Traila is a Swiss, IRIS-certified rail engineering company working at the wheel-rail interface, the one contact point every rail vehicle depends on and most operators still carry as a fixed cost. We model it, instrument it, and engineer the systems that make it quieter and longer-lasting. Our work runs from sensor-based active steering, proven on our own test vehicle in Zurich, through to intelligent wheel and rail conditioning and onboard noise monitoring for fleets in service today. Quieter tracks, longer-lasting wheels, smarter fleets, from the wheel-rail interface up.
Onboard Network Noise Monitoring. The Traila Tuner is a lightweight onboard system, an edge computer with a sensor suite and controller, that captures how a network actually sounds and wears in normal service. Instead of a one-off survey, operators get a continuous, route-by-route picture of their noise and wear hotspots. This matters now: EU environmental noise rules are tightening, and operators are increasingly required to measure what their fleets generate in built-up areas. The Tuner gives them that evidence base, and a clear starting point for treating the loudest sections first.
Intelligent Wheel and Rail Conditioning. Traila adds a self-learning intelligence layer on top of wheel and rail lubrication. The system hears curve squeal, tells the next vehicle where to condition, and adapts when weather or traffic changes. Dosing is position-precise rather than blanket. The control layer integrates with and operates existing third-party application hardware, so operators keep the equipment already installed and the unit of upgrade becomes the controller, not the fleet.
Wheel-Rail Contact Simulation and Engineering. Behind the products sits a full engineering toolchain: SIMPACK multi-body dynamics, ABAQUS finite element analysis and dynamic load analysis. Traila uses it to turn operational signal into design-level decisions for operators and OEMs, whether the question is wear on a specific radius, a noise complaint on a corridor, or the behaviour of a new vehicle platform. We do not just model solutions. We build them, test them and put them on the track.
Active Steering (Research and Development). Traila built and tested the world’s first sensor-based active steering system for urban rail, proven across thousands of kilometres on the TX4 test vehicle in Zurich. Steering the wheelset actively, instead of letting it fight the rail, cuts noise and wear at the source. The work now continues as a next-generation concept vehicle, developed with industry and academic partners including the University of Milan. It is the engineering depth the commercial conditioning and monitoring products are built on.
Proven on the TX4, Zurich. Over thousands of kilometres in tests with VBZ Zurich, Traila proved that a rail vehicle can be steered actively, smoothly and precisely, cutting wear and noise at the source. The sensing and simulation toolchain built for that programme is what now powers Traila’s commercial conditioning and noise-monitoring products. In partnership with Igralub, the combined offer reaches from the chemistry sprayed at the rail to the simulation that tells operators what to change next. The place to start is a noise and condition baseline of your own network, measured in service, that shows where it actually hurts before anyone specifies a fix.
Key Traila Products
- Edge computer, sensor suite and controller for condition-based wheel and rail monitoring.
- Fleet-level intelligent wheel and rail conditioning platform.
- Onboard network noise and vibration monitoring.
- Intelligent wheel and rail conditioning (control intelligence layer).
- Wheel-rail contact simulation and engineering services (SIMPACK, ABAQUS).
- Root-Cause Analysis & Troubleshooting
- Active steering system (research and development).
