The new concepts of lightweight structures involve the replacement of conventional materials with new high-performance materials that continue to be required to have characteristics such as sustainability, even for composite materials.
TALGO has manufactured two prototypes, a carbody and single-axle bogie frame (“rodal”), using mainly carbon fibre, with a significant reduction in weight, resulting in greater energy efficiency and a lower impact on railway infrastructures. These were presented at the JEC Word fair (Paris) and at Innotrans (Berlin), where they were very well received and had the opportunity to disseminate the projects within the European’s initiative Shift2Rail.
Functionally validated, the prototypes have been used to respond to new environmental requirements, focusing on sustainability and generating a new challenge: recycling of composite materials. A process has been developed that combines different recycling techniques, obtaining clean recycled fibre, both carbon fibre and glass fibre, with minimal loss of properties.
Another challenge arises at the end of life of the structures, where the materials present can be reused to manufacture second-generation components, which must be appropriately characterised within the new European initiative, Europe’s Rail, the successor to Shift2Rail. TALGO’s aim is to manufacture with eco-design in mind.