And now a bit about a change in railway technology that’s being explored;
British group develops autonomous wheel control system
Feb 24, 2020
Written by Neil Cooney
SET, Britain, together with Vivarail and Loughborough and Huddersfield universities, have developed an autonomous wheel control system called Acti-Wheel which they believe could revolutionise wheelset design. Neil Cooney from SET explains the background to the project and the progress so far.
https://www.railjournal.com/in_depth/british-group-develops-autonomous-wheel-control-system
SET has been exploring direct drive traction motor technologies for the best part of 20 years and has built a range of prototype motors and vehicles to aid the development of the ideas and concepts. This work has shown that significantly greater efficiency in the traction chain is possible. The motor technology is similar to that used in modern electric road vehicles and is significantly more efficient than conventional rail traction by eliminating the need for an energy sapping and heavy transmission system. This innovative traction chain can deliver a reduction in energy consumption of about 7% compared with many of the traction systems being fitted to new trains today.