Next-generation vehicles
A rail vehicle, designed from the wheel-rail contact up.
Actively steered, light, quiet, low-floor: sensing its own condition and conditioning the track beneath it. Early concept stage; active steering is R&D, not a shipping product.
The concept starts at the wheel-rail contact and builds outward: an actively steered, light, low-floor rail vehicle that senses its own condition and conditions the track beneath it, tested first as a tram or light-rail vehicle before it reaches the mainline.
Distributed in-wheel traction removes the gearbox and the driveshaft, freeing the floor to run low and flat, with the wheel motor itself providing the braking down to a stop.
The vehicle reads its own and the rail's condition in real time, through onboard acoustic and vibration monitoring, and manages wear and noise at source through smart flange and top-of-rail conditioning.
Circular by design: body panels and platforms are built to be recovered at the end of life, not landfilled.
Active steering here is R&D: working systems exist from years of research, and the next step is integrating them into a complete vehicle, not a shipping product yet.
- Wheel-motor mass, low-speed in-wheel unit
- about 45 to 50 kg
- Articulated compartment length, concept
- about 5 to 6 m
Illustration · animation of a Traila next-generation vehicle concept
Follow the research.
Subscribe to the newsletter for the next-generation vehicle programme, or book an operator briefing.