted it into a modern diagnostic vehicle. SBB AG also uses it to carry out interaction analyses between vehicle and infrastructure. For such work, the EuroCity wagon was equipped with sensors and measuring devices on the bogies and the wagon body, as well as two measuring pantographs.
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