SUW 2000 is a type of variable gauge system that allows a train to travel across a railway break-of-gauge

Break-of-gauge

With 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 Railways

Polish State Railways

is 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 exchange

Bogie exchange

Bogie 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 Talgo

Talgo

Talgo 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 Ferrocarriles

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

Construcciones 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 Lt

LTL

LTL 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-replacement

Bogie exchange

Bogie 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 -   Mockava

Mockava

Mockava 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...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , 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    Brest

Brest, Belarus

Brest , 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...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , 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, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine 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

• ZNTK-supplied 4RS/N bogie, a variable gauge wheelset
• South East Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO) with maps and picture of SUW 2000 system
• Picture of transfer track/SUW 2000 wheelset, from bearing supplier Schaeffer
• East West Conference 1435/1520
• 1435/1520 Seminar 2005. Sirts
• Experience of SUW 2000 in operation
• ZNTK data sheet about SUW 2000 VGA
• Diagram showing operation of Spanish Talgo (not SUW 2000) gauge changing facility (dead link as of 8/16/11)