On April 22, 2026, Shata Machinery successfully completed quality inspection and packing of the manufactured railway bogie center plates in bulk. The products were officially delivered to Southeast Asia today and will be put into use for railway operation in the future.
The center plate of a railway bogie is a cast steel component with a thickened square base, serving as the connection between the train body and the bogie assembly. Installed at the top of the bogie, it bears the full load of the vehicle body, making it a critical component of rail vehicles that withstands extremely high forces and requires stringent safety standards.
During operation, the railway bogie center plate supports the weight of train carriages, enables relative rotation between the vehicle body and the bogie beneath to ensure smooth and flexible cornering, and transmits lateral forces to maintain structural integrity and prevent separation between the body and the bogie.
Regarding the railway bogie center plate, the customer originally produced it locally. However, the local sand casting process resulted in various defects including rough surfaces, cracks, shrinkage porosity, and gas pores. The produced railway bogie center plates had a low pass rate and their quality could not meet the required standards.
The customer contacted Shata Machinery with the manufacturing problems of the railway bogie center plate. After analysis by our professional technical team, we changed the production process to Shata Machinery's water glass investment casting.
Metal castings produced by Shata Machinery's water glass investment casting feature high dimensional accuracy and small tolerances. In addition, the high strength of the water glass investment shell ensures uniform cooling of molten steel, resulting in castings with a uniform and solid internal structure.
After we optimized the process for the railway bogie center plate, the product surface became smooth, free of defects such as rough surfaces, cracks, shrinkage porosity, and gas pores. Shata Machinery's water glass investment casting is slightly more expensive than sand casting, but much lower in cost than silica sol investment casting, ensuring product quality while meeting the customer's project budget.
Producing such a large railway bogie center plate-500mm long, 400mm wide, with a rough casting weight of 65kg-using the water glass investment casting process is quite challenging. Through the design and optimization of the mold and gating system, we finally successfully produced this batch of products to meet the customer's expected requirements.
After the production of finished railway bogie center plates, Shata Machinery implements NDT non-destructive testing to further ensure product quality control, prevent casting defects such as porosity, cracks and slag inclusions, and safeguard railway operation safety during component service.
Our technicians have carried out the following inspections respectively:
LPT (Penetrant Testing) to detect open surface defects on bogie center plates;
MT (Magnetic Particle Testing) to identify crack-like defects on and near the surface to ensure structural safety;
UT (Ultrasonic Testing) to inspect the internal quality of bogie center plates.
We strive to conduct full-dimensional quality control with our utmost efforts and deliver high-quality products to our customers.
Shata Machinery is an expert in the field of castings. Our team has been deeply engaged in metal casting and is committed to producing high-quality products. If you encounter similar problems in casting production and manufacturing, please do not hesitate to contact us. Shata Machinery has a professional technical team to solve your casting production and manufacturing problems.
