Carrier wagons of the future
HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering, a HÖRMANN Group company, has developed a modular chassis on behalf of SBB Cargo. This offers flexible use for various transport tasks and superstructures with higher payloads. "Thanks to our extensive manufacturing expertise, we were able to bring the lightweight structural design of commercial vehicles to rail and thus apply a more cost-effective manufacturing process," says Mike Juntke, Project Manager at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering. This was achieved by utilizing existing synergies within the HÖRMANN Group, consisting of product development on the one hand (HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH) and production-oriented product design on the other (HÖRMANN Automotive Gustavsburg GmbH).
The development of the 5L chassis is the continuation of SBB Cargo's "5L train" project. 5L stands for "quiet, light, powerful, logistics-capable and life-cycle cost-oriented". The aim of the HÖRMANN Group was to develop a chassis and manufacture a prototype that combines the attributes of modularity, lightweight construction, economical production and a high degree of automation in the manufacturing processes. The welding effort is reduced, high-strength steels and their connection with riveting processes are used and integrated into a modular structure.
Innovative solution of a modular chassis
"We had to take a completely new direction with regard to the chassis design in order to achieve significant weight reductions while increasing the payload and taking into account the strength-related safety requirements. Thanks to the load-optimized head sections and the lightweight lattice girder structure in the middle segment, we have achieved weight savings of more than 20 percent compared to conventional carrier vehicles," says Alexander Hügl, Head of Technical Calculation at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering.
The intensive dialog with potentially interested parties continued at the Transport & Logistics trade fair in Munich. This showed that the demand for new, future-proof rolling stock from rail-bound logistics companies is high.
