The Line Connector

The development of the line connector, the element that realized the automatic coupling of air and electrical lines, was at any time a focal point. This because of the different technical requirements and the mechanical complexity of the component. Some of the requirements was as follows:

These requirements were always the focal point for development. Only in the last stage the problems could be solved satisfactory.

The following table shows the steps of development at the OSShD-side (East). There are no analog information available for the author from the UIC-side (West).

In 1957 the European Railway organizations start first studies

1957 - 1959: At a first step it was tested to combine the Russian SA3 -coupler with a separate line connector - variant 1

1959: Now technical specifications OsshD/UIC determine the design of the coupler

The line connector becomes part of the coupler-body and the mechanical coupler becomes centred in vertical direction too. The variant 2, variant 3, and variant 4 represent this stage of development. After an exhibition of Russian and German couplers in Moscow it was decided, that the basis for further development should be the German variant from Bautzen
The most important aims of development are:

• Development of a line connector with two air lines and an electrical coupler
• Reduction of forces during coupling to allow coupling speeds of 1 km/h only.
• Coupling under new defined track conditions - it means:
  • Redesign of the catching elements at the coupler's body
  • Redesign of the coupler's shaft to optimize horizontal and vertical deflections
  • Development of a new centring device, working in vertical and horizontal direction

Since 1963 German and Russian Engineers cooperate in a mutual design office in Bautzen:

In the wagon factory 'Waggonbau Bautzen' German, Russian, and Railway engineers from Deutsche Reichsbahn cooperate to create 'East'-solutions of coupler prototypes.
The work results in , variant 6,variant 7, and variant 8..
The stage of the 9 - variants paved the way to the OsshD/UIC unified coupler variant 9.5.

Interests regarding patents, tactical questions, and for technical reasons prevent from design a single coupler. So the minimal aim was to adapted the two coupler's corresponding elements to realize trouble free coupling - but the design themselves kept different. Following the adaptation process nearly all 'contact-elements' were discussed, prototyped, and tested - in the first time parallel in Schlauroth (East-Germany) and Munich (West-Germany). Thanks to the flexibility and competence of the engineers at both sides, all the different questions were solved in a relative short time. Trains with adapted couplers were tested in 1970 in Sweden and Russia under hard winter conditions.

The result of the tests verified, that the couplers fulfill the requirements of the European railway - even under hard winter conditions.

1972: The Automatic Centre Coupler for the European Railways is ready for Service

In Bautzen ended the German/Russian cooperation for the development of couplers and the documentation for coupler production was delivered to the national railway administrations.
In the following years the work was concentrated to reduce production costs, to optimize material input and to perfect production methods. In 1978 ended temporary the work for the coupler - and up to now, there is less hope to introduce an automatic coupler in Europe.