Jacobs bogie

Jacobs bogies (named after Wilhelm Jakobs, 1858–1942, a German railway engineer) are a type of rail vehicle bogie commonly found on articulated railcars and tramway vehicles.

Instead of being underneath a piece of rolling stock, Jacobs bogies are placed between two carbody sections. The weight of each car is spread on one half of the Jacobs bogie.

Background

The first fast train using this type of bogie was the German Fliegende Hamburger in 1932. In the United States, such configurations have been used throughout the twentieth century with some success on early streamlined passenger trainsets, such as the Pioneer Zephyr in 1934, various Southern Pacific Daylight articulated cars, and Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000. Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail trains originally used a center bogie in a two unit car but are being modified to add a lower center section for handicapped level entry making a 3 unit car with two Jacobs bogies.

Vehicles featuring Jacobs bogies include the Alstom-made TGV and Eurostar trains, the Bombardier Talent series of multiple units, the LINT41, the Class 423 S-Bahn vehicles, the Canadian CN Turbo-Trains, several FLIRT trains,IC3 by Adtranz and the Škoda ForCity tram. A disadvantage of vehicles using Jacobs bogies is they are semi-permanently coupled and can only be separated in the workshop.