Rail vehicle that can reduce side force, and method for reducing side force

摘要

When a rail vehicle travels through a curve, longitudinal stiffnesses (stiffnesses with respect to displacement in a longitudinal direction) of air springs (6a, 6b) are changed according to the direction of travel. With respect to the air spring (6a) in which the direction of a reaction torque acting on a bogie acts in the direction (C) of preventing the bumping of the bogie, the longitudinal rigidity is relatively reduced. With respect to the air spring (6b), in which the direction of a reaction torque acting on a chassis acts in the direction (J) of accelerating the impact of a vehicle body, the longitudinal rigidity is relatively increased. The influence of lateral forces (H, G) on a rail can be minimized without greatly increasing the cost and increasing the unsprung mass by simply adding a mechanism for changing the longitudinal stiffnesses of the air springs (6a, 6b) according to the traveling direction in this way.