Historically, rail “axles” for the center truck of Low Floor Mass Transit Cars have been manufactured and supplied by European companies. The industry standard is a fabricated assembly comprised of forged ends welded to a structural steel center of various shapes. Several factors have enticed one domestic supplier to look for a better way to manufacture the axle in the United States. The word axle will be used in this paper, although technically the word “support” is more valid as an “axle” is assumed to rotate and this “support” does not. Currently, Penn Machine is producing its latest support, a one piece forged axle with the properties of the previous welded assembly. Many considerations, including material type, manufacturability, stress and deflection, weight, and dimensional fit, were made prior to approval of the final design. Because previous models were designed and manufactured overseas, European design criteria and materials had to be considered, and in some cases modified for the domestic market. The analysis approach began with a European calculation method. Additional analysis was performed to evaluate modifications. Finite Element Analysis was conducted to refine the design and to investigate material reducing options. The proposed paper outlines the design process used in bringing this new and innovative concept off the boards and into reality. It is the hope of the authors that others will recognize domestic opportunities by observance of the process used to create the new axle. To date, the new axle is being proposed for use on two new transit systems. The cars will be tested with the new axle to insure safety and performance.
Using Data Mining to Analyze Dwell Time and Nonstop Running Time in Road-Based Mass Transit Systems