SUW 2000 is a type of variable gauge system that allows a train to travel across a railway
break-of-gaugeWith railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...
.
The SUW 2000 design is manufactured by Polish company ZNTK Poznań for
Polish State Railwaysis the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
(PKP). It is used at two border stations, enabling through trains to Lithuania and Ukraine to proceed, without the need for lengthy
bogie exchangeBogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with...
.
Similar, but incompatible, systems are produced by
TalgoTalgo is a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles. It is best known for a design of articulated railway passenger cars in which the wheels are mounted in pairs, but not joined by an axle, and being between rather than underneath the individual coaches...
(Talgo-RD) and
Construcciones y Auxiliar de FerrocarrilesConstrucciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles is a rail equipment manufacturer based in Beasain in the Basque Country, Spain. Equipment manufactured by CAF includes light rail vehicles, rapid transit trains, railroad cars and locomotives, as well as variable gauge axles that can be fitted on any...
(CAF-BRAVA). The SUW 2000 is interoperable only with Rafil Type V systems.
, a single SUW 2000 bogie cost 115,000
LtLTL is an international currency code:*Lithuanian litas, the official currency of LithuaniaLTL can also refer to:*Laparosopic Tubal Ligation...
($42,000).
Routes
The following interchange and break-of-gauge locations were fitted with a SUW 2000-compatible track gauge changing facility, allowing trains crossing those routes to be fitted for gauge-changing, rather than
bogie-replacementBogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with...
:
Installed -
MockavaMockava is a village and railway station in Lithuania on the border with Poland. According to the 2001 census, its population was 92.- Transport :There is a break of gauge where the railway systems of the two countries meet...
,
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
Šeštokai
BrestBrest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
,
BelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
Mostiska,
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
The SUW 2000 method of variable gauge system was designed by Ryszard Suwalski
External links