Top mind-set - top wheel-set GHH-Bonatrans

TOP MIND-SET TOP MIND-SET - TOP WHEEL-SET - TOP WHEEL-SET

GHH-Bonatrans is a global engineering company and an undisputed leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality wheelsets for all types of rollingstock. With its centres for engineering excellence and unrivalled engineering expertise, the company continues to set the industry standard in the rail transport sector, as Philip Yorke reports.

GHH-Bonatrans has been contributing to the railway industry for more than 200 years and has been responsible for countless innovative engineering breakthroughs. The merger of the world’s two leading railway engineering companies, GHH and Bonatrans in 2014, generated a unique opportunity for international growth for the new company and a host of new innovative products.

From development and engineering to production and assembly, the complete rolling stock wheelset system is at the core of GHH-Bonatrans’ expertise. The company designs and produces the highest-quality wheelsets and their component parts for all types of rolling stock, including high-speed and mainline trains, metro, trams, locomotives and freight wagons. It delivers its products to more than 80 countries around the world.

Today the company’s comprehensive product portfolio has universal recognition for its uncompromising performance, technological advancements, rugged reliability, full-service solutions and top-class customer services.

Focus on safety and comfort

Wheelsets are the interface between the train and the core rail infrastructure and carry the whole weight of the rolling stock at speeds of up to 450 kmph. Consequently, each wheelset becomes

the safety-critical component of any rail-bound vehicle. Wheelsets move passengers through densely populated areas, so comfort as well as respect to quality of life and the environment play increasingly important roles.

The transportation of freight and passengers is a public service like any other and so GHH-Bonatrans strives to keep the world’s railway systems competitive with other modes of transport. Built to the most robust standards with service-proven design, the company ensures to deliver strict standards of manufacturing quality and a thoroughly tried and tested maintenance service programme.

Today GHH-Bonatrans represents an impressive part of the world’s history of wheelset design and manufacturing. Generations of experts have contributed to the evolution of the latest wheelsets. With more than 200 years of history in wheelset manufacturing, the company has earned an unrivalled reputation for its expertise. This is strengthened consistently by investments into highly specialised research and development, as well as in cutting-edge technologies. As a result, proven, new and innovative solutions are regularly launched into the rail rolling stock industry.

Innovation a top priority

Since 1808 GHH-Bonatrans has been involved in making the world’s most reliable and safe wheelsets and has developed an extremely high level of expertise making it capable of meeting any market challenges or advanced requirements for today’s wheelset solutions. This could never be possible without innovation being a top priority at GHH-Bonatrans and with it a clear focus on systematic research.

GHH-Bonatrans maintains its technological leadership by investing a significant proportion of its revenues on research and development and has set concrete long-term research targets.

The company’s focus is aimed at improving its current product’s qualities, performance, safety and comfort. The wheels of innovation never stop turning and new products that meet today’s latest challenges are the result of this dedication to research excellence. These groundbreaking new technologies can be found in the company’s latest “BonAxle” which is a unique, innovative inductionhardened component. It is the company’s solution to the global requirements of increased safety and reliability.

It also brings with it a significant decrease in life-cycle costs. This latest axle is likely to bring paradigmatic changes in railways across Europe and beyond. In addition, the company’s “BonStar” brand represents a family of new wheel materials for all types of passenger, locomotive and freight wheelsets. In comparison with the wheels made of standard EN grades, BonStar ensures 30 per cent greater life in mileage by increasing the fatigue limit in the wheel web significantly and by providing greater hardness and strength of the rim.

Longer, quieter lifecycles

BonaSilence is a family of dynamic noise absorbing systems developed by GHH-Bonatrans and it is possible to find the latest example of this unique product in the new metro cars for Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) supplied by Stadler. Here, driving and standard wheelsets are equipped with multi-segmented dampers, mounted on the wheels, are thus able to reduce the wheel rolling noise by 10dB in comparison with standard wheels. The dampers significantly reduce any squealing noise too. Expected lifespan of the damper is minimum 15 years, furthermore the special analogical damper can be designed to fit any new wheelset diameter. Super-resilience

The newly developed and super-resilient wheel for 12.5 t axle loads meets all the requirements for a resilient wheel, with tread diameters of 600mm new / 520mm worn and secures low radial stiffness at 20-40 kN/mm. The advanced design of all components has been enhanced and the rubber elements have been completely reshaped. Excellent strength of the ‘GHH-Ultra-S’ was verified by applying the German quality standards FEM analysis and assessment of stresses by application under FKM-guidelines. n For further details of the latest GHH-Bonatrans innovative wheelset products and services visit: www.ghh-bonatrans.com