Truck suspension specification for automobile transport

An ever-increasing emphasis on providing quality transportation service and meeting the customer expectations requires that a systems approach to the design of the freight truck be adopted. To meet these increasing requirements for better service, the car body and truck need to be treated as a single system and the freight truck has to be designed as an integral part of this system. Further, the freight car/truck design has to be pursued for dynamic performance level required to provide the ride quality demanded for safe transportation of a given commodity. The ride quality requirements should include vertical, lateral, and longitudinal ride quality levels. As an example, the automobile manufacturers expect that the railroad industry provide a completely damage-free environment for the transportation of automobiles. This paper discusses the current practice of freight truck design for conventional autorack cars and describes the ride quality provided by today's autorack cars. The paper proposes ride quality targets for future alternative systems for transporting automobiles. This target can be used also for current conventional autorack cars. The alternative systems, besides addressing ride quality, would address other associated requirements such as in-transit security, ease of loading/unloading, reduced transit time, reduced handling etc. All the necessary requirements for a Truck Specification are outlined including truck inspection, maintenance, repair, life cycle costs, etc. Specific quantitative requirements for these performance parameters must be set relative to the performance of today's equipment.<>