Voith Implements DAC Coupler Standard: A Revolution in European Rail Freight Transport

Voith’s Module Selected as the Standard for DAC Couplers in Europe, this is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Voith has achieved significant success by developing a module for automatic power and data transmission coupling, which will be used as the basis for standardizing the interface of all Digital Automatic Couplers (DAC) in the FP5-TRANS4M-R project.

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This project by the European Railway Association aims to implement digital automatic coupling in European freight rail transport.

The competition to select the best module began in the fall of 2023.

In addition to Voith, a system developed by Knorr-Bremse also participated.

Testing of both modules continued for four months in the FP5-TRANS4M-R laboratory.

The tests focused on technical specifications as well as acquisition and maintenance costs.

Despite similar technical characteristics, Voith’s module demonstrated a lower lifecycle cost, which was the decisive factor in its selection.

Test results showed that Voith’s module meets all height and weight specifications.

The module’s design is simple, and its mounting on the upper platform of the coupler requires only two screws.

This ensures reliable contact connection even at coupling speeds of up to 12 km/h.

In September 2020, representatives of the European freight rail sector signed a memorandum of understanding, planning to deploy digital automatic coupling across the entire EU by 2030.

The cost of upgrading the freight fleet is estimated at €6.5-8.5 billion. To implement this ambitious program, in April 2024, seven European companies led by DB Cargo formed the DAC-Fit consortium.

The consortium’s goal is to install the DAC digital automatic coupling technology on 500,000 wagons across Europe.

Photo: Europe’s Rail / Voith

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