Moog signs $4 mn deal with Indian Railways

Moog’s Industrial Systems Group, a division of Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B), announced today that the Research Designs & Standards Organization (RDSO) division of the Indian Railways has placed a USD 4 million order for a test rig to perform fatigue testing on freight wagons. Moog is a leader in providing high-performance testing systems to the transportation, automotive and aerospace markets. 

The 5,000 kN bogie test rig includes high capacity actuators, a hydraulic power supply, a portal frame and floor design as well as a fully integrated 8-channel system that combines Moog’s software and test controllers. This test controller system is based on a leading-edge platform and includes a real-time Ethernet interface, enabling transparent integration of 96-channel data acquisition. 

Moog’s test rig will simulate real running conditions for Indian Railways and will be used to test new bogies with higher payload capacity for increased freight-carrying and speed performance on the existing rail network. This is intended to boost freight capacity for Indian Railways while the dedicated freight corridor, covering about 2,762 km (1,715 mi) on the Eastern and Western corridors, is being developed. 

By procuring this new test rig, Indian railways will be able to design and validate axle load wagons of up to 40 tons in comparison to the existing 22 to 25 ton models. 

“Freight transport is a key revenue driver for Indian Railways, making up 70 percent of revenues and it is growing rapidly. Until the dedicated freight corridor is operational, they need to extract more from their existing rail infrastructure to meet the ongoing rise in demand for freight-capacity. To do so they have designed new test requirements to assess payload parameters on bogies and ultimately increase payload capacity. Moog understands Indian Railway’s requirements and is providing a test-system that matches railway’s specifications,’’ said K M Sathish, sales manager, Moog India. 

“The development of this fatigue test rig is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate our expertise in developing test systems that can help transportation systems extract more performance from their existing and future infrastructures. We are really delighted to work with Indian Railways on this project and are confident Moog’s test system will help them increase their freight payload capacity. The high payloads and the extensive tests RDSO requires are quite unique and represent a new step for railways,” Anurag Kashyap, managing director, Moog India. 

In addition to the test rigs, Moog offers a wide range of motion control solutions including sway and tilt control systems for railways that were previously managed passively using dampers to absorb lateral movement. Moog has successfully worked with a number of customers to introduce electric actuation for active control of sway and tilt in trains based on compact, lightweight and reliable electric actuators. These actuators are specifically designed to withstand the vibration, shock and extreme temperatures to which railway hardware is exposed. 

Moog recently provided electric actuation for tilt control on high-speed trains such as the Shinkansen in Japan. This enables a train to lean over and negotiate a corner without excessive reduction in speed.