Couplers from four manufacturers meet in DAC trials

Two DAC units coupled with integrated data and power connectors. The Poznań campaign tests whether components from four manufacturers can be combined safely. Photo: Deutsche Bahn AG.

A 12-week test campaign in Poznań combines digital automatic coupler heads and draft gear from different manufacturers. The tests begin in August under the Europe’s Rail FP5-DACtiVate project and bring PKP and a Polish research institute into DAC testing for the first time.

The tests treat the coupler as two components — the coupler head at the front and the draft gear behind it — joined at a defined interface. Combinations of components from Dellner, Knorr-Bremse, Voith and Wabtec go through hump-shunting impact tests and failure-mode trials.

Interchangeable components underpin the business case for DAC migration: without them, every converted wagon is tied to one supplier for the coupler’s lifetime. The Poznań results feed a risk analysis and a validation plan due before the project closes in December.

First Polish participation

The campaign involves PKP SA, parent company of PKP Cargo, and research institute Łukasiewicz–Poznański Instytut Technologiczny. Both take part in DAC testing for the first time, drawing on earlier trials in the project, including work carried out in Görlitz this spring.

FP5-DACtiVate runs from December 2024 to December 2026 with 21 partners coordinated by Deutsche Bahn, an EU contribution of EUR 5.9m and a total project value of EUR 10.7m. A public report is due before the project ends.

Certification and authorisation sit outside the project’s mandate. The campaign delivers a validation plan for mixed configurations — the groundwork a later approval process would build on, not the approval itself.